30-sec preview
2021 · From the album Scary Hours 2
Wants and Needs (feat. Lil Baby)
by Drake
The reading
A flex track where Drake catalogues his sins, his money, and his appetites, then half-jokes about needing Jesus to balance the ledger
02 · Interpretation
Wants and Needs: Drake's Ledger of Sins and Spoils
Released March 5, 2021 as the lead track of the three-song EP Scary Hours 2, Wants and Needs arrived during the long delay before Certified Lover Boy and gave fans something to chew on while Drake's main album kept slipping. The song reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, which made it the highest-charting song on the project. What's interesting is how unbothered it sounds for a track that's essentially about being bothered: by exes, by rivals, by his own conscience.
The title sets up a tension the lyrics never resolve. There's no clean separation between what Drake wants (women, watches, more money) and what he needs (forgiveness, peace, fewer enemies). The hook just piles them into the same mental inbox: sins, M's (millions), friends, two girls at once, more tens, and somewhere at the bottom of the list, Jesus.
The opening verse: dismissals and receipts
Drake starts in deflection mode, waving off comments, context-twisters and people chasing clout off his name. The line about people needing content reads as a shrug at internet-era opportunism, the idea that every misstep becomes someone else's post. He then pivots to the standard rap-flex inventory (Mercedes, divine favor cosigned by his mother) before landing on the boast that matters most to him: he hasn't fallen off. For an artist who has been famous for over a decade, that's the recurring anxiety the bravado is built to cover.
The middle stretch: confession as punchline
The second verse is where the song's real personality emerges. Drake threatens to charge an ex for a feature, name-drops a generic roster of women he sends money to, and brags about a Swiss-made 42mm watch in the same breath as joking that he should go to yeshiva. Then comes the funniest move on the record: he says he should link with Kanye for some Jesus, but as soon as he started confessing, "he wouldn't believe us." The sins are too many, or too entertaining, to give up.
That's the joke the hook keeps telling. Drake isn't pretending to be tortured; he's pretending to be slightly inconvenienced by guilt. The repetition of "on my mind" turns the chorus into a to-do list where repentance is the last item, and probably won't get done.
Lil Baby's verse: a different register
Lil Baby enters with a tighter, more transactional flow. Where Drake's verses lounge, Baby's snap. He frames his rise as a fix to a bent shovel, an image of a kid who had to repair the tool before he could dig himself out. The threats are blunter (the gun that won't jam, hits sent while he chills with his children) and the romantic gestures more specific: leaving racks on the bed she can keep, kissing a woman after grabbing her neck. The contrast works because Baby sells the menace Drake gestures at. By the time Baby says he's not the GOAT but fits the description, the song has its sharpest line, half-modest and half-not.
Closing verse: loss and lesson
Drake returns with a quick anecdote about losing a Ferrari in Las Vegas and going harder the next day, which functions as a thesis for the whole track. Setbacks get absorbed into the grind. He gives a woman four Birkins, one for her daughter, in a gesture that's generous and a little gauche, then circles back to the YOLO motto he popularized in 2011. Almost a decade later he's still quoting himself, which is either a victory lap or a tell.
Why it sticks
Wants and Needs isn't a peak Drake song; it's a maintenance song, the kind of release that reminds the audience he can still drop two verses and a hook that lodge in your head. The Sevn Thomas beat is dim and patient, leaving space for the conversational cadence both rappers favor. What lasts is the chorus's structural honesty. Most flex tracks bury the guilt; this one puts it on the same line as the millions and lets the listener decide which item Drake will actually act on. The answer, judging by his catalog, is the millions.
03 · Lyrics
"Wants and Needs (feat. Lil Baby)"
Six
Yeah
Yeah
Yeah
Leave me out the comments, leave me out the nonsense
Speakin' out of context, people need some content
Niggas tryna keep up, shit is not a contest
Whippin' Benz concept, Heaven-sent, God-sent
Least that's what my mom says
Proof is in the progress, money's not a object
Busy than a motherfucker, you know how my job get
Barkin' up the wrong tree, you know how the dogs get
Haven't fallen off yet, yee
Come with a classic, they come around years later and say it's a sleeper
The earrings are real, the petty is real, might charge my ex for a feature
Deposit the money to Brenda, LaTisha or Linda, Felicia
She came for me twice, I didn't even nut for her once, you know I'm a pleaser
42 millimeter, was made in Geneva
Yeah, I probably should go to Yeshiva, we went to Ibiza
Yeah, I probably should go link with Yeezy, I need me some Jesus
But soon as I started confessin' my sins, he wouldn't believe us
Sins, I got sins on my mind
And some M's, got a lot of M's on my mind
And my friends, yeah, I keep my friends on my mind
I'm in love, I'm in love with two girls at one time
And they tens, that's why I got ten on my mind
I got M's, got a lot of M's on my mind
And my friends, yeah, I keep my friends on my mind
Should repent, I need me some Jesus in my life
Amen
I'm from the four, but I love me a threesome
DM her, delete it, she my lil' secret
He tryna diss me to blow up, I peep it
I can't respond, we just go at your people
If I left some racks on the bed, you can keep it
This shit gettin' deeper and deeper, I dig it
My shovel wasn't bent, I was broke, had to fix it
A shark in the water, you swim with the lil' fishes
I hit today, by tomorrow, she miss it
I grab her neck, she look up, then I kiss it
I'm not a GOAT, but I fit the description
I like to pour, so I get the prescription
We walk around with them bands in our britches
This gun ain't gon' jam, when I blow, I ain't missin'
I'm droppin' hit after hit, I'm just chillin'
But I'll send a hit while I chill with my children
Bigger the business, the bigger the office
I fucked 'round and found me a swag, then I caught up
They call for my artists, they makin' me offers
I don't even bargain, I'll start from the bottom
I lost a Ferrari, Las Vegas, Nevada
I woke up the followin' day and went harder
I'm crackin' my shell now, they see that I'm smarter
I gotta get money, I love to get charter
I gave her four Birkins and one's for her daughter
I can't let 'em down, walk around with my guard up
I'm screamin' out, "YOLO," yeah, that's still the motto
I know I be on some shit that they ain't thought of
Sins, I got sins on my mind
And some M's, got a lot of M's on my mind
And my friends, yeah, I keep my friends on my mind
I'm in love, I'm in love with two girls at one time
And they tens, that's why I got ten on my mind
I got M's, got a lot of M's on my mind
And my friends, yeah, I keep my friends on my mind
Should repent, I need me some Jesus in my life
Amen
Lyrics via Google. Copyright belongs to rights holders.
04 · FAQ
Frequently asked
What does the chorus of Wants and Needs actually mean?
Who is Drake referring to when he says he should "link with Yeezy" for some Jesus?
What does "I'm from the four" mean in Lil Baby's verse?
Is Wants and Needs a diss track aimed at anyone specific?
How did Wants and Needs perform on the charts?
What is the "42 millimeter, was made in Geneva" line about?
Why does Drake keep saying "YOLO" is still the motto?
05 · Discography
