Thoughts On: If You're Reading This It's Too Late

Recommended listening: Energy, Wednesday Night Interlude, You & the 6

So over the weekend I had plans to study, go to pep band games, and maybe listen to 2 or 3 albums that I added to my collection in the last week. Simple right? Yet as I was going to sleep on Thursday Alex sends me a link to this short film starring the rap megastar Drake. Soon after he tells me that Drake's new mixtape is dropping that night. Less than an hour later the internet is ablaze with hype and I figure I cannot possibly go to sleep without hearing this. So after waiting a bit the 17 song mixtape goes live on ITUNES of all places (like seriously Drake, you couldn't be bothered to just put out the mixtape for free? You don't have enough money?) and I figure I'll just wait for the leak or something. Less than 10 minutes later I found out the whole project is streaming on the OVO (Drakes label) Soundcloud and I start listening there. A few more minutes pass and the listeners go from 300+ to 100,000+. Drake apparently made over $350,000 within the first 20 of his mixtape going live commercially. So in case you missed the point Drake is kind of a big deal to a lot of people. OVO even took the music off of Souncloud after about 30 min in order to persuade people to go buy the music for real. This is essentially the Hip-Hop version of the Beyonce album that the world blew up over.

Now before I get too far into this I think it best I tell you now that I am not a huge Drake fan. Drake is probably one of the oddest figures in the rap game today, known for changing how the genre is looked at in a big way. He has become so large that he is almost separate from the genre entirely. He was even considered to be one of the hottest MC's in 2014 without releasing a full length project. So what makes him so special that he has become a lot of people's go to favorite rapper? He isn't an awesome producer like Kanye, doesn't appeal to the misfits like Gambino, and doesn't really have a huge gang influence like Kendrick or Q, I mean the dude was an actor on Degrassi before he became a rapper. The secret lies in his ability to make hits and his amazing PR. The man is able to craft hits out of anything it seems, from moody down on my luck jams like “Marvins Room” to club hits like “Started from the bottom”. He specializes in “feels”, for lack of a better word, and never really strays from that. Even after we are hit with wave after wave of mood music and or bragging anthems it never seems to get tiring. It also helps that Drake has a fantastic stage personality. In fact I like Drake's media personality more than his music. He is a well spoken and genuinely funny man who never seems to get into scandals or big media troubles unlike a lot of other rappers of the same fame level (looking at you Kanye). This also makes Drake a HUGE punching bag in the Hip-Hop community. Since his music has spread so far a lot of people just claim he is too “sensitive” and not talented in the slightest while the other side praises his willingness to be “real” and so openly introspective. It is a 50-50 toss up. I think his song crafting abilities have carried him remarkably far and his strong features and solid projects cement his stake in rap history whether we like it or not.

So now that we know who Drake is, what does the mixtape sound like? Well for starters the fact that he dropped it with no warning seemed out of character to me. That is something I would expect from Gambino (who just likes to disappear from the world from time to time), and I get that Beyonce did the same thing but it just seems so out of place with such a huge star. So that lead me to think that there is a reason for the drop. Maybe this means that Drake felt the need to celebrate his success in a more personal way, maybe as he ages he is starting to reflect on just what his fame and influence really means, or maybe he is so big that he can literally do whatever and it is a success. I would like to believe that Drake is smart to enough to have some sort of method to his madness, what with the minimal mixtape cover art and surprise drop but maybe I am just reaching at nothing. Regardless if you have ever heard a Drake album then you will not be surprised by this mixtape. It starts off with him declaring himself a legend in the opening song “Legend”, singing over compressed bass and later simple snares. The song progresses and turns into quite the fantastic intro in which he claims that “If I die I'm a legend, reminding you of Drakes signature crafting ability and setting a high standard for the rest of the project.”. The first half of the mixtape seems to focus of his braggadocious style, expressing his relationships with his enemy's and throwing out killer punchlines left and right. In fact in the song “Know Yourself” his hook is just “Riding through the six with my woes” and the way he says it is so catchy it has been stuck in my head all weekend. In the midst of the tape there an interlude, and I personally think (along with a few friends of mine) that the mixtape takes a turn at the song “Star67” and continues through “Wednesday Night Interlude” which is one of my favorite songs on the whole mixtape. The mood shifts to the more vulnerable side of Drake that he is so loved and hated for. Now granted this is just my own personal interpretation but there is a story behind this project that we may have yet to hear in its entirety. Immediately after the 3 song mood shift we have “Used to” in which Drake talks about the troubles of getting used to being hailed as the top dog. Keep in mind he has been big for a while so why the sudden reflection. He also has the song “You & the 6” in the latter half of the tape and I personally feel it is the best song on the mixtape. In this song he is essentially talking to his mom about why he has become what he has become and goes into elaborate detail about his upbringing. It is the most emotionally dense song to me and I love the simple hook and narrative style. In fact this whole album kind of has a feel of simplicity. The most production heavy songs are probably the 3 that make up the middle of the album and the others retain a level of held back production that actually helps emphasis Drakes lyrics and hooks. This may be because Drake has another project slated for release later this year and he is saving beats for that, or this may be an intentional minimalist approach to a mixtape meant to capture a particular place in the rappers life.

As always I could drone on but the gist of it is that this is a very solid project, personally I enjoy it more than his last album (which I rarely have reason to listen to). It highlights the rappers strong points and honestly serves as a record of why Drake is so popular. He created a sound so unique to him that the moment this mixtape starts you can say “Yup that is a Drake record alright”. I am still not the biggest Drake fan but I give credit where credit is due and this mixtape is really good. The shifting themes and solid songs make for an interesting project that may or may not be more than it seems. I am looking for to the release of Drakes new album and I hope that it ties back to his previous works in some other way. For example, a lot of people think the usage of the number 6 in Drakes recent music is symbolic of the him dropping his first mixtape 6 years ago, so I hope some kind of thread is weaved to connect it all. If you are even the tiniest Drake fan I recommended you: Listen Soon as this project shows a maturing artist doing what he does best. If you are not a Drake fan then you can: Save this album for another day. As the blending style and moody overtones may be too much for you to really get behind right away. 

Next week I will defiantly be talking about the new (well month old at this point) Joey Bada$$ album...unless I  get distracted again.