Music Video Breakdown: 'God's Plan' by Drake

The music video for “God’s Plan” opens with a title card: “The budget for this video was $996,631.90.” A second title card follows on its heels, alleging that Drake and his label “ gave it all away.” Over the course of the video, Drake saunters through the streets of Miami, brightening the days of unsuspecting community members with donations—groceries, scholarships, cars, literal stacks of cash.

The music video sets a tone of optimism at the very start, as an older man reminisces about how he knew Denzel Washington and Wesley Snipes in his youth. He goes on to note that though he doesn’t make a living comparable to them, he enjoys similar levels of good health. At the end of the monologue, the man notes, “It’s a good life, it’s a good life.” He doesn’t need all the money in the world to feel happy.

This attitude embodies the sentiment Drake expresses throughout the video. Drake gives away a million dollars because he doesn’t need it to enjoy a good life. Despite this generosity, Drake admits that he still suffers no shortage of haters: “It’s a lot of bad things / That they wishin’ / … On me.” However, he refuses to let this spite perturb him, as he indicates through his goofy dance moves and beaming smile.

The people featured in this video possess this smile as well. Drake doesn’t paint the depicted Miami neighborhood as sullen, nor does he paint himself as a saint, drying the tears of the weary. Instead, Drake portrays himself as a man who simply likes to help out and party with the people: In a scene about halfway through the video, he jumps up and down with a hallway full of high schoolers as the beat to one of the stanzas in the song drops. At the end of the video, the man from the introduction says once again, “It’s a good life, it’s a good life.” After getting caught up in the upbeat rhythm of the song, and involuntarily smiling along with all of the joyous people in the video, any viewer would feel obliged to agree.