DUBAI: Canadian rapper Drake recently dropped his latest album “More Life” and fans around the world went wild but Arab admirers took to social media to explain why they, in particular, were so excited about the album which has set a new record.
In a song called “Portland,” the Canadian artist referencing a Toronto-based shisha bar called Habibiz, saying “it’s all habibiz ting, ya?”
Arab social media users picked up on his use of the Arabic language and some took to Twitter to celebrate while others were just very, very confused.
“Arabs on twitter acting like Drake invented the word Habibi,” one user tweeted.
Arabs on twitter acting like Drake invented the word Habibi ....
— salamسلام (@Saalaaaam) March 29, 2017
“lmao at drake saying “habibi ting” in portland my guy u confusing me,” another said.
lmao at drake saying "habibi ting" in portland my guy u confusing me
— m (@odairiam) March 28, 2017
Meanwhile, some got down to celebrating Drake’s use of the word.
drake really said "it's all habibis ting" lol pic.twitter.com/YyCdySIJTd
— Tony Abraham (@TonyAbraham) March 19, 2017
Laptops were pushed aside.
As soon as I heard "it's a habibi ting" pic.twitter.com/7mQB2fTWFd
— A. Sulaiti (@AbMS19) March 20, 2017
Some just couldn’t understand what was going on.
When Drake said "Habibi Ting Aye" pic.twitter.com/ey8Z4wUkFI
— farah (@zjmftdrizzy) March 19, 2017
Drake ended Ed Sheeran’s two-week reign atop the Billboard 200 album chart on Monday, selling a monster 505,000 copies of his new album “More Life,” according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.
The rapper, the world’s best-selling artist of 2016, took the No. 1 spot, setting a new streaming record and bringing home the biggest US sales week for any album since his 2016 release “Views.”
Nielsen said 257,000 units were earned from streaming, beating Drake’s previous record-setting 163,000 streaming units for “Views.”
The Billboard 200 album chart tallies units from album sales, song sales (10 songs equal one album) and streaming activity (1,500 streams equal one album).
Drake’s new release pushed British singer-songwriter Sheeran’s “Divide” into second place on the Billboard 200 with some 118,000 units sold.
(With Reuters)
