Running Through the 6.....

Drake is not only known for his amazing raps and lyrics, but he is notorious for making new words and acronyms. His most popular acronym is “yolo”—you only live once, which is from his song The Motto. The famous line from the song says “you only live once that’s the motto n*gga yolo.” He also coined the acronym OVO which means October’s Very Own, because he was born in October. OVO is now the name of his own record label.

In February 2015, Drake released his fourth mix tape titled “If you’re Reading this it’s too Late.” On the mix tape is a song called Know Yourself that contained a now famous lyric that says “running through the six with my woes.” When the song came out, people assumed the “woes” in the lyric referred to what normally a woe is, either some kind of stress, sorrow, worry, or anything else weighing on his mind. Even with that definition of woe, the line makes perfect since. He is running through the 6 (his hometown) thinking about his woes.

However, it turns out that woes in the song does not mean any of that, but it is actually an acronym that Drake made up meaning “working on excellence” which is in reference to his crew. The lyric then translates to running through his hometown with his crew—running through the 6 with my woes.

Drake explained in an interview that everyone can always be working to better themselves, and those are the type of people he wants to surround himself with. Since his whole crew is always working on excellence, they are his woes. His crew is not the only people that can be referred to as woes. A woe can be any person who is working on excellence.

I love this acronym and I am probably going to start using it frequently. So here’s to all the woes out there, keep on keeping on!