Drake praised for empowering women with star-studded new video

Fans are loving Drake's new music video. Photo / YouTube

Drake fans have shared their delight after the rapper dropped a surprise track and accompanying video, which features a large number of female celebrities.

Stars including actresses Zoe Saldana, Letitia Wright and Olivia Wilde are among those in the video for Nice For What, and Drake has been praised for highlighting female "empowerment" according to DailyMail.

Tiffany Haddish, Michelle Rodriguez, Issa Rae, Rashida Jones, Tracee Ellis Ross and Emma Roberts also appear.

The clip was directed by Karena Evans, who also directed the musician's video for God's Plan, and the track includes a sample of Lauryn Hill's 1998 song Ex-Factor.

Drake has been hailed for showcasing women in the video, with one fan writing on Twitter: "The dopest thing about #Niceforwhat video is drake took a back seat in his own video and let a bunch of strong, beautiful women take lead role…

"We only saw him maybe 4 times."

"Drake wasn't even the focus in his own video instead he highlighted amazing women like Issa Rae, Tracee Ellis Ross, Yara, Rashida Jones, Michelle Rodriguez, Olivia Wilde, Zoe Saldana and many more and the song is (fire) too," one said, adding that it was "amazing".

Drake wasn’t even the focus in his own video instead he highlighted amazing women like Issa Rae, Tracee Ellis Ross, Yara, Rashida Jones, Michelle Rodriguez, Olivia Wilde, Zoe Saldana and many more and the song is 🔥🔥 too. Amazing! #NiceForWhat pic.twitter.com/oxM7hBDBt7

— germery (@smoaksqueen) April 7, 2018

One fan said releasing the video was "the smartest move Drake could made, while at the same time successfully capturing the world's undivided attention in recognizing the significance of women empowerment."

They added: "Very well executed, to say the least, especially with 333k views at the time of this tweet."

"The woman empowerment in Drake's #NiceForWhat music video is so refreshing," another said.

One fan said they "teared up" watching Nice For What, adding: "All those queens, all that beauty, all that female empowerment.

"We gonna keep slaying, and not for nobody else, but for our damn selves!"

Within six hours, the video had been viewed more than one million times.

The woman empowerment in Drake's #NiceForWhat music video is so refreshing. All that beauty mixed fun I'm living.

— Pop-Li🦄 (@_popley) April 7, 2018