Best I Ever Had
'Best I Ever Had' is Drake's true breakout single and the engine that forced So Far Gone into commercial release. Produced by Boi-1da — who built the beat in his parents' basement from a folder of old-school samples, flipping Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds's 'Fallin' in Love' and interpolating Lil Wayne's 'Do It for the Boy' in roughly 20 minutes — the song is a half-rapped, half-sung serenade that swings between braggadocio and disarming tenderness (the famous 'sweatpants, hair tied' compliment). 40 handled mixing and recording; Kanye West directed the comedic women's-basketball video. Drake has said it was written about a Toronto ex, Zineb 'Nebby' Samir.
Sources & verification
Citations below were matched specifically to "Best I Ever Had" and So Far Gone. Drake Universe catalogs songs by album placement, verified collaborators, producers, samples, and themes, and avoids unsupported lyric-level claims.
- So Far Gone (mixtape)Wikipedia · 2026-05-18 — Primary source for the full TIDAL-adapted personnel/production list, sample credits, release history, chart and critical-reception data used to correct fabricated producer credits and rewrite the album meaning.
- Best I Ever Had (Drake song)Wikipedia · 2026-05-18 — Production (Boi-1da), sample, chart peaks, RIAA Diamond certification, Grammy nominations, Kanye-directed video, and the Kia Shine / Playboy disputes.
- Drake – Best I Ever HadGenius · 2026-05-18 — Boi-1da production confirmation and his first-person account of building the beat in his parents' basement; D10 cited as the producer who introduced Drake and Boi-1da; 'Fallin' in Love' sample.
- Drake Talks Young Money, Kanye Comparisons & GhostwritingComplex · 2009-02-19 — Source (via Wikipedia) for the title's origin — Oliver El-Khatib's 'Are we becoming the men that our mothers divorced?' text — and Drake's explanation of the 'so far gone' concept.
