artist:  Drake

Songwriters: Matthew Samuels, Noah Shebib, Aubrey Graham, Brock Korsan, Ronald Latour, Daveon Jackson.

date released:  2018 by Drake

Drake, original name Aubrey Drake Graham, was born on October 24, 1986, in Toronto, Ontario.  He is a Canadian rap musician who first gained fame as an actor on the acclaimed TV teenage drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation and went on to a successful and influential music career. His trademark mixture of singing and lyrical rapping and of braggadocio juxtaposed with raw vulnerability won him a large following.

Now comes the hard part.  What does "God's Plan" mean in a nutshell?  Completely baffled by the lyrics, I had to resort to the internet for a synopsis.  In addition, I have just completed a course on Gospel and Blues at my university and my lecturer referenced this song as neo-Gospel in the new rap/hiphop venue.  

The song's lyrics cover several important themes in Drake's life. These issues range from his fame to his wealth to the enemies around him wishing “a lot of bad things” on him. Drake uses the song to talk about his successful journey through the music industry and how he has been able to surmount all the obstacles placed in his way by his enemies/haters and move from grace to grace.   He knows that people want him to fail; however, God won’t let him do that. He concludes that everything he has achieved is the good Lord’s plan.

Additionally, Drake certainly couldn’t have achieve success without friends, such as "Fifty Dub" whom he has tattooed on his arm.  Rapper "FIF Money" is also tattooed on Drake's body in Memorium as FIF was killed in 2016 after he exchanged gunfire with police. 

Aside from Fif, Drake also mentions the names of his longtime producer Noah Shebib (better known as "40") and his manager, business partner and friend, Oliver El-Khatib.  El-Khatib is the entrepreneur who founded the record label, October's Very Own (OVO), which handles Drake.

Drake is a walking palette of tattoos signifying important people and events in his life.  These influencers are mentioned in his song, so pay close attention to the stream that is rap.

Another key subject of the song is the separation Drake feels that he needs to have from those outside of his inner circle.

"I don't wanna die for them to miss me

Yes, I see the things that they wishin' on me

Hope I got some brothers that outlive me

They gonna tell the story, shit was different with me"

Aside from Fif, Drake also mentions the names of his longtime producer Noah Shebib (better known as 40) and his manager, business partner and friend, Oliver El-Khatib---these are his "broskies" [his brothers].

"Without 40, Oli, there'd be no me

Imagine if I never met the broskies"

"God's plan, God's plan"

Drake would be nothing but for his God.  It was all in the plan.