Throwback-Drake: Started From The Bottom

Drake’s “Started From The Bottom” is the first single from his 2013 album, Nothing Was The Same. He co-wrote the single with Noah Shebib and Michael Coleman about his early life. Coleman also produced “Started From The Bottom” under his production name, Mike Zombie. Drake was on his third album and had already become a worldwide rap star but he wanted to get into the mindset of his younger self before he became successful. He cited Marvin Gaye’s Here, My Dear as an influence because he never intended to make a straight rap album, wanting instead to “make songs for the people.” Rapper Future was in the studio with Drake and kept telling the engineer to start the song from the bottom and Drake used it as the song’s title.

The song was one of seven singles that made Nothing Was The Same the seventh best-selling album of 2013 in the United States.