Drake just dropped his new album Scorpion today, and it’s already been the subject of several online arguments.
Drizzy fans have been insisting that the new track “Final Fantasy” happens to include a sample from the iconic series’ “Prelude” theme. Does the new song actually draw from the JRPG’s pool of musical excellence, though? Not really.
Fans chatting about the album drop over at ResetEra were convinced that Drake had tucked a Final Fantasy sample into the track of the same name. The internet has, in fact, been on fire with the news all morning. But as it turns out, the sample’s source isn’t related to video games at all. It’s the 1969 Dorothy Ashby track “Windmills of Your Mind,” as confirmed by popular sampling database WhoSampled.
While there are obvious similarities between the Final Fantasy theme and “Final Fantasy” itself, unfortunately the true source of the sample has nothing to do with the role-playing series. Of course, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility to think that Drake might include musical cues from a video game. He’s done it before, particularly with the track “6 God,” which samples the “Haunted Chase” music from Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest. With his apparent love of gaming, particularly Fortnite, it’s easy to believe he could have tapped Final Fantasy for this track, too.
Drake is far from the first rapper to sample gaming tracks, too. Previously, Eminem sampled SoulCalibur on the track “Hellhound,” and Young Jeezy used GoldenEye tidbits in “Soul Survivor.” Rap is probably one of the musical genres we do, in fact, see most gaming references from, so if you’re disappointed Drizzy didn’t go JRPG on us this time, just wait. Someone else might—or already has.
