Toosie Slide

'Toosie Slide' is harmonically near-static by design. OZ's production philosophy — heavy on hi-hat layers, snare hits, and bass drum kicks with minimal melodic or chordal content — leaves the harmonic skeleton intentionally bare. The song's memorability and commercial impact come entirely from rhythmic precision and Drake's melodic vocal delivery, not from harmonic development. It is a production approach OZ had already demonstrated on 'Sicko Mode', taken to its logical extreme.

Drake wrote 'Toosie Slide' with Turkish-Swiss producer Ozan Yildirim, known professionally as OZ. By Drake's own account, the song began as a meditation on Michael Jackson's moonwalk — he had no intention of creating a dance track. The song's direction changed entirely when social media influencer Toosie uploaded a clip on March 29, 2020, showing him and friends doing a dance challenge to the unfinished track on TikTok. The clip exploded. Two days later, Drake declared ownership and announced a release date. OZ, who had previously produced 'Sicko Mode' for Travis Scott (featuring Drake) and worked with Drake on 'Omertà' and 'Gold Roses' in 2019, built the beat around his characteristic layered hi-hats and snare drum, leaving deliberate space for Drake's melodic delivery.

Released April 3, 2020, 'Toosie Slide' paired OZ's minimalist trap production with Drake's melodic sing-rap to make a dance track almost by accident — the song went viral on TikTok before Drake had even announced it. It debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making Drake the first male artist to accomplish three number-one debut entries. Billboard called it the 'Cha Cha Slide of the TikTok generation.'