Know Yourself

The Ancient Greek aphorism "know thyself" is one of the Delphic maxims and has been attributed to a number of ancient Greek sages, including Pythagoras and Socrates. Plato employed the term extensively by having the character of Socrates say "know thyself" to motivate his dialogues. The phrase "Know Yourself" first appeared on a Drake cut at the end of Nothing Was the Same's "From Time." Over time the rapper has made the maxim a recurring theme in songs such as "0 to 100," where he transforms it into a command: "Know yourself, know your worth, nigga!" Now it gets its own song.

Drake raps here about "Runnin' through the 6 with my woes." According to the Toronto MC, "woes" stands for "working on excellence."

The song has become an anthem for Drake's home city of Toronto with fans chanting about "running through the 6" with their woes. (The '6' is a reference to Toronto's area codes, 416 and 647, which is often used by Drake in his songs.) Drake told Fader: "I always used to be so envious, man, that Wiz Khalifa had that song 'Black and Yellow,' and it was just a song about Pittsburgh. Like, the world was singing a song about Pittsburgh! And I was just so baffled, as a songwriter, at how you stumbled upon a hit record about Pittsburgh. Like, your city must be elated! They must be so proud. And I told myself, over the duration of my career, I would definitely have a song that strictly belonged to Toronto but that the world embraced. So, 'Know Yourself' was a big thing off my checklist."