Started From the Bottom

Started From the Bottom is the song that gave the Nothing Was The Same era its rallying cry and gave the wider internet one of the most-repurposed pop lyrics of the 2010s. Produced by Toronto's Mike Zombie with Noah '40' Shebib and Nineteen85, the track moves on a sparse, springy synth and a slow trap-influenced drum pattern. Drake is widely read as offering a stylized origin myth — yes, the version of 'bottom' under discussion is relative, and the song is at least partly a wink about that — and using it to argue that the OVO team's rise was steeper than critics gave it credit for. Released as the lead single from Nothing Was The Same in early 2013, the song peaked in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 and its title rapidly became a generic shorthand for any humble-brag narrative arc, appearing in everything from corporate Instagram captions to political speeches. The video, shot at a Shoppers Drug Mart in Toronto, became one of the most-quoted visual moments in Drake's catalog and a kind of class clown statement of intent.