Nothing Was the Same

Finally, the girl whose blog name is a reference to Drake writes about Drake (sorry it took me so long). 

First we’ll start with some background.  Aubrey Drake Graham is a half black, half Jewish child actor from Toronto.  He got his start on Degrassi: The Next Generation playing a wheel-chair bound high school student.  Not exactly the same upbringing as the artists featured in my previous posts.  That is, Toronto is certainly no Compton.  Nonetheless, Drake is a superbly talented rapper, with lyrical and musical skills superior to many of the legends.  His appeal is different from that of most rappers, but I’ll get to that later.  Recently, Drake’s popularity has skyrocketed, and I pride myself in being an early Drake fan, way back in my middle school days.  One of his first popular singles, “Successful”, was coincidentally one of the first songs I ever bought on iTunes.  But it’s never too late to jump on the bandwagon! 

Nothing Was the Same (NWTS) is Drake’s third studio album, released in fall of 2013.  Despite the title, the album is pretty much classic Drake verses over classic Drake beats.  Some critics have slammed Drake for this, but why fix what’s not broken?  This is the Drake style that has captured the hearts and attention of people worldwide, including my own.  The emotion behind Drake’s raps, especially those on NWTS, is deeper than most other rappers to date.  He raps about life, about love, and he opens up to his audience in a way that is rarely seen in the rap world.  This makes him different from all the other rappers whose ego perhaps is standing in the way of real emotional outpour.  Drake breaks the mold of the tough, black, male rappers (think Rick Ross, 50 Cent, etc), in an artistic and sonically pleasurable way.  He’s often made fun of for this (see "Some Drake Memes" to your right), and not taken seriously by some, but this sensitivity is exactly why Drake is successful.

NWTS kicks off with the 6 minute, verseless, track, “Tuscan Leather”.  There aren’t many rappers out there that could get away with rapping for six minutes straight without it getting boring.  Drake even says himself, “I could go an hour on this beat”.  It may be long, but it is crucial in setting a conversational tone for the entire album.  Unfortunately, it is a very one sided conversation.  At many points in the album the audience feels as if they are simply listening to Drake talk about his problems.  He shows right off the bat that he’s not straying too far from this usual lyric style, although the music is a little more aggressive than we’re used to.  He opens up so many times about women in his past and present, including Nicki Minaj, expressing his discontent in the fact that they’ve grown more distant than he would like.  Drake is constantly shifting seamlessly between addressing a general audience and addressing specific women, with lines like “girl don’t treat me like a stranger, girl you know I’ve seen you naked”.  This makes the listening experience much different for women, who often feel as if Drake is speaking directly to them (Drake has not, in fact, seen me naked).

One of the radio hits from the album, “Started from the Bottom”, is easily the weakest track on the album, and it’s a shame that this is the one that most people know.  It’s not a bad track; it’s catchy, and appealing to some, but it lacks that quality of openness that has always set Drake apart.  In this song, he fits perfectly into the mainstream, which is probably why this track got a lot of air time.  He then returns to his appealing lyrics with lines like “Next time we fuck, I don’t wanna fuck, I wanna make love.  Next time we talk I don’t wanna just talk, I wanna trust.  Next time I stand tall I wanna be standing for you.  Next time I spend I want it all to be for you.”  Ladies, don’t you wish all men thought like that?  Once again, he is obviously speaking to women, but the song is just too catchy for even men to resist singing along. 

Later in the album comes one of my all time favorite songs. “Too Much” starts slowly with a dramatic and melancholy piano riff, followed by the voice of Sampha singing “Don’t think about it too much, too much, too much, too much.”  After more singing and piano, Drake finally jumps in and begins to really open up about his life, and how it’s been affected by his fame.  Talking about fame isn’t something that’s unique to Drake, but the conversational way in which he does this is certainly not heard often.  He gets personal in the second verse, talking about his mother, saying “I hate the fact my mom cooped up in her apartment, telling herself that she’s too sick to get dressed up and go do shit, like that’s true shit.”  The beat is so simple, which allows the audience to focus on the lyrics, which is rewarding, because the message really is an important one.  As he discusses all these struggles in his life, we continue to hear in the background “Don’t think about it too much”, which serves as a reminder to not overthink matters, and that happiness can be found in simplicity.  The album winds down with a Jay-Z feature and a Big Sean and 2 Chainz feature, before finally closing with “The Motion.”  This finale to NWTS wraps up the issues and struggles articulated throughout the album, expressing “I guess that’s just the motion.”

So maybe you’re still not convinced that Drake is any different from all the other rappers out there.  Drake is confident, but not in the “I’m too good for everyone” type of way.  He’s confident enough in his masculinity to open up about his feelings, which is a slap in the face to masculine culture, especially the culture of male rappers that has always been and still is prevalent.  Rather than “smack the bitch in the face, take her Gucci bag and the North Face” (Biggie’s Dead Wrong), or “I fuck her ‘till she cry, make that bitch drink her fucking tears, Lord, I hope she swallow more than tears” (Lil Wayne’s Started), Drake talks about getting a “backrub from my main thing, I’ve been stressed out.”  The kind of nasty, tough guy lyrics that are so ubiquitous in rap are replaced by respect and thought.  It’s easy to see why women like this, but Drake is certainly popular among men as well.  Maybe it’s because deep down, Drake expresses what we all really want in relationships, love and trust.  It’s human nature.  People may give Drake a hard time for being sensitive, but isn’t it refreshing?  It’s often frowned upon for men to be so open with their feelings and so delicate when it comes to relationships, but men have emotions too, and Drake does an important thing by expressing this.  He’s changing the face of masculinity in rap, one heart-felt song at a time.