The Atlantic

Drake’s <em>Scorpion</em>, as Explained by an Astrologer and an Entomologist

Who better to analyze the beleaguered rapper’s 25-track double album?
Source: REUTERS/Steve Marcus/File Photo

Two and a half months ago, just days before Kanye West would announce the multi-album release he had plotted for June, Drake posted a cryptic photo on Instagram. Posing with his back turned to the camera, he donned a jacket that not-so-subtly hinted at a new album: “SCORPION JUNE TWENTY EIGHTEEN,” it read, “by DRAKE.” Last Friday, Drake released the album, which came in at a bloated 25 tracks.

Much had transpired since the rapper and October’s Very Own label head first teased ’s existence. Most notably, he’d found himself of a series of diss records from Pusha T, the 20-year rap veteran and G.O.O.D. Music president best known for his razor-sharp delivery of “coke raps.” Pusha closed out his own album, the Kanye-produced May 25 release , with “,” a diss track focused primarily on Drake’s alleged history of using ghostwriters for his raps. Drake responded with “,” a

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