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

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.