Drake, a.k.a. Canada's Certified Lover Boy, will release his next album this Friday

Our favorite cringe-inducing, lovesick Scorpio, Drake, is set to release his sixth studio album, Certified Lover Boy, this Friday. The rapper made the announcement in the form of a cryptic SportsCenter episode takeover on Friday, which he later made more clear when he confirmed the release on Instagram.

During Friday’s regular viewing of EPSN’s SportsCenter, someone (presumably Drake) in a gray hoody pretended to “hack” into the feed, holding up signs that stated, “CLB September 3rd.” Following the “hack,” Drake only posted a cheeky photo of himself on Instagram, grinning and sipping a drink, with the caption “I have an emotional budget I can’t go over,” whatever that means. This morning, he posted an image with the pregnant woman emoji in every skin tone available (presumably because he’s an equal opportunity lover), writing, “CERTIFIED LOVER BOY SEPTEMBER 3.”

Certified Lover Boy was initially announced in October 2020, but faced delays in January as the artist recouped from knee surgery. This has officially been the longest stretch between Drake albums, with Scorpion released in 2018. He’s kept fans somewhat satiated with the Scary Hours 2 EP, but the man once released three projects in just over a year’s time, so this has definitely felt like a drought.

Rumors swirled about the album’s release over the last couple of weeks due to Ye’s Donda hype parade, during which West took the time to not only invite an abuser and a homophobe to his livestream event, but to also reignite his longtime feud with Drake. Drake’s featured verse on Trippie Redd’s recently release “Betrayal” addresses the rumors that Ye was saving the release of Donda to outshine his album release: “All these fools I’m beefin’ that I barely know/ Forty-five, forty-four (Burned out), let it go/ Ye ain’t changin’ shit for me, it’s set in stone.” In response, Ye posted a photo of a group chat in which he wrote, “You will never recover. I promise you.” Then, fulfilling his Joker arc, he tweeted Drake’s Toronto home address. He eventually took it down, but it looks like the pettiness will continue between the grown men for far too long.

As we’ve said, Certified Lover Boy comes out this Friday, Sept. 3.