Just a little rewind to a couple of days ago I received a link from a friend. To my surprise it was his album... I was kind of surprised because it was 2 weeks before the album dropped but a lot of tracks were getting leaked 1 by 1. I guess it was only a matter of time. I really didn't want his album to leak but I guess that's just how the industry is. His buzz for this album has been described as parallel to Lil Wayne and The Carter III. This could have been equivalent to about 1.3 million sales as Wayne had... If a lot of his supports are like me... He's got the chance to definitely make that happen.
Looking back to when I first heard a Drake track... I was in "The Cyph House (2)" lol, with Chris Cash, Dj Fragg and Randy. Cash wanted to tell me about him and how he's nice, sings and raps... The first tracks I remember him playing were "I Can Take Your Girl" and "I Want This Forever" (his original version with just Wayne) and Ransom. All featuring Lil Wayne and this could have been in 2007. And I instantaneously became a Drake fan. I saw his name floating around the net but that was the first time I heard him on a track, and I have no recollection of ever seeing a Degrassi episode to know him as Jimmy. The minute I arrived home I was looking for Drake tracks. I found him on various freestyles and even heard his past mixtapes. He was a real calm and collected dude and he didn't over do it in his raps. Even when he began to sing you could still tell he knew when he was doing and knew how to use his voice even if he claims not to me an R&B singer. He wouldn't rap about selling keys (kilogram of a drug) and necessarily too many females and all about jewelry and money. He made his songs on a level I felt I could really relate to even if they were personal experiences he went through. Drake was able to give me what I looked for in a track. Sometimes he came off as cocky but that's not a bad thing to be in this rap game when you’re able to come with as much bars as he has. I wasn't the biggest rap fan back in the day. To this day there are tons of big tracks I don't know, and even Jay-Z tracks I wouldn't be able to recite from his early career. I'm actually feeling like Drake is more of my equivalent to people who say Jay-Z is their favorite rapper. They got to watch, look and listen to his career on a rise and I feel that connection with Drake. Favorite tracks to this day are Ransom, Friends with Money, November 18th, Say what’s Real, Still Fly, Closer, Winner, his verses off Ignorant Shit, Money to Blow and countless others. And even though his album didn't drop yet, my favorite tracks are The Resistance and Up All Night. I favor The Resistance for how personal the song gets and Up All Night for how hard Drake and Nicki come on the track (plus the beat/chorus). Of course the tracks getting regular play on the radio are going to be the ones everyone knows, Miss Me, Unforgettable, Fireworks, Light Up…
I remember reading his article in the XXL Magazine where he said he's the biggest artist right now so on what mindset do him and his listeners meet. But sometimes I felt like if we were in the same shoes when I recite his lines because they relate exactly to a situation, good or bad, that I've been in. He comes from Toronto Canada... And even though a lot of my friends don't know it, I lived in Canada for quite some time while I was growing up. We both grew up in a family where our fathers weren't always there. And all these things help me to look and relate to lines in a lot of songs he has said. We've both probably had our heart broken and I feel like in his songs about females that I can relate whether it's one girl I wanted or a girl that wanted me... Or even just girls that were around. Sometimes I feel like with the things he says... anyone could relate to some of his bars.
Now flash forward to now... Leaving Summer Jam... Just saw my favorite rapper... Hands down. Drake. (I'm not gonna lie... Luda, Trey, Khaled, Fab, and Usher all did they thing... Didn't see ushers whole performance but still he had a lot going on lol). The main reason I wanted to go was to see Drake. I've watched YouTube performances of him but still I don't think anything can compare to it in person. Would have loved to hear some stuff off the album besides just Nicki's verse she did acapella from Up All Night. I don't think I'll get the full experience until I go to an actual Drake show or something that he headlines. Maybe one day I'll bump into him between passing floors of Universal Republic and Universal Motown (where I intern)
His loyalty is unquestionable... "And my dreams are who I'm racing with, but you could see I'm pacing it, so that I'm always chasing it. Wayne put me right here, that's who I get the paper with, I hope that my success doesn't alter our relationship." -Fireworks
Honestly it too many parts to his album I want to go over but that's to recite. I can honestly sit here and listen to his entire album front to back. And I don't think any Drake fan would be disappointed.
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