Play Me Some Simpin, Mane: Drake - Nothing Was the Same

http://www.missinfo.tv/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/NWTS_web_2.jpg

http://www.urblife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/JanetJacksonPoeticJustice.jpg

The child Drake cover is better, and the standard edition cover. Adult Drake is deluxe cover, thankfully.

i like both

i also like the one where he looked like he was on to catch a predator

so i'm good all the way around

I like both, too. Will be buying both, sigh.

01 Tuscan Leather
02 Furthest Thing
03 Started From the Bottom
04 Wu-Tang Forever
05 Own It
06 Worst Behavior
07 From Time
08 Hold On, We're Going Home
09 Connect
10 The Language
11 305 to My City [ft. Detail]
12 Too Much
13 Pound Cake [ft. Jay-Z]/Paris Morton Music 2

Deluxe adding:

14 Come Thru
15 All Me

lol wu tang forever wtf

that's fake right?

nah that's real

"tuscan leather", "wu-tang forever" and "pound cake" are really the only ones that scan as drake courting drake memes

this song sounds fantastic http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/video/drake-too-much/n40731

i sort of enjoy "hold on we're going home" but this is suuuper dull

glad this remains not for me

Sampha contribution on this >>> his recently released EP.

I take it this has leaked?

Lies.

unlistenable

192 kbps true

i do appreciate how 192kbps is considered "unlistenable" these days

PROGRESS

lol yeah that's right boys dual stereo 320 will beef up this dribble of weak conceited piss a treat

haha

lol.

Hold On, We're Going Home is the best thing on this imo. Although I don't mind the jam with Sampha.

What tracks did Hudson Mohawke do btw? Nothing on this album particularly sounds like him.

i wasnt even hyperbolating about unlistenable fwiw, it took me two goes to get to the end of this and it was like pulling my fingernails out

think it was halfway through the jhene aiko number in particular where i began to develop a migraine of pure tedium and contempt so powerful i had to walk away

"connect" is the hudmo track

My classmates, they went on to be chartered accountants
Or work with their parents, but thinking back on how they treated me
My high school reunion might be worth an appearance
Make everybody have to go through security clearance

Anyway, it's probably a lost cause to try to rep for this here, but I like this overall. It meanders quite a bit, but the highs are pretty glorious.

I actually think it's his most concise effort yet, really smart editing. Flows fantastic, too.

this is pretty disappointing overall imo

It's pretty great imo.

j0rd being disappointed in this is actually making me want to listen to it

idk why

loool

ha ha

I think it's fantastic. Take Care has higher highs, but his rapping is very very very good here, some of the year's best, and this is whittled down and far more concise than the bloated Take Care.

Also, 40 fucking demolishes this, this is 40's album more than Drake's at times, I feel.

Also, 40 fucking demolishes this, this is 40's album more than Drake's at times, I feel.

so many feels

j0rdan being disappointed in this makes me even more perplexed than before as to what the hell he thinks drake does well

#drakefeelingstwitter is the fucking worst for real

like whatever, side-eye if you're into that wishy-washy production but really identifying with this dude is beyond acceptable

really identifying with this dude is beyond acceptable

HARDCORE OTM

#drakefeelingstwitter is the hipster version of everyone's lame facebook friends posting buzzfeed's "i'm an introvert too!" articles

j0rdan being disappointed in this makes me even more perplexed than before as to what the hell he thinks drake does well

― lex pretend, Tuesday, September 17, 2013 4:07 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark

i'm still working out my thoughts on this as i write a review but i basically just find this album to be really un-dynamic. so many of the beats are just gray and amelodic. like, too much of this record sounds like squeezing the water out of a sponge. i don't get at all why people are putting the production on this album on a pedestal, to me it represents the frostbitten drake/40 sound going backwards.

drake is basically the same but man, the other record had suuuuuuuch much better production. this is more thematic but the best songs on 'take care' were like... "over my dead body"'s bright, crisp piano sample or "take care"'s organ house or the joint that samples that static major youtube OR A FUCKING STEVIE HARMONICA SOLO.

basically i think they bought too much into their own hype. this album is masturbatory as fuck. i like it and i still think the singles (including the motion and too much) are some of the best of the year, but i feel like i'm gonna be experiencing cognitive dissonance re this record on the level of my beautiful dark twisted fantasy.

Yeah, I agree, a lot of the production choices feel less revelatory and imaginative than Take Care's. I also feel strangely distanced from some of these songs, which is odd, given how ardently Drake stresses relatability on them. But the standouts are fantastic, and even the tracks that don't make much of an initial impression click with me intermittently, at unexpected times, which makes me feel like there's more going on under the surface that I haven't picked up on. I hate that I have to file a review so quickly; I would have liked more time to let this gestate before rendering a verdict.

yeah i kinda figured after Take Care and all the rap singles he guested on in 2012 and "Started From The Bottom" that this would be more of a Rap Album With Beats plus the occasional "Hold On" type record but it isn't

this is definitely his "see i'm a real rapper" album

in his mind at least

well he's a terrible real rapper

figured out why i can't get 100 percent on board with "hold on we're going home": the drums

i'm surprised this is compared MBDTF and not Graduation...coming after his big, sprawling, =ambitious opus (LR) and now a very direct, lean version of his sound.

agree the rapping and flow is untouchable but the production has less highs and is more even. it's an interesting album, taking me some time to wrap my head around it.

"the language" is incredible

so many of the beats are just gray and amelodic. like, too much of this record sounds like squeezing the water out of a sponge

Hmm I'd have described Take Care in much these terms, even ignoring drake I found the album drab production-wise

Hipster/buzzfeed/introvert thing a truth bomb though, everyone revelling uselessly in their ~sensitivity~ (all the scare tildes in the world necessary)

i'm surprised this is compared MBDTF and not Graduation...coming after his big, sprawling, =ambitious opus (LR) and now a very direct, lean version of his sound

yeah this strikes me as mostly otm... i was only comparing it to MBDTF in terms of my own feelings vs the consensus

Is there a strong consensus this is a great album though? The few reviews I've seen have been 6/10 or 7/10 hedgebetting, or Twitterian "lol feelings" dismissals (Lex's scare tildes being in a category of their own)

yeah i could be wrong! we'll see

i feel like his critical acceptance/review ratings will just continue to go up regardless of whether anyone thinks this is better than Take Care (which doesn't seem to be a very common opinion)

found the album dull and irritating, surprising no one

this is my favorite album of his from a production POV. I like the minimal piano lines and overall coldness of the sound.

that said, being completely unable to identify with / sympathize with / feel engaged by his narrative style is a massive stumbling block for m.e

'started from the bottom' is my favorite drake single

i still like "fancy" and "miss me" more than any of the hits from the last couple records tbh

The hits are generally the weakest things on the records, I find.

"Take Care" was a terrific single; it really soared as a radio hit.

meanwhile I'm listening to "305 To My City" and hating the hell out of it.

'started from the bottom' is my favorite drake single

― rap steve gadd (D-40), Tuesday, September 17, 2013 10:24 PM (59 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

agree with this I think, though alfred is right that "Take Care" always sounded great on radio.

all the advance tracks from this album -- started, hold on, wu-tang, too much... even the motion -- are the best ones imo

i thought "started from the bottom" was basic as fuck but then i heard it while stoned and became transfixed by the drum programming. now i think it's amazing.

im into 'worst behavior' & 'the language'

Ack! Keep forgetting that "Take Care" was a single!

"305 to my city" is total garb

actually i kinda like this song... there's at least layers to this beat

305 to my city is def the weakest on the record

i like this album more than any of his others. from a musical POV, it's easily the strongest imo.

I liked the "Take Care" through "We'll Be Fine" sequence on TC, with Drake working his flow around the sumptuous beats. After this one he's just going MEH MEH MEH MEH in that way of his I can't stand.

I like "Hold On, We're Going Home" more now than I did last month, although I gotta get over this lech singing "You're a good girl and you know it"

the hooks, the beats, songfulness in general are stepped up in a big way

too bad everything he raps abt is so lost-in-your-head boring

'hold on we're going home' is like the reverse 'take care' to me in that it sounds better on the album than radio

I haven't managed to fall for "Hold On" yet. I guess I'm looking forward to hearing the album, but "Started From The Bottom" kinda killed my boner for this.

agreed that "305 to my city" is the weakest thing here, down to the why-didn't-you-just-get-future? eye-rolling detail appearance.

i dunno though, i've always found drake relatable-- moreso than kanye, even, and that holds for me on this record.

no one would know detail was on that song if he hadn't decided to put him on the tracklist

from a musical POV, it's easily the strongest imo.

yeah i just don't get this at all. take care has better production by MILES.

if you really dig the production on this album you should go back and listen to 'so far gone' ... it's a dead ringer in a lot of places

better beats than just about anything on this album

over my dead body, take care, marvin's room, lord knows, cameras, doing it wrong, the real her, look what you've done, the ride

sensitivity is fine but aubs is a pretty poor example thereof

it's not really sensitivity though, it's scare-tildes sensitivity, sensitivity as posturing, it's pure ego. drake has never once penned a line that makes me think "THAT REALNESS" - he has no insights into the human condition to offer. the hardman mockery of him has never quite rung true b/c obv there's nothing wrong with emotion or sensitivity as countless rappers before him have demonstrated; it's because he uses signifiers of it to prop up his ego

his best singles are obviously "best i ever had" and "the motto" btw, "take care" is piss-weak and "started from the bottom" is laughable

that was my exact point, fool

check ralph tresvant iirc

Loving this alternative cover:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BSPb3JiCYAEmj_P.jpg

Ironic 'started from the bottom' tweets vs serious ones. Which is worse?

I don't like the songwriting or beats on any of those songs j0

Renn what do u find "relateable" about drake? Other than being Canadian lol

how does anyone solemnly sit thru 'the language' without mentally shouting versaceversaceversaceversace over the verses idgi

"the motto" and "best i ever had" are the best drake singles

I don't like the songwriting or beats on any of those songs j0

― rap steve gadd (D-40), Wednesday, September 18, 2013 9:36 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

o___________O

i certainly don't see what makes them superior to the production on this record

imo everything is just tighter ... less meandering

katherine's tumblr post on this was really good

d, i'll respond to this when i have more time. just wanted to say i'm not ignoring your question.

Yes! What she said about "Hold On..." is what I tried to say last night. It's such a stupid song, lacking any of Drake's "self-awareness" or whatever.

lot of great pop songs are stupid though

katherine's tumblr post on this was really good

― 乒乓, Wednesday, September 18, 2013 4:48 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
link?

oh hi

a) thanks!

b) http://katherinestasaph.tumblr.com/post/61597928034/some-scattered-thoughts-on-the-drake-album-and-women

c) (anything stupid said in this post is due to writing it at like 2 a.m. with a neck cramp. this is my story that I am sticking to etc)

hah i wasn't sure if linking to it would be cool or not. but yeah, really good

lot of great pop songs are stupid though

― J0rdan S

yes but this pop song asks us to feel sympathy for the hero saying overwrought, masochistic twaddle about his relationship

tbh it would be better if it were at all masochistic

"Endlessly, I can't get over you/You left your mark on me" sounds masochistic to me

ennhh, just sounds like generic pickup-line flattery

oh man you mention the GTA V review "fallout" which made me swear this is my last year in the fuckin' game.

great piece katherine.

yah

I like this album a lot, but ultimately I'm probably filing this away in the Late Registration/Amnesiac/Neon Bible folder of really good, not-quite-great albums that don't do quite enough to distinguish themselves from their predecessors so they can't quite escape the shadow of the album that came before them

i can't wrap my head around the idea that late registration isn't distinguished from college dropout

Probably stupid of me to open up another Late Registration debate, especially since I do love that album. But ultimately I think of it mostly as a continuation of College Dropout, expanding on the same ideas. It adds some new tweaks and offers some amazing standouts, but doesn't break radically from what came before it. It's not an 808s or a Yeezus.

i prefer LR but i don't object to the idea. he practically asked for his 2nd and 3rd albums to be thought of that way with their titles.

same way Drake was practically asking for obvious jokes by making another Drake album and calling it Nothing Was The Same

lol the ideal rapgenius artist

excellent stuff as ever, katherine. (can someone explain the GTA thing to me quickly? video games are so far off my radar i don't even know what they look like.)

But I don’t have Drake feelings; to me they’re almost a red flag. If someone tells me he relates to women the way Drake would, I would be rather put off.

POW

bonus pts for the "matte black truck" mention obv

the other thing i liked about that reminder is kalenna presaging the wu tang glomming

i'm listening to this now and i physically shuddered at "girl don't treat me like a stranger, girl you know i seen you naked" pathetic attempt at power play. this dude is gross

I'm not being an original here but ugh, massive cringe at the 'Courtney from Hooters on Peachtree' line.

Drake and Courtney, in happier times before she flew back to her tree

http://cdn2.wordonroad.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/drakeowll2.jpg

I like this album a lot, but ultimately I'm probably filing this away in the Late Registration/Amnesiac/Neon Bible folder of really good, not-quite-great albums that don't do quite enough to distinguish themselves from their predecessors so they can't quite escape the shadow of the album that came before them

― Evan R, Wednesday, September 18, 2013 11:43 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ha i was just coming in to say this seems like a total New Jersey

does drake seem like he'd rock an inappropriate fedora while telling you he's a nice guy

http://cdn.rap-up.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/drake-vma-2.jpg

that XXL poster needs to be on a huge billboard in Toronto

been singin "motherfuckkas never love us" all weekend, dope hook

drake was just on espn talking abt his friendship w/ johnny manziel or something idk the sound was off in the deli

this dude is the most insufferable thing

^

Had this on while doing work this morning, and only got to a little passed "Hold On, We're Going Home," so obviously it deserves and will soon get a much closer listening from me, but I was honestly finding it pretty dull. Don't know if the criticisms lodged against him (I believe the excellent Katherine St. Asaph piece was linked somewhere above, though I don't think that Alfred's response, which I'm naturally sympathetic with, was) are finally starting to sink in with me, or if this is just a sonically less interesting than the last two (impeccably sounding, at the very least) albums, but I'm not very anxious to give this more attention.

I kind of like "Hold On, We're Going Home" in spite of its Draking Problems. Not proud. Not ashamed.

i like this album way better than any of his others. his persona still grates, for me, but outside of him becoming a completely different person, this musically is a lot less frustrating to me than his earlier stuff

My view on Drake (and mainly, Take Care) is that he is from a completely different universe from mine, not one I want to be in, but one I feel compelled to peek in from time to time. However, NWTS's production bores me and it's one those cases where I wont patient enough to let it grow on me, I'll just go back to Lord Knows.

the production on here is so much better & less gauche than on 'take care'

imo

I wish '5 am in Toronto' was on it, really. I like that song better than any on NWTS.

^^

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BU8w7B4CcAAiZyP.jpg

ha

http://theshadowleague.com/articles/drake-officially-shut-hip-hop-s-door-on-gen-x-with-nwts

Let a hundred Drake songs bloom and crush your head

http://www.stereogum.com/1489451/the-drakeography-the-100-best-drake-songs/franchises/listomania/

stop that!

there are 100 drake songs

need to sit down.

putting 'money to blow' at 94 is criminal

as is the entire concept obv

there are 100 drake songs

that's where I was, too

everything drake ever did, ranked

this guy is such a dullard

"Us" remix didn't make the top 100?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQTHP1yYbkE

I keep thinking about how this song is about "no new n*ggas" and then new guy Drake takes it and makes "No New Friends."

ah yeah, i totally forgot about that song, it was good. that whole ranking was pretty bizarre imo, but then if i loved drake i guess i'd like more songs than just the small number of ones i do.

reviewed the album: http://blogs.citypaper.com/noise/index.php/2013/09/album-review-nothing-was-the-same-by-drake/

rap

game

cronut

so good

For 212 of the last 222 weeks, at least one song by or featuring Drake has been in the top 10 of Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop airplay charts – he has literally never left heavy rotation on rap radio once since becoming a star, a level of sustained market saturation that virtually no act has ever enjoyed in any major radio format ever.

holy shit

That's a very good review some dude.

thx

the funniest thing about that stat is it'd actually be 216 weeks if i'd counted "All of the Lights" since he's one of the million unbilled backup singers on that.

yeah that was O__o

good otm read

lol rtc

o i c take that back-- lol some dude

lmao

If Drake isn’t really much of a rapper and isn’t really much of a singer, one supposes he deserves some credit for fusing both skills together so inseperably – the way Kevin Smith can pad out his resume as “actor/director” when putting Silent Bob in his movies.

Y'all do know that this album is going to be considered a classic, right?

applause for some dude, brilliant review

Y'all do know that this album is going to be considered a classic, right?

lol "consensus"

cosigning the praise for some dude's review.

Love the idea of significance p**n.

it feels way more like this is the New Jersey that confirms Take Care as Drake's consensus classic imo

Well that's what you want to believe. This one is equally good and will be equally big.

that wouldn't make it a "classic"

We'll see.

i think most people on this thread HAVE seen ie listened to the grim thing

a classic exists only in the ears of the listener

Take Care had 7 big radio hits, all of which either were singles or sounded like obvious singles by the time it was released. NWTS has a couple big ones so far but I dunno, I don't hear the same kinda songs that are gonna keep it on the radio a year after the release date. Obv should never underestimate Drake's grip on the radio, I'm just saying I'll be surprised if this equals TC's success.

sort of feel like drake fans' constant insistence on how "relevant" he is and how he embodies our times and how his albums are consensus-acknowledged "classics" is totally illustrative of shipz' line about significance porn

The Black Album is one of Drake's top 5 favorite albums, all he really learned from Jay-Z is how to act so important that people feel important just by listening to you. He has 3 albums and they're all Black Album style career recaps.

ilm isn't about significance porn is it though, with all the weezy and kanye threads from the past five years

We got a lotta Drake threads too. I'm talking about the content of the music, not taking issue with people listening to and discussing hugely popular artists.

yeah that's true

what's this album's "Velcro Fly"?

wrt significance porn, is it taken as given that this album owes a conscious debt to kendrick's?

this ain't no new jersey imo

he's had two top ten singles off this album already

a New Jersey is a hit album with hit singles

i mean, when i think of a contemporary new jersey i think of lady gaga, this is nowhere near as clumsy—it's a refinement of his pre-existing aesthetic

The Black Album is one of Drake's top 5 favorite albums, all he really learned from Jay-Z is how to act so important that people feel important just by listening to you. He has 3 albums and they're all Black Album style career recaps.

― Jean-Claude Brand Ambassador (some dude), Thursday, September 26, 2013 8:24 AM (1 hour ago)

can i guess his other 4?

some ugk album
aaliyah
some coldplay or radiohead album
some kind of wu tang related album, probably liquid swords

Idk. Ship is a great writer and all but he writes off one of the most distinct voices of his generation as basically a plagiarist who can't sing or rap but who has nonetheless dominated the charts for years now doing just that. It kinda feels as if some part of the puzzle is missing.

yes, people have atrocious taste

better Ship's approach to the We Must Treat HIm as Important Artist approach of other magazines.

I am trying to think of things Drake could do that would ruin his career and am coming up blank

i'm glad someone is articulating that POV. I don't know that it most closely explains my experience with THIS album, but it def explains my problems with early '09 era drake

this was the review that made me listen to the record -

http://noisey.vice.com/blog/nothing-was-the-same-is-pretty-standard-drake-but-pretty-standard-drake-is-extremely-talented

Few approaches to any artists are as annoying as Must Treat Them As Important. A) popularity brooks no dissent? B) critics obv don't believe that b/c tons of popular artists get no critical love - but that sort of logic leads you to having to defend pretty much everyone w/ a stanbase, which is a critical dead-end to say the least

Like I'm basically pro-Gaga and I do think she's culturally significant, but it'd be silly to ignore her own elements of pastiche/laziness/etc

i cant read all caps reviews

i mean tbh there are a good number of Drake songs i can jam, they just aren't on this record. i feel like he's good at collaborating and bouncing off of other rappers and what made his run of 2012 guest spots enjoyable isn't carried over into NWTS at all.

also i just wanted to articulate some thoughts about his music in plain terms because i feel like the discourse around Drake has become this repetitive stalemate of "lol he's so soft" vs. "you can make fun of Drake for being soft but his music is undeniable"

jfc that vice url

The most annoying defence is definitely "drake has CHANGED THE GAME by being soft/emotionally honest". Like rap was never emotional before

yeah i didn't wanna harp to much on comparing aubs to his elders but i hear songs like "too much" that are supposed to be these deep confessionals and they feel so scattered and vague compared to a classic introspective song by jay or scarface or outkast.

I would rather listen to LL's "I Need Love" on an endless loop for a month than any given sensitive Drake song

LL needed love too

ah fuck xp

"the kid mero"

drake is kind of the rap game alicia keys, just a huge hack who's incidentally made some good music but has convinced everyone he's a genius

That's actually a pretty good comparison, right down to how vague their songwriting actually is

imagine if he played the pie-anna too.

that's a funny idea

actually I retract that statement

can i guess his other 4?

some ugk album
aaliyah
some coldplay or radiohead album
some kind of wu tang related album, probably liquid swords

You forgot Take Care and Thank Me Later.

That's actually a pretty good comparison, right down to how vague their songwriting actually is

― lex pretend, Thursday, September 26, 2013 12:33 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

sorry gonna keep raining on the drake hater parade but drake has had a parade of hits that arent so easily characterized as grammy bait

so... Drake's 14 Grammy nominations were all flukes?

sorry 13, I miscounted

drake having his songs in constant rotation on radio for the past five years isn't really comparable to people on the grammy committee who thought alicia keys brought back real soul music with "falling" is my point

like, he's a pop star making hits w/ regularity ... alicia was never that

Exactly. My whole point is that we should now have moved past the phase where we complain about Drake's lack of a singing voice and how Kanye did it first. Dude dominates this era and it can't be chalked down to the poor taste of the record buying public anymore. He's not exactly Flo Rida.

it can't be chalked down to the poor taste of the record buying public anymore

why not?

It's his Achtung Baby, man.

like, he's a pop star making hits w/ regularity ... alicia was never that

Alicia Keys 2001-2004 would disagree with you (ignoring the 2007 resurgence as it wasn't a contiguous year)

Alicia Keys being a critical darling now doesn't change the fact that for the beginning of her career, she was a critical darling AND a big crossover pop act.

My whole point is that we should now have moved past the phase where we complain about Drake's lack of a singing voice and how Kanye did it first. Dude dominates this era and it can't be chalked down to the poor taste of the record buying public anymore. He's not exactly Flo Rida.

well no, he can sell albums

When was the last time someone had a run like Drake's and you could chalk it all down to the poor taste of the record buying public, who apparently didn't notice that their hero could neither rap nor sing?

Are you his producer or something?

well, the way ship tells it no one's had a run like Drake

but since we're talking Billboard placings, which is all about sales, seems to me that it's all predicated on a combination of the record buying public buying what they buy and my not agreeing with their purchases

if you want me to list acts that have sold a bajillion records while being horrible I'll be happy to oblige you

I doubt anyone here wants that tho

Drake had 17 hot 100 singles since '09

alicia had 9, one of which was 'unplugged' and one of which was with usher

[in that '01-04 window]

i know there's an element of support for drake that is on some 'genius auteur' shit but i feel like that's generally pretty overstated ... most of his support is really, at the end of the day, that he keeps making hits. The biggest stream of contiguous massive crossover hits for a rap artist since the golden era of bad boy

an era also oddly predicated on a hero that could neither rap nor sing ie Puffy

Yes. Agreed. He has also effectively shaped how rap hits sound in this era.

Xpost.

Assorted Drake thoughts:

- I'm startled by how critic-proof he's been. It leads me to suspect that he may be very consciously two steps ahead of the critical establishment. Chalk it up to vagueness or chameleon tendencies or whatever, but he's been consistently able to have hate (from more than just pop critics) slide off him like he's wearing Vaseline.

- I think it’s really silly to keep harping on the “soft Drake” meme, when it’s a criticism that’s been leveled at him from the beginning and has never hurt his career in the slightest. I’ve always imagined him as a mentally tough person; maybe not a gun-toting psycho in the MMG vein, but apart from the most hardcore internet Clipse fans, who cares about how much weight a rapper actually moves? Personal qualities like mental toughness come through very nicely on a record, whereas on the other hand you can be an insecure, numbers-obsessed pedant like Pusha and continually make a fool of yourself in search for attention while not really building much of a long-term fanbase. (I don’t know why I have such a bone to pick with Push.)

- I also think that Drake's lackadaisical attitude, so infuriating to some, is the reason that I don't really see him gunning for anything like “significance” in the some dude sense. He doesn't seem terribly concerned with the approval of strangers, where I see “significant” albums like The Chronic or Illmatic or MBDTF or Good Kid as products of artists who have a million things to prove to everyone. I think the insecurity of artists like Dre, Nas, Kanye, Kendrick, etc fosters a neurotic perfectionism necessary for these beautifully crafted albums. I don’t see any of that neurotic perfectionism in Drake. He’s obviously concerned with quality, but not to the obsessive degree that these other artists are. That’s a lot of his appeal to me - just that he seems like an ultimately chill dude. I’m sure that plays a lot into the “relatable” thing that his fans seem to enjoy.

fwiw that was singles as a lead artist, not even counting guest spots like 'i'm on one' or 'stay scheming'

i would argue w/ that last point in that i think the mentalities that produced the chronic and illmatic were v v diff from those that produced mbdtf and good kid

the latter way way more conscious of the idea of a canon & the creation of a Classic

- I'm startled by how critic-proof he's been. It leads me to suspect that he may be very consciously two steps ahead of the critical establishment. Chalk it up to vagueness or chameleon tendencies or whatever, but he's been consistently able to have hate (from more than just pop critics) slide off him like he's wearing Vaseline.

I've always found this strange. anyone who is an enthusiastic drake supporter from day 1 = suspect imo

I totally loved So Far Gone but semi-hated Thank Me Later. I need to revisit it soon as I've started suspecting that the internet power blogger contempt for Drake at the time might have had me swayed. We'll see.

Also, agree that the self-obsessed neurotic Drake meme is hilariously overblown. He seems extremely relaxed to me, very confident in his own abilities, never chasing a hit like so many of his contemporaries (Push is an excellent example) and yet not trying to alienate people either (like Kanye of course). The way he has handled this whole Kendrick thing has been pretty exemplary, acknowledging the competition, using it to pull out a bit of aggression now and then, but really just making sure that the game remains his.

When was the last time someone had a run like Drake's and you could chalk it all down to the poor taste of the record buying public, who apparently didn't notice that their hero could neither rap nor sing?

― longneck, Thursday, September 26, 2013 4:43 PM (26 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

so you think Katy Perry is on the level of Michael Jackson in the '80s? because that's what the numbers say. you NEED to respect Katy Perry. math demands it.

Sigh.

i'm just sayin'. i think the popularity of an artist says something that's worth examining and to some extent taking seriously, but i don't think it implicitly validates everything they do or invalidates criticism.

Well I guess part of my issue with that review is that it I think it goes to lengths in trying to invalidate Drake's presence in contemporary rap. And that's kinda something else, no?

*omnipresence

i dunno i thought i gave him credit for an impressive career even w/o being impressed by the music

i mean, Muse have the #1 and #3 most played songs in alternative rock radio history. if i wrote about that, would i have to be completely reverent of that accomplishment and be wary of implying anything negative about the state of alt radio?

Well I guess part of my issue with that review is that it I think it goes to lengths in trying to invalidate Drake's presence in contemporary rap. And that's kinda something else, no?

but what if you don't think he deserves the omnipresence?

I mean, too much crit takes omnipresence for granted, you know?

Of course, but I read Ship's review more along the lines of "well, he's been omnipresent but only because the people have no ears" - and that strikes me as sorta insufficient.

haha sure but that's a position implicit in every reevaluation

it's not really a mystery to me why a "non-threatening" rapper would come to so dominate the barren pop landscape, although his longevity and omnipresence is certainly unusual. he's taken it really far.

my question upthread about what he would have to do to destroy his career was genuine btw. I can't think of anything

ehh if i was writing about his entire career i'd be more charitable about what the appeal is. i think NWTS is lacking in a lot of things about his music that have appealed to people besides the Sad Millenial Spokesperson aspect.

If he started to sound old and out of touch, people would move on. But so far he's been the guy writing the rules.

i mean i think a lot of what is unique about Drake (in good and bad ways) has been normalized to the point that we don't talk about it. but like, the way he goes from rapping to singing the exact same way in every song is kind of hilarious and bizarre.

If he started to sound old and out of touch, people would move on

I fear dude will just move (back) into movies and tv where he will be until we die

insert sadface

that "you feel like you miss those happy days well" ::abrupt shift into crooner mode:: "that makes twoooooo of uuuuuuus" flow xp

so good

my question upthread about what he would have to do to destroy his career was genuine btw. I can't think of anything

Obviously I was naive, but once I was thinking the same of Lil Wayne.

that's the thing! if Drake decided to play guitar and make a shitty rock record... it would probably be huge

I've already got him playing piano hush

drake at a piano is so plausible. for probably the first time in history, the grand piano's time as a swag symbol is nigh. franco sits at one in sprang breaaaaak-ers. has future sat at a piano in a vid?

drake as keyboard cat is pretty fun to picture

http://cdn.rap-up.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/future-letoya-honest.jpg

no doubt yall will correct me, but i feel like this setting woulda had to have been some period reimagining in the past

xp true

http://www.vibe.com/sites/vibe.com/files/styles/main_image/public/article_images/vibe-drake-chilly-gonzales.jpg

was wondering what will self had been up to lately

not a big Kid Mero fan but he definitely sums up my feelings about "Too Much": HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA YO WHO THE FUCK IS SINGING THE HOOK ON THIS SHIT B!? THE AMPHIBIAN VERSION OF TRACY CHAPMAN?

Drake had 17 hot 100 singles since '09

alicia had 9, one of which was 'unplugged' and one of which was with usher

― rap steve gadd (D-40), Thursday, September 26, 2013 1:49 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

[in that '01-04 window]

― rap steve gadd (D-40), Thursday, September 26, 2013 1:50 PM Bookmark

Billboard's rules, the way music is distributed, and the way albums are promoted have all changed a lot since that time, and each of those three things allow big artists to place more songs on the charts than in the early 2000s. Alicia Keys was huuuuuge. Ironic that the best song she's done in the past five years was written by Drake tho.

aw poor sampha

altho tbh AMPHIBIAN VERSION OF TRACY CHAPMAN is actually a superior and more enticing rvw to any the uk press have tried to boost him with

poor samphibian

Billboard's rules, the way music is distributed, and the way albums are promoted have all changed a lot since that time, and each of those three things allow big artists to place more songs on the charts than in the early 2000s. Alicia Keys was huuuuuge. Ironic that the best song she's done in the past five years was written by Drake tho.

― The Reverend, Thursday, September 26, 2013 7:00 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there being a reason for it doesn't make it not a reality! There were many, many more drake singles in heavy radio rotation than AKeys ones

this is such a weird discussion

it's an imperfect comparison obv but funny to think about and kinda otm

i think it describes a very narrow slice of why ppl like him \oO/ feel like the 'traditional' 'real soul' stuff was way more a part of alicia's narrative than 'serious important artist' is for drake

yeah someone throwing out an 'x artist is like the y of z' as a cheap shot and then the analogy being dissected for every way it does or doesn't fit perfectly is prob my least favorite of all ilm parlor games. let's not overthink whether drake is like alicia keys on a mathematical level.

Of course, but I read Ship's review more along the lines of "well, he's been omnipresent but only because the people have no ears" - and that strikes me as sorta insufficient.

― longneck, Thursday, September 26, 2013 10:36 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

how would you evaluate katy perry's omnipresence then?

and as alfred said, if you take shots at an artist - and negative critique of successful artists is valid, right? - you're implicitly saying "their stans have bad taste". i don't think shipz was at all dismissive of what drake's appeal is though.

to be real, i fully get what drake's Sad Millennial appeal is, but i think it's almost wholly rooted in character traits that i think are unhealthy and off-putting and crucially highly uninteresting.

Well for a start Katy Perry hasn't really been that influential? LAdy Gaga would probably be the better comparison if we're going there, but omnipresence in hiphop (a competitive sport in so many ways) and pop are fairly different things. Hiphop isn't the same as it was before Drake entered the game, and a lot of that has to do with Drake. Can you say that about Perry?

And I'm not in any way arguing that you can't criticize success - I do it all the time myself - but I STILL say we're past the point where we can belittle Drake because he obviously heard 808s & Heartbreaks and picked up a few tricks from Trey Songz.

Also, this thing about Hold On We're Going Home sounding just like Adorn? To the extent that it does that should be a good thing (to most people), right?

lol you haven't been reading pop stan message boards if you think pop isn't a competitive sport. though music as competitive sport is a somewhat basic angle tbh, there's little logic to it.

i would argue that the things which have changed about hip-hop are traceable more to kanye, if you're talking about middle-class interests and introspection. also, game-changing is not necessarily good! i do not defend the game-changing that led to the past few years of guetta bosh over r&b in the charts, for instance.

also it seems like you're not really taking on board the many, many criticisms of drake that have been outlined itt, it's certainly not only for his obvious influences.

To the extent that it does that should be a good thing (to most people), right?

"adorn" as performed by drake = one giant NO THANKS

i'm pretty sure i've seen katy perry stans argue her significance btw. i can't stand her but you can probably make a case for anyone as popular as she is

Pop is a competitive sport too of course, but hip hop has always been ABOUT who is on top in ways that pop has not. That's the part of the game that won't change. And Kanye is obviously the other guy who has been massively influential. Wayne would be the third, although at the moment he's not really in the game anymore. Idk, I like what rap has become because of those guys. It needed change, or else we would be listening to Pusha T all day long I guess.

What are these many many criticisms of Drake btw and why should I take account of them? I mean, the guy is far from perfect. It's just that there's been so much critical ressentiment surrounding him for so long now and it's kinda getting to the point where I think his undeniability is more interesting than the complaints about his rapping and singing and whatnot. I like his rapping and singing. I wouldn't pitch it against Jay-Z in his prime but I'd take it over, say, 80-90% of the other guys who are out at the moment.

I see way more automatic critical adoration tbh.

There are plenty of criticisms that have nothing to do with his voice or influences or even softness. Did you not read Katherine's great piece? People find him skeevy because his "sensitivity" is posturing, because he's unable to sketch out any of the characters in his songs (especially the women), ie his songwriting is poor, because his own problems - ie the things he makes the focus of his music and the means by which we're expected to identify with him - are horribly shallow and boring and basically because all of this means his much-vaunted sensitivity rings completely false. There's plenty else, this is just off the top of my head on my phone! And drake stand never ever engage with those criticisms of him

Man I hardly ever identify with ANY of the rap artist I listen to. Universality is not the issue. Why is this such a problem with Drake? If Barry White had wheezed "I want your hot love and devotion" I'd certainly love it so why shouldn't Drake be able to say it - in a genre where one doesn't even normally say those kinds of things. It has nothing to do with fandom. I am not a Drake fan, yet I'm struck by how angry you all are at him. Yeah, he's a douche. He knows he is a douche. He has given us new - passice aggressive as Al says - ways of being an asshole in rap. I applaud him for that.

*s

**?
***passive

I need to read these things before I post them. Sigh.

"He knows he's a douche" is the WORST defence both in art and irl. That makes it NO better!

Why should we praise someone whose artistic persona = passive-aggressive douche? Being more pass-agg and douchier than anyone else is not an impressive accomplishment.

Well, it works for Kanye and it works for Drake. If Drake had been simply a nice young fellow no one would have found him very interesting. Unlikeability/unsympathetic traits is pretty much a prerequisite for any rap star. You all tend to treat him as if he is trying to date your daughter or something.

Unlikeability/unsympathetic traits is pretty much a prerequisite for any rap star.

Yeah that was the route to success for Will Smith there. Maybe more seriously, what kind of essentialist fantasy are you embracing here?

Will Smith was the best you could do, huh? Sorry, these are pragmatics, not essentials.

actually painful to watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUSp9npIvuE

Definitely painful to listen to, lol.

Well, it works for Kanye and it works for Drake

Nah, aesthetically it stopped working for Kanye in 2010.

Longneck, this is what I get from you:

*asshole drives by skillfully in sleek top of the line car, intentionally crushing bunnies*

You: "See? Isn't that something to be proud of?"

Us: "...no?"

You: "Well it is and the gas mileage is great too."

*asshole drives by skillfully in sleek top of the line car, intentionally crushing bunnies*

You: "See? Isn't that something to be proud of?"

Us: "...no?"

You: "Well it is and the gas mileage is great too."

Us: "...no?"

You: "At least the asshole was AWARE he was an asshole!"

Oh right, forgives all sins.

The concept of the asshole rapper is that foreign to you, huh?

drake's relationship to his assholeishness is so much more disingenuous and unpalatable than most, this is again something that has been said before.

also rihanna might be a good comparison point in terms of a legitimately game-changing ubiquitous artist (though drake is by no means the megastar she or even nicki are) who can also legitimately be criticised for both a) the shitness of a lot of her output b) the eye-rollingly cringe nature of the persona via which she's attained her ubiquity

like really an artist being a ubiquitous game-changer should be the start of the conversation, not a final argument

I love Rihanna. Sorry folks.

Is it that much of a consensus that Drake is an insincere douche? It seems like that's the one thing everyone for sure agrees upon, but it seems to fly in the face of the guy being generally liked by his contemporaries. Obviously his music is idiosyncratic and many songs dive into his insecurities, perhaps (Marvin's Room) to such an extreme degree that it might seem prurient to some, but to me, at least, that codes more as a guy who's figured this part of his life out to the extent that he can write about it.

deej, I certainly don't consider The Chronic and Illmatic as prototypically insecure albums, but I think the late careers of those artists may shine a little light on how hungry they were to impress. I also haven't been a Drake fan from day 1 - I actually quite disliked the guy until Take Care won me over. Now it's at the point where I'm dropping 80 bucks to go see him stadium with Miggy and Future. (Those two contributed to my splurge choice a bit I suppose...)

The reason I situated Drake back in what the perception of him was in 09 is because the perception has completely changed but I don't think the music really has. NWTS is probably more like So Far Gone than his other albums, and dropping hashtags is the only really significant shift in his rapping that I can hear.

longneck are there any successful artists you'd actually criticise hard? you really seem to be saying that success is its own validation

I think one thing we're missing regarding the whole Drake/Katy Perry/Rihanna significance discussion (which is just a little silly imo) is that both Katy and RiRi are fairly fungible commodities. They leave, someone else will occupy their chart slot with a pretty similar song. Think it's fair to say that Drake occupies a fairly unique role, of his own invention to boot. I'll say the same of Nicki though, for sure.

"Longneck, why do you eat at McDonald's?"

"They are successful."

"Yes but--"

"THEY ARE SUCCESSFUL."

They leave, someone else will occupy their chart slot with a pretty similar song

i don't think this is true at all - i mean they have their imitators, sure, but no one is checking for rita ora or buying into miley's white-rihanna reinvention

and tbh i remember when katy first emerged assuming she just wouldn't fit into the pop landscape as it was then

and without wanting to bring this back to influence i think shipz covered why drake isn't that "unique"

I was a big fan of Kanye and Wayne who thought 808s and "Lollipop" were hugely disappointing turning points in their careers, so that stuff becoming the blueprint for their biggest successor and really the whole next 5 years of the genre is just depressing to me, if I was gonna wake up one day and go "no wait this stuff is actually awesome" it probably would've happened by now.

Lex, are you playing stupid now? It's not about whether or not you could critisise someone hard or not, it's about the terms of the critique. I criticise succesful artists all the time. For instance, I totally detest Eminem and everything he stands for. But this is about how we criticise Drake. Ship's review is well written but his criticisms aren't new at all, they're pretty much the consensus among everyone who follows Noz on twitter.

Unless you don't think I listened to the album and responded to it honestly, what's the issue?

I definitely think you listened to the album and wrote honestly about it. My point is that your review pretty much summed up most of the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people. I've shared a few of them myself. I just don't think those points are very convincing anymore.

...to who?

To me?

non-real hip hop people

Longneck, the realest hip-hop people there is.

Lol. I'll be dat.

now that's a phrase I haven't heard in a long time. A long time.

But your reality, how do we know of it?

Longneck's point is legit though; as I've said earlier, rappers in the game right now generally tend to like and respect Drake. Just look at the OVO Fest lineups he assembles every year. Those who make a point out of objecting to him (Common, DMX) come off as dinosaurs idolizing the good old days of a now-antiquated "REAL HIPHOP".

Lol I just had a discussion with someone who said Drake couldn't possibly make a classic album because he addresses girls in his songs. That ain't REAL hip hop.

"He knows he's a douche" is the WORST defence both in art and irl.

yep such an easy cop out

also this idea that drake is so self-aware of his douchiness?

Still, one of the things that people find both equally engrossing and just plain gross about his music is how he reinterprets the stories of others, dragging them into his own narrative without their consent. I ask how women react to him when he mentions them. "They love it. I'll get girls that hit me up like, 'Oh, that's how you feel?' Whatever. They love it. They hang up the phone and be like, 'Ah, I'm hyped!" When I compare this practice to Cam'ron's old tactic of repurposing voicemails from angry ex-lovers as skits on his albums, Drake cuts me off. "That's different. That's malicious. I never do that to girls. Every girl, there's some heartwarming sentiment there, even if it's talking about how we didn't work out. It maybe jogs their memory. It's a good thing. My phone starts blowing up every time an album comes out. Tomorrow will be one of those heavy AT&T days for me, for sure."

They love him anyway! he's so blessed!

sick neg, bro

"whatever. they love it."

drake is obvi a douche

i do think that he has a pretty unique sound at this point. synthesis is ok ... its not like he sounds like kanye

also al not liking lollipop is crazy imo

the charitable reading would put that "whatever" as a placeholder for other things these women say to Drake on the phone rather than a comment on how he feels about what they're saying to him but it's still hilariously douchey that he would say "whatever" instead of "etcetera" or "and so on" in that scenario

considering that pretty much nobody itt is a REAL HIP HOP hardass who thinks the entire problem with Drake is that he sings or writes about girls or that he's "soft" maybe we can engage with what people itt are saying instead of just responding the (real and numerous) people outside ilx who dislike Drake simply on those terms?

My comment about how Drake knows he is a douche was meant to suggest that EVERYONE knows that Drake is a douche, yet it gets hurled at him as if it is some kind of revelatory gem of criticism every so often. So what if he mentions some girl he slept with or loved or whatever in a less than sympathetic way? Rappers tend to do that. And writers tend to use and reinterpret stuff others say for their own purposes all the time. So why do we turn our moralizers up to eleven every time Drake is involved? Because he is annoying? Hell yes he is annoying. He also sounds like a sheep, but somehow that doesn´t really matter too much in the grand scheme of things. He's still ahead of the pack in almost every imaginable way and he still - as deej says - has his own sound. It is perfectly fine to criticise his craft or his songwriting or even a perceived stiffness in his delivery. What bugs me is the condescending tone we - and I do think Ship's review is symptomatic here - tend to take on just about every time we write about this guy whenever we're not fawning over him, whether we are real-hip-hop dudes who think he is soft for rapping about girls or just snarky internet rap cynics. It's so polarized - in quite predictable ways. I'd love to read something fresh and illuminating about him soon.

You might start with putting those false binaries in the trash.

i'm condescending towards Drake because i think he's kind of a dullard.

As far as the "Drake is mean to women" criticism goes, the ILX double standard drives me bonkers. I'm pretty sure I said the exact same thing in the Take Care thread a couple years back (and got called a sock for it) but let me again call attention to how much this board seems to adore Terius, who is a million times more of a man-child than Aubrey is when it comes to women.

I get that the 'they love it' thing is offputting... 2 potential explanations. One way to see it is him being obnoxious to and dismissive of his exes... and I guess I'm more of the "let him without sin cast the first stone" in that department. The second is that they actually do get along, which is also plausible. I mean, Drake seems like a clown, but a friendly one, and I really wouldn't put it past him to maintain friendly, teasing relationships with exes. Is it that unthinkable that a dude can look back amusedly at failed relationships?

Another criticism I hear: the 'vanity' issue. Obviously the guy is very pleased with the success he's had and basks in it. Drinking to accomplishments, clinking gold bars together, yada yada. I find that fun to watch, even though it's a little perverse. Isn't perverse glee, like, at least half the appeal of rap anyways? Again, I see a double standard in how other rappers get to be gleeful idiots as long as they code somewhat traditionally. Drake is obnoxious and smug, sure, but, like... isn't that part of the game?

terius and drake aren't really comparable. terius is an incredible songwriter. some of our fav terius songs are written for other people. the more terius' own persona seemed like a 'part' of his work, the worse he seemed to get. [thus the argument that 1977 is a pretty weak dream album]

drake can either play the heel, or he can be a relateable everyman. but you can't defend him like he's rick ross one minute, then talk about how relateable he is

But I think that's the interesting thing about Drake - he plays the heel and the best friend on the same album, like every album.

Fair point on the Terius distinction though

But it doesn't feel sincere, that's the whole problem with Drake.

Singers refract the songwriters' worst tendencies.

i don't think it's so much that anyone thinks Drake is especially reprehensible towards women in the larger context of rap, it's more than women/relationships take up a disproportionately large amount of his songs compared to other rappers, and it feels like the more he says on the topic, the less insightful or sympathetic he comes off.

"it's more than" = "it's more that"

Is "compared to other rappers" really a great metric?

Thinking more about the heel thing - I'm not exactly a WWE scholar, but as far as I understand, CM Punk is the most popular wrestler in ages because he essentially plays a relatable heel. I just don't think that "heel" and "relatable" are mutually exclusive.

most of my opposition to Drake stems from fundamentally disliking his voice; I rarely get to the point where I'm reacting to the content of his songs

he is also visually irritating

taking it out of a wrestling context, drake's ideas on relationships are shitty, so when i see people talk about how much they identify w/ him or how he's some progressive voice expanding people's idea of what it means to be a rapper i think it's total bullshit.

his shit is fun (if you like it musically) in a this is what not to do sense IMO.

longneck is def otm that he sounds like a sheep xp

Is "compared to other rappers" really a great metric?

it's not a metric, it's the reason people talk about his lyrics about women so much, he has so many more of them than other rappers. don't be dense.

my wife had Chelsea Lately on and I was watching with her; Drake was the guest and the first thing he did was pull out a gigantic Dyptique candle to "set the mood"; it was the corniest thing I have ever seen in my entire life and I've watched Childish Gambino videos

Aw he's just a lovable romantic

Ok lol

Corny is good. He owns it.

yolo y'all, yolo

drake's ideas on relationships are shitty, so when i see people talk about how much they identify w/ him or how he's some progressive voice expanding people's idea of what it means to be a rapper i think it's total bullshit.

this exactly

lmao @ longneck in here

i can't even make it through three consecutive songs from this thing because it is so fucking boring and longneck is telling me that because drake has made the same boring album three times i am obligated to give him credit.

i just switched from drake to mark kozalek because i was like, "who is less boring and less of an asshole than drake?" and you know what? mark kozalek is a boring asshole.

jesus christ.

So much otm in here while I've been gone. Van LS on insincerity, SD on the more he says the worse it seems, deej on how bullshit identification is here, djp on corniness, longneck on sounding like a sheep

I think deej touched on something important up there - I definitely think of Drake as a comedian rather than as a tragedian. He's self obsessed in an almost casual way, playing his image for laughs at least half the time. This of course ties in with what fennel cartwright has been trying to say about how relaxed and non-neurotic dude seems. Dude is the rap game Ross Geller, after all.

man i haven't even thought about his Schwimmer schwag in a minute

His real-world relaxed goofiness doesn't translate to record at all

- I definitely think of Drake as a comedian rather than as a tragedian. He's self obsessed in an almost casual way, playing his image for laughs at least half the time.

what Nobel Prize does he get for this?

He wins the princess and half the world to boot.

He'd explain to the princess why he's an asshole for dogfucking her best friend but it'd be okay because he's self-aware

Longneck would then appear, tell the princess why this is okay because it sells, then complain when others pointed this out.

Nah, he can have her. The princess needs to take care of her own business.

In what universe is it a good thing to be the "rap game Ross Geller"?

Ha ha this thread

In what universe is it a good thing to be the "rap game Ross Geller"?

― smang culture (DJP), Friday, September 27, 2013 8:08 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

is it too corny to say at central perk?

somehow the rap game reminds me of the frap game

ahahahaha

allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

http://splicetoday.com/pop-culture/those-rights-can-t-remain-completely-abstract

whoa Jason King: http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2013/09/28/226902477/drizzy-sings-the-blues

i think he misses the pt w/r/t aaliyah.

but otherwise that is a great great piece

In more than one way. Her voice certainly wasn't strong but it's ridiculous to say she had limited range.

That's what me blink a few times.

i mean more that drake likes aaliyah because she's a cool touchpoint

i love this album btw

tho im notoriously susceptible to like spoken word flows + good hooks & repetition so ymmv

I tried to post something about this from my phone last week while I was travelling but it didn't work so I'll just pop in now to say that the Jason King piece is more in line with what I've been wanting to read about Drake, even though I don't really agree with a few of the things he's claiming.

Revisited this after spending a few weeks away from it and it sounded excellent (helps that I traded that terrible leak for a real copy). Very good late-night drive music. It's such a continuation of Take Care that the two have already started to bleed together a bit in my mind. Definitely a step down from Take Care, but not a huge one. It's just a few flashes of inspiration—something like that Stevie Wonder harmonica solo, or another song as vital as "Bottom"—from being a truly great album.

i definitely still like it way more than take care

I totally love the Trippy Turtle Furthest Thing:
https://soundcloud.com/trippy-turtle/furthest-thing

idk i like that song but that does not improve it for me rilly

Streaming this on YouTube--first comment:

andre yo dad 11 hours ago
drake the type of nigga to pick up a bruised apple and ask who did this to you

theres a whole twitter of those jokes

they're all the worst

i think they're hilarious but i am admittedly a horrible person

i love that twitter feed

Drake the Type of ‏@DrakeTheTypee 6 Oct
Drake the type of nigga to try and pay for a grape he ate at the grocery store.

some of them can be funny if you accept beforehand that you're dealing with irredeemable homophobes

or if you accept that not all simp jokes are implicitly gay jokes

eh in this case i don't

i mean like half the jokes are specifically about how he conducts himself in a heterosexual relationship with a woman

the implication is he's a fudge on the low, no?

(obviously that's a padgett callback and not my phrase)

not really, most of the time

not really going to bat for the 8 different 'type of' twitters per se, though, serious diminishing returns on that shit

idk i just feel like i'm watching this bullshit emerging narrative from drake fans that either you love drake or you're an old homophobic boom bap rap traditionalist

propagated by noted drake stan kevin k!

but no i feel you

yeah obv it's not coming exclusively from huge drake fans i'm just saying it's becoming pervasive

Yeah that shit is stupid

but if the shoe fits....

lol

*painted nails with glitter last night* *likes brand nubian*

Ok, Drake me over with this - I went out and copped this in a store, something I haven't done with a new album in years

"Won me over"

saw this tour last nite, p lol that the whole use of the rafter thing is to walk around pointing and being like "section 205 u in camo parka i see ya, section 210 eating the soft pretzel i see ya"

also miguel was terrible live, should not be playing in such large venues

Drake me over

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnAk94I3710

saw this tour last nite, p lol that the whole use of the rafter thing is to walk around pointing and being like "section 205 u in camo parka i see ya, section 210 eating the soft pretzel i see ya"

― johnny crunch, Sunday, October 27, 2013 1:23 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

o and its like literally 20 minutes that he does this for

Don't Drake me over, when I would do anything for you

So this pops up as an ad in my FB feed from a local dentist, with the caption:

Sometimes we forget how important our teeth are! Be sure to take care of your teeth this Halloween

https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/1391717_710894785606282_2133514919_n.jpg

this is the best picture of Drake I've ever seen

he's a writer, not a biter

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BX7Qiq-IgAAoJUr.jpg

That guy deserves his own thread, obv

"Would You Like A Tour?" is one of the best tour names I've ever heard.

I finally listened to this album and it turns out I like it quite a bit and I'm going to jump off a cliff now because I can't live with this.

That was me with Take Care in '11, back when I really, really hated dude.

But yeah, I think this is a good album, and it's worn really well, so it's been a treat revisiting it this fall

i still don't think this is anywhere near as good as 'take care' and when people say it's better i kind of wretch

but it has aged pretty well

still feel like leaving new york city i m m e d i a t e l y anytime i see people dancing to "worst behavior" though

ha that's prob my favorite song on the album MUHFUCKA NEVER LOVED US

this is def his best album imo.

Really enjoyed 0 to 100/ The Catch Up I'm starting to think that if I compiled every non album Drake track, it would be a better album than what he released yet.

this is def his best album imo.

― deej loaf (D-40), Friday, October 10, 2014 9:18 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

yeah, it was how much I was enjoying "0 to 100" that inspired me to finally give NWTS a chance after what a terrible slog Take Care was

dont get me wrong it still pains me to admit i liked a drake album

These are both really good

http://soundcloud.com/octobersveryown/drake-6-god

http://soundcloud.com/octobersveryown/drake-how-bout-now/s-GOD2C

yep

"6 god" is terrible, boi 1da is such an immense hack

"how about now" is good but feels like a recently unfrozen "'take care' outtake

"heat of the moment" is the best one i think

"6 God" is stupid but at least a chance of pace from all the plinky Vinylz/Boi 1da productions of late (Believe Me, The Language, Grindin...at least 0-100 is good)

"6 God" beat is awesome

I'm generally digging Boi 1da's shtick. All his tracks are so locked in; I admire how they manage to hold my attention while doing so little.

6 god sounds like it was written by king l

the way he locks into that repeated flow pattern and that line about swishers esp

I'm generally digging Boi 1da's shtick. All his tracks are so locked in; I admire how they manage to hold my attention while doing so little.

― Evan R, Monday, October 27, 2014 4:31 PM (33 minutes ago) Bookmark

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--4AHcW9r8--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/t9xjabnos4loftiwvx1p.png

You really don't feel The Language or 0-100?

"0-100" is great, who knows how much he had to do with that though

there have been good boi 1da beats but for every dope track there's 5 of the most drab beats around

6 god is awesome

man this guy is getting radio play off any random ass soundcloud joint, this is just getting crazy

Chart News
‏@chartnews
Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay: #45 How About Now, @Drake (debut).

meanwhile even established stars like rick ross and future have albums that die on the vine after one single cuz even the song with all the promo push behind it can barely get on radio

i think radio is playing this though, it was popping up on shazam across the country

no i have definitely heard "How Bout Now" on the radio

but yeah i mean "The Motion" and "0-100" charted just off Soundcloud and never got attached to any retail project (and "Trophies" and "Marvin's Room" and "All Me" started as just Soundcloud things that weren't really singles but ended up supporting albums).

I think it's really exciting. He doesn't make a big deal about it, but he's subverted the accepted mixtape model in favor of dropping this real-time breadcrumb trail of tracks on Soundcloud. Even his odds and ends experiments become singles; I don't know of any other artist with that cloud