All I can say is WTF? I spent Tuesday wondering if North Korea was actually going to keep Brazil from scoring in the World Cup & possibly cause an incredible upset then that came to pass, then I had to deal with an overwhelming almost groupie like type of praise of Drake on Twitter from some hip-hop artists that I actually respect & love( who shall remain nameless because I am still in shock by their weird unbecoming groupie behavior), then Drake causes a riot in New York by showing up over an hour late for a free concert to celebrate his debut album on the same bill as pop band Hanson of ”MMMBop“ fame , which deserves a WTF on its own merit, but I also had to experience the L.A. Lakers completely massacre Boston’s Celtics. This was surely a WTF type of day befitting the day that Drake’s debut Album “Thank Me Later” dropped. A debut album entitled “Thank Me Later” surely befits the arrogance of an overhyped actor turned rapper who seemed to have been everywhere out of nowhere, with a list of award nominations to his name all within a year’s span of time without ever having an actual album out.
Who exactly is Aubrey Drake Graham AKA Drake? No Seriously, I really want to know who he is because honestly I don’t know much about this guy & even his die-hard fans can’t seem to tell me much about him either other than just telling me how great they think he is & how he is changing the so called “hip-hop game” because he is so different. What I can’t get over because I know it’s about to reach epic proportions is the strange Messiah type of pedestal that so many people are putting Drake on. I mean the guy is good in comparison to what is out there right now in mainstream hip-hop, but is he really the new era savior of hip-hop that so many are making him out to be? Is he really your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper? I mean give me a break, Lil’ Wayne is in jail & Kanye West is just M.I.A on the music tip,so maybe this too shall pass very soon when they both decide to get back in the game, but the fanaticism for Drake right now is a bit outrageous. I actually can’t wait for Kanye to come back and let this newbie fall back a couple of notches because I really feel like he has “swagga jacked” Kanye with less overall talent & even one upped him on the whole school drop out thing by dropping out of high school instead of college, but I still don’t see what the hype is all about.
There seems to be an extreme amount of hate & love directed at Drake, which I don’t understand either because I don’t think most of us really know much about Drake to love him or hate him that deeply, which is why I am basically just indifferent. This guy basically came out of nowhere, got with Lil Wayne’s Young Money crew & became hip-hop’s new darling thanks to Kanye’s public mental breakdown & consequent public ousting that made room for the new era of so called post-racial Obama inspired globalization where a Black Jewish Canadian actor can come off of a TV show that has gone into re-runs & be crowned the messiah of hip-hop’s new era!
The overhate & overpraise of Drake says alot about the acceptance of mediocrity in today’s hip-hop that has one side not wanting change & sticking to the formula & the other side so thirsty for change just accepting anything as change. So many have said that Drake represents the sensitive side of hip-hop that many have been longing for, but what is sensitivity without true substance in the emotion? All this “sensitive boo” type low riding skinny jean wearing new era type of hip-hop seems a little misguided for me & I suggest you all save your children now while you can, especially your young men because the world is getting tougher daily with some real serious issues & all this super emotional verbal spooning for the sake of cool with little substance really should not be what we are pushing as the future of hip-hop.
I actually really like the fist single off of “Thank Me Later” entitled “Find Your Love”, produced by Kanye West, which very much sounds like it was supposed to be on a Kanye album because when I first heard it I thought it was Kanye. Drake has decided to take the Kanye formula of putting out a so called hip-hop album where he does more singing than rapping & somehow hip-hop’s weed induced short term memory has embraced it as something so fresh, new & out the box. I have a feeling that Drake is just warming up the mainstream hip-hop throne until Kanye & Lil Wayne come back, but I hope the hip-hop world at large takes notice of the overall mainstream acceptance of mediocrity & embraces the type of global future hip-hop that has great lyrics, excellent production & a whole lot of substance in what artists have to say & share with the global hip-hop world. Blitz the Ambassador, M.anifest, Nneka, Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek & Nas & Damian” Junior Gong” Marley all have albums out right now that represent what I see as global future hip-hop. Get out of the mainstream box & explore something new because there is really some great music & great hip-hop all over the world that needs to be heard because Drake is far from Hip-Hop’s Savior & Future!
Our young people seem to be so lost these days with a world in turmoil that will have them facing great challenges in their future & to think Drake is going to be their leader with his album “Thank Me Later” as the soundtrack for their generation is a little scary, but that’s just me. As Jay Z said “he’s alright but he’s not real”. I really don’t see the hype over Drake, so I will reserve my right to thank him later as he gets a little more seasoned & gives me a real reason to believe the hype over his brand of hip-pop because right now I am just not buying it-figuratively & literally.
WOW-REALLY!
Welcome to The New Sensitive Era of HIp-Hop-Starring Drizzy -Drake-SMH