"Nice for What" is a song recorded by Canadian rapper Drake from his fifth studio album Scorpion. It was released by Young Money Entertainment and Cash Money Records as the second single from the album on April 6, 2018, along with its music video. The song was produced by Murda Beatz with co-production handled by Blaqnmild, and additional production by 40 and Corey Litwin. It features additional vocals by Big Freedia and 5th Ward Weebie. It debuted at number one on the US BillboardHot 100, replacing Drake's own "God's Plan" and becoming his fifth US number one. It also topped the UK Singles Chart and ARIA Singles Chart, becoming his second number-one song of 2018 in the two countries after "God's Plan".
Background
On March 14, 2018, Lauryn Hill's son Joshua Omaru Marley posted a snippet of the song on Snapchat. Drake later confirmed an upcoming Murda Beatz-produced single during an Instagram Live session. On April 5, Drake made a surprise appearance during a Majid Jordan concert in Toronto. "The reason I'm here tonight is because I'm back in the city finishing my album," he told the audience. "I've got a new single dropping tomorrow night, too, just in case you got some free time."
Composition
"Nice for What" is an upbeat bounce song which contains elements of early 2000s R&B, with a length of three minutes thirty seconds. It samples Lauryn Hill's song "Ex-Factor", "Drag Rap" by the Showboys, "Get Your Roll On" by Big Tymers, and also features clips from performances by Big Freedia. Lyrically, the hook of Drake's song samples Lauryn Hill singing about "cutting loose in the midst of a relationship".
"Nice for What" received positive reviews from music critics, with many praising its promotion of female empowerment. Hugh McIntyre of Forbes regarded the "perfectly-pitched" song as "another perfect delivery from the biggest artist in hip-hop", writing that the "vocal sample helps the track stand out from much of the rest of his discography". Kevin Lozano of Pitchfork awarded the song "Best New Track", praising Drake for "smoothly handling the impeccable production from Murda Beatz", and lauding the song as "a fantastic piece of hip-hop machinery" and "one of Drake's most complete releases in some time". Chris DeVille of Stereogum deemed the song "a big, brash, almost obnoxiously loud New Orleans bounce-inspired production", describing it as "extremely poppy and sounds like a bid for continued commercial dominance". Billboard named "Nice for What" the fifth-best song of 2018.
Commercial performance
In the United States, Drake became the first artist to have a new number-one debut replace his former number-one debut at the top of the Hot 100. It debuted with 88,000 downloads sold and 60.4 million streams. "Nice for What" became the 30th song in Billboard history to enter at number one. It also became Drake's fifth US number-one song overall and third as a lead artist. The song also became the first song to debut on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop chart in the top 10. "Nice for What" topped the Hot 100 for four consecutive weeks before it was replaced on May 14, 2018 by Childish Gambino's "This Is America". It then returned for a fifth non-consecutive week at the number one spot on the issue dateJune 2, 2018. On the issue dated July 14, 2018, "Nice for What" became the first song to reach number one in four nonconsecutive runs. It topped the Hot 100 for eight nonconsecutive weeks. On July 21, 2018, it was replaced at the top by another Drake song, “In My Feelings” and slipped to the number four spot. It ultimately remained in the top ten for 17 weeks.
