Successful
Featuring Trey Songz, Lil Wayne
'Successful' is one of the defining records of So Far Gone and a cornerstone of Drake's rise. Produced, recorded and mixed by Noah "40" Shebib, with Trey Songz on the soaring hook and a Lil Wayne verse, it channels raw ambition into a slow, cinematic anthem. Drake has described the beat as 'eerie' and 'haunting'; Trey Songz wrote the chorus, later explaining the pivotal 'I suppose' as a flicker of doubt about whether wealth is really what success means. Wayne's co-sign positioned Drake within the Young Money orbit, and the song became the second single, helping force the retail So Far Gone EP.
Sources & verification
Citations below were matched specifically to "Successful" 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.
- Successful (song)Wikipedia · 2026-05-18 — Good Article confirming 40 as sole producer/recording/mixing, Trey Songz and Lil Wayne features, the 'I suppose' hook origin, chart and certification data.
- 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.
