“Churchill Downs” by Jack Harlow (ft. Drake)

For starters, “Churchill Downs” is the name of the venue where the Kentucky Derby, the biggest annual horse race in the United States, is held. And Kentucky is also the home state of Jack Harlow. The title is only mentioned once in the lyrics, by Drake near the end of the song. And he does so basically to brag about his wealth and at the same time give a shoutout to Harlow.

That said, what we’re fundamentally met with here is a couple of extended verses, one for each rapper. As reported later in this article, originally Drake’s verse was longer than Jack’s, so the latter went about lengthening his. And what Harlow is doing for the most part is harping on his come-up. So we see him talking about stuff like how some people didn’t think he’d make it big, the hard work ethic which has contributed to his success, etc. Later down the line he also gives a shoutout to Drake, which is apparently one of the parts of the verse he added later on, doing so to return the favor of Drizzy firmly acknowledging him (as pointed out in the first verse of this post).

Drake’s Verse

Meanwhile, Drizzy’s verse has been deemed more substantive in terms of revealing certain aspects of his personal life. However, it is possible that some analysts may have overanalyzed certain lyrics. For instance, in the opening bars, Drake does not specify that he is actually speaking to his parents’ divorce and may rather be alluding to his own relationship issues. Also, just because he insinuates that he’s going to “therapy sessions” for “abandonment issues” doesn’t mean he’s literally doing so.

But the vulnerability displayed at the beginning of the passage doesn’t last long, as the bulk of the verse is dedicated to addressing rivals and haters. The implication, at least as far as certain sections go, is that Drake may be speaking of Pusha T, his most notable rival in the rap game. Pusha is a fellow rapper who has not reached the same echelon of industry success that Drake has. That is the idea the rapper is primarily getting at, that the people beefing him aren’t really on his level, on top of Drizzy stating an insatiable desire to get revenge against them.

So conclusively, this song can be considered for the most part braggadocious. However, Drake does so more in an indirect way, by rather emphasizing his superiority over his rivals.

Facts about “Churchill Downs”

This track was made public on 6 May 2022, via Generation Now and Atlantic Records, as part of Jack Harlow’s studio album “Come Home the Kids Miss You”. 

To note, “Churchill Downs” marks the first time that Harlow, a rapper from Louisville who has really been in the game since the mid-2010s, has teamed up with Drake, a longer-standing, well-known hip-hop musician from Canada.

This song was produced by a team of music producers comprising of the following:

• Boi-1da
• Federico Vindver
• Ace G
• Ryan Bakalarczyk
• TT Audi
• Angel López 

These producers are all also credited as its co-writers alongside others, including Harlow and Drake.

This song leaked a few days before it was released. This led to some changes being made, as Harlow came to the conclusion that Drake’s verse was superior, and Jack didn’t want to end up getting “bodied”, i.e. blatantly outperformed, on his s own track. So what he did, most notably, is lengthen his verse to match that of Drizzy’s.

Drake and Jack reportedly recorded this song while the two of the were vacationing in Turks and Caicos, a collection of islands found in the Caribbean.

The music video to this track was actually filmed at the Kentucky Derby.