Meaning of “In My Feelings” by Drake

“In My Feelings” is a song by the Canadian-American hip hop artist Drake. Lyrically, the song is more of a “quasi-love letter” that the rapper (Drake) directs to a number of “love interests” and women in his life. In the song, the rapper also gives a shout-out to one of the track’s producers TrapMoneyBenny.

Names mentioned in “In My Feelings”

Besides TrapMoneyBenny, Drake mentions the names of certain women (at least one of whom he has been rumored to have been romantically linked to). These names are: Kiki, KB, Jenny (apparently for Jennifer Lopez), Risha and JT.

Who is Kiki? Who is KB?

It is widely believed that the name Kiki either refers to the Canadian singer and actress Keshia Chanté (whose nickname is Keke) or the American model K’yanna Barber.

K’yanna Barber

K’yanna Barber is an American social media personality and model who reportedly began dating Drake in 2016. The lines “Kiki, do you love me?” and “KB, do you love me?” are said to be directed at her. But of course this hasn’t been confirmed by the songwriter himself Drake.

As fr who “KB” is, it appears to stand for K’yanna’s initials. K’yanna herself alluded to the fact that the above lyrics are about her via a series of tweets in July 2018. In one of the tweets, she confirmed that her nickname is Kiki.

A picture of K’yanna Barber (also known as Kiki) from her official Instagram account.

Here are images of two of the tweets that K’yanna released a day or two before “In My Feelings” was officially released to the public:

As can be seen from her first tweet above, she tweets the line “KB, do you love me” from the song’s lyrics. The second tweet, on the other hand, which is below, shows her telling the world that her name is Kiki.

What about Keshia Chanté?

The Canadian singer, TV personality and actress Keshia Chanté (also known by the nickname Keke) is also widely believed to be the Kiki being referred to. Chanté grew up together with Drake in the Canadian city of Toronto and reportedly became a girlfriend of his at some point in his teen life.

Keshia Chanté

Throughout his career, Drake has penned a number of songs about Chante. About a month before the official release of “In My Feelings”, Chanté tweeted the following words: “he put it in a song so I know it’s real”. Below is an image of her actual tweet:

Keshia Chanté’s tweet

As to whether, she is referring to Drake’s “In My Feelings” or not, nobody is 100% certain of that. But what we are absolutely certain of is the fact that her nickname is Keke and that she was once romantically linked to Drake.

Jennifer Lopez

American singer Jennifer Lopez is the second love interest Drake addresses in the lyrics of “In My Feelings”. Anyone who knows Drake knows that he and Lopez briefly dated each other in 2016. The lyrics below see Drake telling the world, among other things, how special Lopez is.

The second line “From the block like you Jenny” is referencing Jennifer Lopez’s 2002 hit single titled “Jenny From the Block”.

The Two other Women in the Song

In the second chorus of the song, Drake mentions the names of two women: Risha and JT. But these women aren’t really love interests of Drake. They are the members of the American rap duo City Girls. The duo provides vocals on this track.

Resha is the short form for Caresha. Caresha is best known in the music industry by her moniker Young Miami. Her musical partner J.T., on the other hand, is Jatavia Johnson. Both J.T. and Young Miami come together to make up the rising hip-hop duo City Girls based in Miami.

The City Girls

Facts about “In My Feelings”

• “In My Feelings” was written by Drake and nine other songwriters, including American rappers Lil Wayne and Magnolia Shorty, who was brutally murdered in 2010 in New Orleans.
• The song was produced by three producers: Noah James Shebib (known worldwide as 40), Blaqnmild, and TrapMoneyBenny. This is Drake’s first time working with producer TrapMoneyBenny. In the song, Drake mentions TrapMoneyBenny’s  name 3 times.
• The track officially came out on July 10, 2018 as the fifth single from Drake’s commercially successful fifth studio album Scorpion.
• The music video of “In My Feelings” was directed by Canadian actress and music video director Karena Evans. Evans gained worldwide fame for directing the music videos of a number of Drake’s hit singles, including “Nice for What” and “God’s Plan“.
• This track debuted at number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and went on to peak at number 1. On the UK Singles Chart, it peaked at number 1. Owing to this, “In My Feelings” is one of the most successful singles of Drake’s musical career.
• Upon making it to the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100, this track became Drake’s fourth single to top the chart in question. Not too many artists of his generation have achieved that feat.
• This song led to a super viral dance challenge called the “#InMyFeelingsChallenge”. Social media comedian TheShiggyShow began the “#InMyFeelingsChallenge”. A number of famous celebrities took part in this dance challenge since it began on June 30, 2018. Some of these celebrities include Drake himself, singer Ciara, actor and rapper Will Smith and comedian Kevin Heart. The “#In My Feelings challenge” craze (which is also known as the “Kiki challenge”) became so insanely popular that in many countries such as Spain, Egypt and UAE, the authorities began warning people against doing the dance craze in moving vehicle (and yes people actually began doing it in moving cars).
• The immense success of this song was partly due to the dance craze the “#InMyFeelingsChallenge”.
• The voice at the end of the song is that of actress Zazie Beetz. It is from a scene from the episode “Champagne Papi” from the popular American comedy-drama TV series Atlanta created by Donald Glover (also known as Childish Gambino).
• The music video for “In My Feelings”, which was shot in New Orleans, came out on August 2nd, 2018. It was directed by Canadian actress and music video director Karena Evans. Evans also directed the music videos of a number of hits from Drake such as “Nice for What” and “God’s Plan“. The music video features a number of celebrities engaging in the viral dance challenge created by the song. These celebrities include Shiggy (the originator of the challenge), DJ Khaled, and Odel Beckham Jr. At the very end of the video, Will Smith is seen performing his famous #InMyFeelingsChallenge on top of a roof.

Does “In My Feelings” sample any song(s)?

Yes. As a matter of fact, this track samples three songs. These songs are: “Smoking Gun” by the late rapper Magnolia Shorty,  “Drag Rap (Triggerman)” by The Showboys and “Lollipop” by Lil Wayne. Thanks to the sampling of these songs, several artists, including Shorty and Lil Wayne are credited as co-writers of “In My Feelings”.

What musical genre is “In My Feelings”?

In addition to being a hip hop song, it is also a bounce song.

So who really are the “Kiki”, “Keke” and “KB” that Drake mentions in the song “In My Feelings”?

Honestly, not until Drake himself comes out to clearly state who the names above refer(s) to, there currently isn’t any solid proof who these women are.