Either you’re a Drake fan or you’re not. It seems like most of the reviews I’m reading online for Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late are from fans or well-known publications brown nosing as to not burn bridges in lieu of a future interview. Regardless, I’m not a fan nor a hater but I think Dreezy’s surprise mix tape is boring. Once again we have a rapper who has released an R&B album. Keep in mind I think Drake can rap; I’m not doubting his skills at all. I just don’t like this release.
Illuminiti watchers will surely call to light how many times the number 6 appears in the title of tracks and also how many tracks have 6 letters in addition to the number appear on the cover art. Nonetheless track number 6 (Madonna) is when I realized I was losing interest. I was listening to a Debbie-downer, melodramatic auto-tuned mix-tape. After my listen was done, I swigged a 5-Hour energy shot and reflected on what I did like about it. For starters the opening track Legend, cleverly uses a sample of Genuine’s So Anxious. Other stand outs include Energy and No Tellin where we here:
Envelopes coming in the mail, let her open em’
Hopin’ for a check again, ain’t no tellin’
Yeah, she invite me to the telly
Keep the blade with me when I go to check a bitch, ain’t no’ tellin
Yeah, police comin’ round’ lookin’ for some help on a case they
gotta solve, we never help ’em
Yeah, I stay up late at night, thinkin’ bout’ my life
Want a lot, will I get it all? Ain’t no tellin’
Ain’t no tellin’, yeah, ain’t no tellin’
Yeah, no tellin’
Ain’t no tellin’
6pm In New York gives some much needed adrenaline but unfortunately comes at the end of the tape. Easily the most thought provoking and empathetic track is You & the 6 where Drake sings/raps to his moms, who is complaining he doesn’t call enough.
Having conversations with mama, man my life is a mess
Ain’t been returning the texts, so she been reading the press
She got google alerts, them shits go straight to her phone
She worry bout me from home, you know she raised me alone
She said “I heard you back with you know who”
I told her “Girl I’m always back with you know who”
And she like “Who are we kidding”
“You’re only 27 you just being you”
“You’re your fathers child man thank god you got some me in you”
At least I always, at least I always see it through
At least I’m always being true to what you taught me
Retired teacher but your words still got me evolving
Never get sloppy drunk, but alcohol is problem solving
And look I hate it when you hate on all my girlfriends
And assistants always convinced that there’s always someone better
Like that girl from that gym who trains you
I know you wanna arrange it, you told me she’s free thursday
And I’m sure that she’s a angel but she don’t want this life
The timing ain’t right
Maybe one day but even one day with us is a time of a life
We do things that people pay to document
You got the sweetest heart but I’m not here to give out compliments, or boost nobody confidence momma
I got no friends in this momma
I don’t pretend with this momma
I’on joke with this momma
I pull the knife out my back and cut they throat with it momma
I’m “Game of Thrones” with it momma
I’m ” Home Alone” with it momma
Yep… Many can relate.
Recap: Obviously for many fans and stans, Drake can do no wrong; so they will eat this mixtape up. Yes the kat can flow and can throw in some zingers (Tyga diss). Yet for a rap fan like myself, I wonder can mainstream popular rap ever evolve past or at least include more than the typical narrative of materialism and flossing while attempting to steal another man’s bitch?
“…can mainstream popular rap ever evolve past or at least include more than the typical narrative of materialism and flossing while attempting to steal another man’s bitch? ”
We all know the answer to this is no. Keep the sheep idolizing and emulating detrimental acts, and you can keep them properly controlled and in their pens away from civilized society. I neutral when it comes to Drake. I don’t like/dislike him. He fills a slot in the game, nothing more nothing less. I just would like to jump up on his back one good time.
I was THE biggest hip hip fan but not anymore. Chuck D pretty much dissed Jay Z the other day on twitter and if you follow him, you get what he is saying about Hip Hop, which we all agree but the crux of it, which I agree, is that the likes of Jay Z has created such a kushty empire with his harem-Beyonce, Rihanna etc-and the liberal media, that everyone in the corporate r&b/hiphop ent is too scared to do anything about what has been happening to Hip Hop.
Conscious Hip Hop is all but forgotten and even Cheesey rap with style like Biggie is done for.
Jay Z is Mr Marketeer and damn, he is as deep as a shallow pool but he has paved the way of what we know have. A place where someone like Kanye can be called a civil rights activist while continuously dating very light skinned fake women. Shocking.
I left the Hip Hop scene when the “Bad Boy” era came to an end and I started seeing how “Down South” rap was gaining popularity (1999 thru 2001-ish). If I do listen, its something from back in the day. My phone is full of B.I.G, Wu, Lyte, etc etc. Dude, I’m so f#$kin sick about Kanye, already. GOD bless him, he’s a talented dude, but gotdamn…his attitude (whether its genuine or a role) is shit.
So if I made similar comments as above (which I have) @nick would say something to me along the lines of…
If you are closed off to the new things (hip hop/rap) because you are only listening to the old stuff, you may miss something good.
If I had not opened up some, I would have never did the Top 20 LGBT Videos of 2014 post, found out about Flying Lotus and many of the other GREAT artists I have written about.
Food for thought.
Fly Lo is gospel.
I didn’t see the hype to be honest. I listened to it and like you Ocky, I found myself losing interest after the song “Madonna” as well lol. Drake definitely could do better than this. I’ma need him to get it together ASAP, because this new release was trash.
It is garbage.It honestly sounds like all the tracks he previously recorded and discarded. The hype is all internet propelled. Full disclosure, I am not a fan and I am not a hater of Drake but after listening to it this afternoon, I was not impressed by a single track.
I did not think it was that bad. It is not usual where I can pretty much listen to the entire thing and not skip a song. This is honestly the first Drake album that I have not been able to listen to from beginning to end. I found myself skipping a few songs here and there but overall I thought it was decent. I am just going to hope the next one is better.
I’m a Drake fan, I always have been. But this s%* right here is an epic fail. I get how you sometimes can’t produce what you want because of the man. I got some artist as clients and they talk about it all the time. I’m mean damn put your foot down drake. I felt like it wasn’t even mastered. #ComeOnDrake #LoyalFan #viaITunes
Nothing Was The Same was a tight album. Hard act to follow. I downloaded this new one, but been too shook to listen. Don’t wanna be disappointed. I’ll eventually peep it though. Everybody in my FB feed seems to be really liking “6pm In New York.” But overall, people have been panning the album.