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[IrishNinja]

back to back was actually drake responding to beef on wax, which is more hip hop than a lotta dudes these days

honeslty im a dusthead but some of ya'll in this thread are kinda sad - modern hip hop has way more lanes. drizzy runs his, and puts out enjoyable music, even if most of it doesn't strike me as classics (i tend to need more distance from work to be comfortable saying that, unless its GKMC or some shit). but yeah, ghost was trying to tell ya'll hip hop was on some WWF shit like decades ago

 

[ScribbleD]

A song that answers OP's question perfectly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-zjV7pV7Ko

 

[ThisGuy]

If Drake is the flavor of the week then it's been a long ass week. He's going on what, 8 years now.

This, he's been around long enough for me to stop following him for years, come back, and still like him. The man is talented.

 

[gdt]

A song that answers OP's question perfectly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-zjV7pV7Ko

This shit is terrible

 

[XANDER CAGE]

It's usually just imagery. Like in star67, the (admittedly really funny out of context) "brand new beretta" line isn't literally talking about walking into the label and threatening people with a gun, it's a reference to the lil wayne interview sample at the beginning of the track where he says that he brings "clips, ammo" into the studio, i.e he is ready to record something hot as soon as he enters.

Phrases like "kill them," "catch a body," etc - it's figurative language. Drake is not a gangster and whenever he references it it's just stunting. He's aware of this fact and even mentions it on several tracks ("I didn't grow there, I'd just often go there," "I'm just flexin'," etc etc).

It's fun to poke at because yeah, out of context a lot of it is really incongruous with his image. But you can't pretend he isn't self-aware about it.

 

[mr2xxx]

Hip Hop has been this way since the 80s. Ice Cube has a clean record for a reason. People get confused, just because you are from the streets and talk about it doesn't mean you're a street dude.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

Same reason 50 cent raps about drugs even though he doesn't even smoke. It's just a style of rap moozik.

 

[TickleMeElbow]

I don't listen to Drake enough to know if he constantly does it, but whenever he does it just cones off as goofy to me. Like I don't care if it's fake, just make it convincing.

DMX singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Raindeer was more gangsta than anything Drake has done.


https://youtu.be/TPXWZxtDooY

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

It's usually just imagery. Like in star67, the (admittedly really funny out of context) "brand new beretta" line isn't literally talking about walking into the label and threatening people with a gun, it's a reference to the lil wayne interview sample at the beginning of the track where he says that he brings "clips, ammo" into the studio, i.e he is ready to record something hot as soon as he enters.

Phrases like "kill them," "catch a body," etc - it's figurative language. Drake is not a gangster and whenever he references it it's just stunting. He's aware of this fact and even mentions it on several tracks ("I didn't grow there, I'd just often go there," "I'm just flexin'," etc etc).

It's fun to poke at because yeah, out of context a lot of it is really incongruous with his image. But you can't pretend he isn't self-aware about it.

Fairly good point. The bolded says it all also.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

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

 

[gdt]

It's usually just imagery. Like in star67, the (admittedly really funny out of context) "brand new beretta" line isn't literally talking about walking into the label and threatening people with a gun, it's a reference to the lil wayne interview sample at the beginning of the track where he says that he brings "clips, ammo" into the studio, i.e he is ready to record something hot as soon as he enters.

Phrases like "kill them," "catch a body," etc - it's figurative language. Drake is not a gangster and whenever he references it it's just stunting. He's aware of this fact and even mentions it on several tracks ("I didn't grow there, I'd just often go there," "I'm just flexin'," etc etc).

It's fun to poke at because yeah, out of context a lot of it is really incongruous with his image. But you can't pretend he isn't self-aware about it.

See this is good info.

 

[Angelus Errare]

Let that boy cook!

 

[JABEE]

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

Just to watch him die too. That's gangster!

 

[gdt]

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

The difference for me is, I think, in a song like that Cash is clearly telling a story. Or a folkish ballad tragedy kinda thing. But Drake is more like "come find me (Drake with the curls) and me and my boys (from Canada) will fucking kill you"

The first one is cool and mysterious. The second one is cringe to the max.

 

[Touchdown]

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

except for when it killed people back in the 90's... but nowadays yes I agree with you.

 

[Namikaze]

They are all fucking pretending. What don't you understand about that OP.

Even Freddie Gibbs? Gangsta Gibbs? Freddy Gordy? You sure?

 

[XANDER CAGE]

The difference for me is, I think, in a song like that Cash is clearly telling a story. Or a folkish ballad tragedy kinda thing. But Drake is more like "come find me (Drake with the curls) and me and my boys (from Canada) will fucking kill you"

The first one is cool and mysterious. The second one is cringe to the max.

Rap image is essentially character building. It might have one foot in reality sometimes but it's still essentially storytelling.

 

[The Beard]

Jay Z pretends like he's still selling rocks and shit lol. He probably writes some of this crap while getting a mani/pedi. All these guys are phony.

Drake is great though.

 

[Laz-E-Boy]

The whole Drake/Meek Mill stuff was straight out of high school and yet you had countless websites following every moment.

Meek Mill: You don't write your own music.
Drake: Yeah well, everyone likes your girlfriend more than you.

I've had more intense rivalries with my dryer.

Just about every rap beef is like this tho.

 

[Oersted]

Rap image is essentially character building. It might have one foot in reality sometimes but it's still essentially storytelling.

It would have helped if he would have born somewhere close to Detroit. Not Canada. That brings you the streetcred of Bieber and Celine Dion.

 

[riotous]

It would have helped if he would have born somewhere close to Detroit. Not Canada. That brings you the streetcred of Bieber and Celine Dion.

"character" building, not personal character building

 

[Fjordson]

Even Freddie Gibbs? Gangsta Gibbs? Freddy Gordy? You sure?

Even someone like Gibbs is going to embellish. Obviously there are kernels of truth from his past, but if guys like him were always telling the truth in their raps they'd be wanted by the Feds.

Not saying he's the same as Drake, just that his music isn't devoid of fiction. Doubt anyone's is.

 

[Oersted]

"character" building, not personal character building

Hence the Eminem comparison. The Em persona was kind of easy to buy into, Drake... not sure about that.

 

[riotous]

Hence the Eminem comparison. The Em persona was kind of easy to buy into, Drake... not sure about that.

You aren't getting it. Mark Hamill isn't from Tatooine.

 

[Majestad]

Can somebody who think Drake is great tell me exactly why he is great? And if you say because he has a good ear for beats, you fail life.

 

[unempLLOYD]

 

[Ivan 3414]

And thank goodness we are past that crap.

Can't believe we still have rap fans that prefer rappers are degenerate murderers.

Agreed 100%.

Their fucking deities, Tupac and Biggie "got got" at a very young age. Two young artistic lives cut short off bullshit. But that's the era you want to go back to.

Ok

 

[Soapbox Killer]

Rule #3850

Real rappers don't bang, real bangers don't rap


There are many flaws in Rule #3850

I also don't think Drake is great but I'm old and out the loop.

 

[Oersted]

Agreed 100%.

Their fucking deities, Tupac and Biggie "got got" at a very young age. Two young artistic lives cut short off bullshit. But that's the era you want to go back to.

Ok

I don't think glorification trough pretending is really the right answer to that era.

 

[Archer]

It's like going to the gym. You start off one way, and with exercise you get bigger/stronger.

 

[SmellMyCologne]

constructs catchy as hell melodies (Jumpman!)

Jumpman was all Future Vandross op...

 

[Ivan 3414]

At the very least Kanye experiments and can be creative. Drake is a creatively bankrupt artist that fucking nobody will listen to 20 years from now, as opposed to the real rap legends.

I don't even really like Drake's discography but if you've paid attention at all it's clear he's one of the most influential rappers in the game right now. "Creatively bankrupt" is laughable.

 

[Majestad]

I don't even really like Drake's discography but if you've paid attention at all it's clear he's one of the most influential rappers in the game right now. "Creatively bankrupt" is laughable.

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

 

[Dark Ninja]

Its just a business decision, a bunch of men and women sit in a room and decide thats best for his career to stay stable and/or move forward.

 

[Cheddahz]

Can somebody who think Drake is great tell me exactly why he is great? And if you say because he has a good ear for beats, you fail life.

You just want to get your point across to other people, don't you?

It's New Year's Eve, just relax

 

[Speely]

Imagery is imagery. Folks tend to take it a bit more literally when it's used by rap artists, but really they have been operating metaphorically from the beginning.

I have no problem with Drake taking liberties with fact vs fiction. It's art. People can express through metaphor whatever they want. No one should be holding rap artists to standards other artists don't have to adhere to.

That said, I think the dude is a talentless hack and a garbage rapper just based on the quality of "his" output. But that's just, like, a matter of taste.

 

[Fjordson]

Can somebody who think Drake is great tell me exactly why he is great? And if you say because he has a good ear for beats, you fail life.

When his music plays some people like the way it sounds. Really all there is to something as subjective as music.

And one thing specifically that I think helps his popularity is his signing. I mean people know him as a rapper, but he didn't rap a single bar on his biggest hit last year (Hotline Bling). He covers a lot of ground when you add his R&B tracks onto his hip-hop ones.

 

[Romez]

What's gangster shit?

 

[The Beard]

Can somebody who think Drake is great tell me exactly why he is great? And if you say because he has a good ear for beats, you fail life.

Because he consistently makes songs that sound good? Is that good enough for you? Isn't that sort of what you want from a musician?

 

[ApharmdX]

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.

I agree that it's grating. The rap game has become, for the most part, a bunch of guys in costumes, alternating between pop and pure fiction. That doesn't mean that the music is worse, but the game is totally changed. A pure phony like Drake would never have made it in rap 20 years ago.

At the same time, as an old-school rap fan, I recognize that the weird obsession we have with authenticity was insane and damaging. During the 80's and 90's, it was not uncommon to turn on the radio and hear that fans had been killed at a concert, or a rapper had been killed, or had been charged with a felony. There was an epidemic of violence surrounding the industry.

I was a huge Wu fan from day one, especially of ODB. He was a real MC, shot several times, involved in murders and gun/drug trafficking. Allegedly he had a shootout with cops. While the things that Wu-tang sung in their music were embellished or fantasy, they were involved in actual crime. The authenticity from that was appealing as a teen, but as an adult, it's a bit appalling.

What I guess I'm saying is that, whatever, it's probably for the best how things have changed. The culture back then was crazy. There are still bad men on the streets but not so much in hip-hop. It's easier to build a career while you're a free man and still breathing.

A former correctional officer briefly became the hottest thing in rap by portraying himself as a drug kingpin.

Everyone in rap bullshits. Even the guys who actually lived it up the hyperbole for braggadocio rap.

Hip Hop has been this way since the 80s. Ice Cube has a clean record for a reason. People get confused, just because you are from the streets and talk about it doesn't mean you're a street dude.

Yes, rappers have always embellished on their deeds. But, back when, most of them were from tough neighborhoods, and most of them spent at least a bit of time on the corners.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

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

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.

 

[Aaronology]

Imagery is imagery. Folks tend to take it a bit more literally when it's used by rap artists, but really they have been operating metaphorically from the beginning.

I have no problem with Drake taking liberties with fact vs fiction. It's art. People can express through metaphor whatever they want. No one should be holding rap artists to standards other artists don't have to adhere to.

That said, I think the dude is a talentless hack and a garbage rapper just based on the quality of "his" output. But that's just, like, a matter of taste.

I see this and then wonder why, if this is true, so many people take issue with Iggy.

 

[Laz-E-Boy]

Can somebody who think Drake is great tell me exactly why he is great? And if you say because he has a good ear for beats, you fail life.

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.

 

[blame space]

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

EDIT I GUESS TOO MUCH ISN'T ON YOUTUBE

 

[Blastoise]

Someone post the picture of The Game from that dating show.

 

[Majestad]

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.

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.

 

[What A Time To Be Alive]

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

P much

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

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.

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.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

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.

 

[blame space]

drake owns