1. Drake dropped an album last night. Yay. Not to be all ho hum about it, and obviously I'll let Drake finish, but ever since Beyoncé pulled off the greatest album drop in music history, folks have gotten really predictable with the "album out of nowhere" schtick. The novelty's over. It's the same reason I feel like rappers need to stop making "dear mama" songs. 'Pac did it too well. Nothing will ever touch "Dear Mama". Granted, Drake's album is a "mixtape", which used to have a more defined meaning, now it just means, "not my official album, but still an album I will retail" as evidenced by the $12.99 price tag on it for those folks who love Drake enough to support. Me? I went to Spotify which told me that the album wasn't available in the US, so I went to livemixtapes.com (looks like they pulled it…I just listened to it this morning). Catches bullets with his teeth? Nigga please.
3. With that being said, if you do need some music to go to sleep to, this is your shit. I listened to it in my office and forgot I was listening. If you can't manage to sleep through some shit you forgot you were even listening to, well, I feel sorry for your mother.
4. I feel like Drake has the ability to be one of those truly transcendent artists. He's just made too much money NOT being a transcendent artist so he's comfortable and seems to believe that if something isn't broke, you don't fix it. Granted, this isn't an official album, and more a prequel to his upcoming Views From The 6 album, but still, based on his output, I expect more of the same somber, ethereal sleep music. Art Of Noise is somewhere doing a fist pump. This is not a good thing. THIS is how artists like Kendrick separate themselves, by testing their own boundaries. Drake plays foursquare with himself and calls it an album. Drake is the embodiment of "if skills sold truth be told, I'd probalby be lyrically Talib Kweli…" He has zero incentive to be a better artist.
5. Let's talk about this super simplistic album cover. #bishwhet?
6. Let' talk about what this super simplistic album cover means? #bishwhet? This is the title of a children's book. Like an actual one. I'm not sure if this is on purpose, but considering that the script for it looks like my child was forced to play Stevie Wonder does handwriting at school I'm saying its a definite possibility. But still, #bishwhet?
7. If you've noticed, I haven't highlighted a single song yet.
8. Not to draw another Kendrick comparison, but why not? So I said previously that I feel like "The Blacker The Berry" should have made many rappers hit the notepads. We all know Drake isn't one of those artists. However, it reminds me of Jay and Eminem on "Renegade". I feel like Jay heard Em's verses and was like, "no way I can compete with this, fuck it" and gave us what are decent verses and some quotables, but you don't remember "Renegade" because of Jay-Z. I feel like Drake heard "The Blacker The Berry" (you know he did) was like, "gotdamn…" thought about it for a second and was like, "yeah, I could try to step my game up but Kendrick's in a whole different zone…fuck it…I'll just wear these then."
9. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORING.
10. I think Drake, much like Snoop, will far outlive the quality of his musical output. Snoop hasn't really put out shit worth listening to (he's had a few singles here and there) in years - at least a decade - but he continues to be just as popular as he ever was. I see Drake having a similar lifespan. I could be wrong. He might drop an album that changes all of that. I just don't think he has any reason to do so.