Verse two shifts the focus to Sandi’s brother, Uncle Steve. In the Graham household, Steve filled the void left by Drake's estranged father, acting as a buffer during Sandi and Aubrey’s worst domestic flashpoints.
Drake illustrates these escapes with grounded details: "You used to tell me every day it will get better / Got that domestic aggression, that winter weather." Whenever home became unbearable, Steve offered Drake a sanctuary. He let him borrow his car, gave him pocket money to take dates out, and paid for Drake's flight to visit family in Memphis. Steve kept him tethered to normalcy while Drake wrote early tracks for his mixtape So Far Gone.
The lyric, "It's like '09 in your basement and I'm in love with Nebby," references Drake's high school girlfriend Zineb "Nebby" Koutroumanis, an early muse who appears throughout his early discography. Uncle Steve gave Drake the physical and mental space to write those early hits. Drake thanks him directly for never asking for repayment once the multimillion-dollar contracts arrived.
| Verse Section | Target Figure | Core Narrative Reality | Key Geographic Landmark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verse 1 | Sandi Graham (Mother) | Exhaustion of Degrassi income, chronic illness, suburban eviction fears | Forest Hill / Weston Road, Toronto |
| Verse 2 | Uncle Steve (Maternal Uncle) | Surrogate fatherhood, loaning cars, sheltering Drake during family clashes | Uncle Steve's Basement, Ontario |
| Verse 3 & Outro | Evelyn Sher (Grandmother) | Visiting long-term palliative care, failing health, emotional audio sign-off | Baycrest Centre, Bathurst Street |
