Drake reaction videos dominate YouTube

Drake’s May 15 release of “ICEMAN” set off a wave of YouTube reaction videos centered on two tracks, “Make Them Pay” and “Make Them Remember,” according to YouTube listings reviewed on May 17. Several creators used “FIRST REACTION” or “1st reaction” in their titles and descriptions, signaling immediate post-release coverage rather than retrospective commentary. The uploads appeared within hours of the songs landing on YouTube, and some channels framed the tracks as new entries in Drake’s long-running disputes with Kendrick Lamar and other industry figures. Drake’s own official videos were also drawing seven-figure view counts by May 17. ### Which Drake songs are driving the reaction cycle? Drake’s official YouTube upload for “Make Them Pay” showed 1,140,685 views one day after posting, while “Make Them Remember” showed 1,558,628 views one day after posting. Both videos were listed on Drake’s channel and tied to the May 15 “ICEMAN” release. USA Today reported on May 15 that Drake had dropped three albums at once — “ICEMAN,” “Habibti” and “Maid of Honour” — putting “ICEMAN” at the center of a broader release event. (youtube.com) That wider rollout gave reaction channels multiple entry points, but YouTube results reviewed on May 17 showed “Make Them Pay” and “Make Them Remember” emerging as two of the most actively discussed tracks. ### Which YouTube creators moved fastest? Knox Hill’s video, titled “NO MORE BIG THREE!! | Rapper Rects to Make Them Pay (FIRST REACTION),” was listed with 3,082 views 36 minutes after posting when reviewed on May 17. The description said Drake “fires shots at kendrick, j. cole, dj khaled,” showing how creators were packaging the song as diss-record material from the outset. Lost In Vegas posted “Drake Make Them Pay REACTION,” and the listing showed 3,738 views 52 minutes after posting when reviewed on May 17. (usatoday.com) Its description called the upload a “1st reaction” and said more videos from the project were coming, indicating channels were treating “ICEMAN” as a series rather than a one-off upload. A smaller channel, Urban Anime Hub, posted “DRAKE ‘MAKE ’EM PAY’ FIRST REACTION!” on May 15, and another channel, Smoke N Budz Network, posted “Drake Said WHAT! ‘Make Them Pay’ First Reaction” the same day. (youtube.com) Those listings showed that the reaction push extended beyond large music-commentary channels to smaller creators chasing the same release window. ### Why are so many videos labeled “FIRST REACTION”? YouTube listings reviewed on May 17 repeatedly used phrases such as “FIRST REACTION” and “1st reaction” in titles or descriptions. (youtube.com) On Knox Hill’s channel, the phrase appeared in the title itself; Lost In Vegas used “1st reaction” in the description; Urban Anime Hub used “FIRST REACTION” in the title. Those labels matter because they tell viewers the creator is hearing the song in real time, a format that has become standard for rap releases built around surprise drops, lyric decoding and feud speculation. (youtube.com) In this case, the wording also matched the speed of the uploads: the public view counts on several videos were still in the low thousands and the elapsed posting times were under an hour when reviewed. ### How are creators framing the songs? (youtube.com) Knox Hill’s description said Drake “fires shots at kendrick, j. cole, dj khaled,” while Urban Anime Hub’s description said the track felt like one where Drake was “sending messages” and promised a breakdown of “hidden shots and possible meanings.” Those descriptions show creators presenting the songs less as standalone tracks than as documents to decode. Search results around the songs reflected the same framing. (youtube.com) SoapCentral wrote that “Make Them Pay” appeared to address J. Cole’s decision to exit the 2024 feud, and Complex reported that fans were closely dissecting a lyric on “Make Them Remember.” Reuters could not independently verify every interpretation attached to the lyrics, but the YouTube metadata shows reaction channels were building videos around those readings. ### What can viewers watch next? As of May 17, Drake’s official “Make Them Pay” and “Make Them Remember” videos were still live on YouTube, and reaction channels including Knox Hill and Lost In Vegas had their uploads available alongside them. The next measurable marker will be whether those reaction videos continue to accumulate views as more creators post track-by-track responses to “ICEMAN” in the days after the May 15 release. (youtube.com) (soapcentral.com)