“Who we listening to?” a buddy of mine asked.
“Drake,” I replied.
“Fuck Drake,” he said.
Indeed. In a lot of ways, fuck Drake. He burst onto the rap scene about 5 years ago, and has been slowly losing momentum ever since. His albums have consistently been snooze-fests. Nothing Was The Same, his new album, is no different. “Started From The Bottom,” decent at best, is by far the best song on the album, and let me tell you this: “Started From The Bottom” has no business being the best song on any album.
Drake is a man that berthed the phrase YOLO, and for that he should be judged with a very firm hand. Interestingly, “The Motto,” the song that popularized the phrase, is probably my favorite song by him. It shows off his flow, and it's catchy as hell. That's the problem with Nothing Was The Same and that's why I'm only listening to it because I made a commitment to review it: it's slow and dull, and its berthed an equally-annoying phrase I'll dub catchy as heaven.
Drake is not Frank Ocean. Drake is not John Legend. He was really good when he first came out because he just went after it, and he is really good on songs that he is featured on because he just goes, but on Nothing Was The Same, we could do without the slow jams. There are just way too many songs that sound like what he plays in his bedroom as he's getting it in. There are just way too many songs that sound like he's already paired them with a glass of wine. There are just way too many songs that sound like he wrote them as he was slowly drifting into outer space.
And really, qualities like that in a song are not necessarily a bad thing. But it depends greatly on the artist. That's the whole reason for the “Fuck Drake,” comment above: He's at his best when he's going hard and quick, and that just doesn't happen enough on Nothing Was The Same.
A particularly annoying moment takes place in the first song, “Tuscan Leather.” Towards the middle of the song, Drake asks, “How much time is this nigga spendin' on the intro?” The implication is that a lot of artists record a one-minute intro and call it a day, while Drake records a six-minute intro and considers himself a baller. Well, it's extremely easy to spend a lot of time on an intro when that is your only goal. Congratulations, man. The metaphor is that Drake's career is just getting started, while many of his comrades blow up overnight and just as quickly fade away. What Drake doesn't understand, though, is that he's falling out of favor quicker than he thinks.
Grade: C-
they must really be stretching for writers these days. luckily, nobody probably reads buffablog. THIS WAS THE ALBUM OF THE YEAR...but your favorite Drake song is the motto, so I'm sure nobody will put too much stock into your opinion anyways. This is the most backwards article i've ever read you should be ashamed.
^^I agree with Anonymous as far as this article concerns. I am a fan of Buffablog though, some of the writers are very talented! :)