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[LionPride]

Depends on what you consider great.

I'm not a big Drake fun but it's easy to see why he's popular. He (or his team?) writes "safe", catchy lyrics that are easily digestible and the subject matter (haters/success/relationships with women) has a very strong appeal to teenagers-young adults, the most prominent consumers of mainstream music.

Like I said, I don't think much of him musically but I do think he is a great marketer at least.

Even though J. Cole fans range from my age to 25 while Drake fans range from young as hell to old heads who don't wanna admit they like Drake?

Spoiler

I like Cole, but his fans piss me off

 

[Blastoise]

You've got to be joking. Drake is as gangsta as it gets. If Drake was around when Tupac and Biggie were doing it, they'd both be shaking in their boots at the mere thought of crossing Drake.

No ones gonna bully a dude in a wheelchair.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

Because he's a fuckin G. Drake would drop OP like a sack of potatoes.

 

[SenorPopOff]

If Drake isn't a creatively bankrupt artist, point to me his amazing, creative song concepts.

Creatively bankrupt is one of those meaningless disses people throw out when they don't have a legit complaint. I mean what did Whitney Houston create herself as an artist? When in a discussion about her as an artist would creatively bankrupt come up in the discussion?

 

[gdt]

Because he's a fuckin G. Drake would drop OP like a sack of potatoes.

He probably would.

I feel like I could take on Fetty Wap tho. Guy is like a twig.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

No ones gonna bully a dude in a wheelchair.

Drake has had to deal with far bigger OGs than either one of them ever had to.

 

[Psychological Intellect]

drake raps about gangster shit?

drake?

 

[Aaronology]

Cause its part of the genre. Rock bands aren't really meeting Satan either.

Drake is generally acknowledged as one of the biggest rappers currently. Now show me the biggest acts in Rock and list how many pretend to be Satanists.

I don't think that was a very good or accurate comparison to make.

 

[Majestad]

Im sorry but this is just ridiculous im all for not liking someone but your basically putting your fingers in your ears and going lalalala.

I do see his appeal and that's all good. The part that "irks" me is more when somebody says "this dude is the best rapper out there", because from a rapping perspective, he's lackluster.

 

[Puck Beaverton]

Drake has more shooters than everyone in this thread.

 

[TxdoHawk]

He's an entertainer. This is like criticizing Kane for not actually being from the depths of Hell.

Pretty much. The pro wrestling comparison is apt, actually: Both rap and wrestling started out legitimate, then quickly became more and more theatrical as the industries realized that's what people wanted.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

P much

That's R Kelly you're thinking about.

 

[Ivan 3414]

Yeah, but it is quite the tragedy that the biggest rapper ATM is successful because somebody else writes for him and because some executives basically made him.

It's cute that you think this is exclusive to only this era.

 

[trixx]

A lot of mainstream rappers think they're gangster but fight on Twitter. Gangster rap is the biggest joke since humans.

I agree most rappers are facades and usually telling stories from the third party perspective.

Still I'd say most of the rappers up till early 2000's or so were at least somewhat real.

Drake actually came to my neighbourhood once to chill with the guys there. He raps about various areas in Scarborough a lot and I'm sure he knows quite a number of people down there before he was famous but yeah he didn't grow up in the "roughest areas" in Toronto. Not saying they aren't rough but compared to places in the states, lol.

 

[IrishNinja]

are you guys trying to tell me johnny cash didn't shoot a man in reno? this is some bullSHIT.

Let that boy cook!

nuff said

I get the feeling that you're gonna shoot down basically anything anyone thinks is an "amazing song concept," but the dude put a nine minute breakup jam on his second album that featured snippets from an actual drunk dial. His third album was built almost entirely around piano samples, which for many rappers would probably be career suicide if handled wrong. The hardest actual crime story he has to talk about is borrowing his uncle's car for longer than he was supposed to so he could see a girl, and he's rapped about it multiple times. One of the biggest songs of the year is this dude in a dad sweater dancing like an idiot in a pink box over a god damn timmy thomas sample. Hell, the fact that Drake is open about not actually being a hardened gangster (much to OP and many other listeners' confusion) is a pretty weird concept to a lot of people. A lot of listeners were (and still sometimes are!) completely thrown off by the idea of a rapper/singer hybrid. People forget that Drake was Lil Wayne's protege, basically, which if you compare their style and subject matter might help provide context for how left-field Drake was/is for radio rap.

Drake has made a career out of doing things that could sink most rap careers. He's made fun of constantly for shit like this but none of it ever sticks. Like, Cam'ron pulled off the pastel pink fashion thing but only because he repeated "no homo" all the damn time. I can totally understand not liking Drake, but pretending he hasn't done anything interesting or new is just silly.

this was a fantastic post, which of course got ignored

Yeah, but it is quite the tragedy that the biggest rapper ATM is successful because somebody else writes for him and because some executives basically made him. At least with the artists that dominated other eras, there was a correlation between being the biggest name, but also being a damn good rapper.

shouts to nelly, souljah boy/the ringtone era and literally countless other examples here

 

[Dandy Lyin]

Gangsta.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

I hold Drake to a much different set of standards that I do other people in my life, op

i just want him to do what's best for him, you know

 

[IrishNinja]

also, as an Cube fan (dude is top 10 dead or alive, my book), the notion that rappers not doing what they say on wax being a new thing is hilarious

 

[Milly Osworth]

To make his 12 year old fanbase feel badass? Not that complicated.

 

[TemplaerDude]

Drake is a hard ass motherfucker.

 

[Brinbe]

Straight outta the mean streets of Forest Hill...

 

[gdt]

also, as an Cube fan (dude is top 10 dead or alive, my book), the notion that rappers not doing what they say on wax being a new thing is hilarious

When I was a kid Cube always seemed like a scary dude. Those curls were mean as fuck.

 

[Mifec]

It bothers me too.

It's a shame seeing Drake waste his talents that way.

He's capable of so much more, but lyrics always hold back his songs.



Wicked Games was the first song I've ever heard from him, but I feel like the subject matters for his songs have barely expanded beyond the stuff he sang about in his early days.

His lyrics are much better than Drake's though.

They don't need to expand, that said Beauty Behind the Madness is really a step down in terms of quality with him going insane mainstream bait.

 

[Pusherman]

What I wanna know is why this rich ass dude with thousands of groupies makes songs thristier and more bitter than the whiniest posts in Dating-Age. Honestly the lyrics to Hotline Bling almost ruin that great Wii-shop channel beat for me.

 

[Arnie7]

"Now every day it's a new rapper, claiming to be dapper then the Dresta,
smoother then a bitch but portray the role of gangster,
ain't broke a law in your life, yet every time you rap
you rap about the guns and knives, just take a good look
at the Nigga, and you'll capture the fact,
that the bastard is simply just an actor,
who mastered the bang and the slang and the Mental,
of niggas in Compton, Watts, and South Central
never ever once have you ran with the turf,
yet in every verse you claim you used to do the dirt,
but tell me who's a witness to your fucking work,
so you never had no business,
so save the drama jerk,
niggas straight kill me knowing that they pranksters,
this is going out to your studio gangsters"

- Real Mothrrfucking G's

 

[Prowl]

Drake is a real one, Praise the 6 God

 

[WanderingWind]

Drake spits that gangsta shit now, huh? The guy whose videos show him bowling and kids playing soccer, and whose lyrics are 99.9% about breaking up with girls? That's gangsta to y'all? That's what's got some of y'all acting like Tipper Gore circa 1994?

.....an what part of the equation here is soft, again?

 

[B1gg_Randall]

When I was a kid Cube always seemed like a scary dude. Those curls were mean as fuck.

Lmao

 

[DJKhaled]

Oh telling stories or whatever is cool. But damn lol Drake is out here talking about catching bodies like hes Omar or some shit

Legit don't know what Drake you're listening too. He doesn't rap about gangster shit, some songs are I guess 'tougher' sounding than others but none are gangster. Also he is extremely self aware and no one cares about authenticity

Because he is mainstream and only cares about selling albums.

That is why none of the albums he releases are universally acclaimed.

100% that isn't true and his last few albums have been acclaimed. He also has released so much free shit he clearly doesn't care that much about sales. But keep talking out of your ass.

I know how long he's been around, which makes it even sadder. He's been at the forefront of the rap game for like 6 years and still has zero classics. No masterpieces, no impressive bodies of work. His achievement is to have a couple million selling albums. Nothing that will be listened to in 20 years from now. Imagine somebody from 2035 listening to Drake's hotline blinge. I just.. can't.

LOL this is so full of crap. And to be honest Eminem doesn't have a masterpiece either. Every album had juvenile south Park style lyrics.

 

[SomedayTheFire]

What I wanna know is why this rich ass dude with thousands of groupies makes songs thristier and more bitter than the whiniest posts in Dating-Age. Honestly the lyrics to Hotline Bling almost ruin that great Wii-shop channel beat for me.

To be accessible.

 

[PartTimeWarrior]

Drake and most other "hip hip" artists of today make music for preteens. You're supposed to grow out of it and listen to real music.

 

[CarpeDeezNutz]

Just make a test and see if he passes.

1. What do you use to cut cocaine to make it look like fish scale?
2. How much does a Mac-11 go on the black market?
3: what is the whole sale price of a 100 X tabs?


Just the basics is all.

 

[oneils]

I guess he could be stuck in jail like shmurda to prove a point or make money off fake shit. I wonder which one he should do...

 

[SSReborn]

He's definitely not a gangster but I'm sure he's around some of them and some of the mannerisms rub off on you. Not to mention it's more of a music for an audience thing with that being the direction for his last solo album.

 

[supernormal]

People who are "living that life" are too busy "living that life" to rap about it. 99% of rap is just people coming up with things that they think sound cool. I can't picture an actual real life gangster sitting down trying to come up with complicated multi-syllable rhymes, alliterations, metaphors, and similes.

 

[SenorPopOff]

What I wanna know is why this rich ass dude with thousands of groupies makes songs thristier and more bitter than the whiniest posts in Dating-Age. Honestly the lyrics to Hotline Bling almost ruin that great Wii-shop channel beat for me.

That's not a Wii shop channel beat, it's from an old r&b song.

 

[panama chief]

"If skills sold, truth be told, I'd probably be
Lyrically Talib Kweli
Truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common Sense
But I did 5 mill' - I ain't been rhyming like Common since"

Jay-Z nailed what mainstream rap has become. Drake can be a great lyricist. He knows it, some of the best in the game know it. But it doesn't sell. I mean...where's Phonte Coleman? :/

 

[cw_sasuke]

You guys really need to move on...pointing a gun at a camera means you are a gangster now ? lol

Sure dude that sings and dances around in Hotline Bling pretends to be a gangster...if you say so.

 

[E92 M3]

A successful entrepreneur of the street will not publicly discuss their business. Rap is all about character building.

 

[ProfessorMoran]

Like....who is he fooling.

I've been digging into some hip hop recently, and he's a very talented dude. Picks amazing producers, a great singing voice, and constructs catchy as hell melodies (Jumpman!). I don't really care all that much about lyrics or poems and shit. Just catchy stuff with cool lines I guess.

But this guy is always injecting gangster shit and it doesn't come off the least bit genuine. Like the awesome video for Energy. He starts right off with that stupid gun thing he does that is just so cringey. Its just so annoying really.

I know this is like a meme at this point but I need this explained. Like does he have any self awareness about this.

He's from Toronto and he was on Digrassi, he's as vanilla as Levar Burton and Ben Vereen.

 

[Gotdatmoney]

You clearly don't listen to much drake if you think he constsntly raps gangstrr shit. That is a recent thing. He has several mixtapes, singles and 3 albums where he raps the most bitch made shit ever to touch paper.

And even if he didn't, therr is nothing wrong with rapping about gangsta stuff. The idea that it is bad is stupid.

 

[Always-honest]

I barely know his music but he always reminds me of Carlton for some reason.

I don't think you should sing/ rap about stuff that isn't in some way close to yourself.

 

[WanderingWind]

He's from Toronto and he was on Digrassi, he's as vanilla as Levar Burton and Ben Vereen.

Did you just call Kunta Kinta "vanilla?"

 

[theignoramus]

Drake is the Nelly of our time. We will remember him fondly and associate his music with fun times,cross cultural appeal and all that,but he will never be put in the GOAT rapper categories by anyone serious.
Also being a thug AINT SHIT ask Bobby Shmurda
and Meek Mill. Jail and the court system fucks with your career.
Shit is fucking debilitating to it.

 

[Buzzati]

Because people fall for it. It's the same principle that applies to those, "It's a Prank!!" videos.

 

[Shmeagatory94]

Jumpman jumpman jumpman, he aint got no guns for nothin'

 

[Dreams-Visions]

It's 2016. Let's stop worrying about Drake's authenticity. Drake has always been fairly upfront about his "softness" if you will and there's really nothing wrong with feeling boisterous every now and then. Especially when you're wildly successful. And hell, most artists are not authentic anyway. Other people write their songs, create their image, choose their musical style, pick out their clothes, create their trademark dance moves, choreograph their persona and actions.

Most of the music you like today and the artists that is performing it is straight out of a Frankenstein science project. Artists have more in common with WWE wrestlers than anything else. Be entertained.

 

[Buzzati]

It's 2016. Let's stop worrying about Drake's authenticity. Drake has always been fairly upfront about his "softness" if you will and there's really nothing wrong with feeling boisterous every now and then. Especially when you're wildly successful. And hell, most artists are not authentic anyway. Other people write their songs, create their image, choose their musical style, pick out their clothes, create their trademark dance moves, choreograph their persona and actions.

Most of the music you like today and the artists that is performing it is straight out of a Frankenstein science project. Artists have more in common with WWE wrestlers than anything else. Be entertained.

What is a "Frankstein science project"? And no, most music is categorically made without a PR firm, ghost-writers, etc. This sort of fakery should be pointed out.

 

[blame space]

we're gonna get to the bottom of this drake authenticity issue here guys. Let's keep at it.

 

[blame space]

I really think nothing was the same is a perfect winter album