Drake
If You're Reading This It's Too Late

1.0
awful

Review

by Onyxfire USER (1 Reviews)
January 12th, 2016 | 152 replies

Release Date: 2015 | Tracklist

Review Summary: The journey of Kanye's lesser clone continues

What's particularly striking about Drake as an artist isn't that he's a stunningly sub-par rapper (he is). But that he's able to amass a fiercely loyal following despite the fact that he offers virtually nothing in the realm of artistic creativity. Generally an artists shortcomings in one area are defended by highlighting their creativity in other areas. It's been discussed at great length about his tendency to lean heavily on ghostwriters, but that's only half of the issue here. Artists like Kanye West and Dr. Dre lean heavily on other lyricists as well but the distinction there is they are world-class producers who have been fundamental driving forces in shaping the sound of hip-hop. In the case of Dre, he's always used his solo work as a platform to showcase other up-and-coming artists. Thus forgiving his tendency to rely on his protegees for lyrical contributions.

Not only does Drake not offer much in the way of lyrical quality, he's not even much of a factor in the production of the beats or compositions that go into his music. He benefited greatly from his very public beef with Meek Mill, in which the two traded jabs via rather atrocious tracks. Ultimately Drake was the clear victor in this episode, though given the hilariously low bar set (quality-wise) it was was an oddity that the tantrums thrown by the two artists was even considered to be something of interest. In "If You're Reading This It' Too Late" Drake's attempt to showcase a harder more aggressive style of rapping only serves to reinforce the reality that his style of delivery is at best lazy and at worst nearly incoherent. This is most evident in the hit single "Energy" in which he attempts to swipe at his critics. The lyrics are so generic ("I keep buyin' *** just make sure you keep track of it all" *sigh*) it's hard to even muster the energy (*rimshot*) to care about what he's saying. His flow is the most grating aspect, due to the fact that he almost always sounds like a person who's just awoken from a drunken stupor.

This begs the question: What is Drake bringing to the table that's uniquely his? It appears that the answer to any discerning listener should be "virtually nothing". Indeed, looking at Drake's catalog of music it seems that he's essentially spent the totality of his career so far trying to copy the sound and general tone of Kanye's "808s & Heartbreak". To me, this would explain a large part of his mass-appeal. It's no secret that Kanye is much despised by a very large segment of general public for his outlandish remarks and often times over-the-top behavior. Drake has rather effectively cribbed much of the electro-pop/hip-hop styling of 808s while doing so in a much more palatable manner. This is the true heart of Drake's success. Not in his quality of music, but in his ability to masterfully market himself as the sanitized version Kanye.

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Drake
If You're Reading This It's Too Late