If you thought
Nothing Was The Same was a title reflecting a departure in sound on
Drake's latest album, you'd be disappointed.
By now you either get it or you don't. You either a "Drizzy" disciple or, as is pretty common, you can't stand him. Despite the Wu-Tang references and samples, and his recurrent declarations that he's a hip-hop guy who grew up on real hip-hop just like you, Nothing Was The Same will do little to sway opinion either way.
By now Drake has almost become his own genre, with its own recurring tropes and conventions. From So Far Gone right up to Nothing Was The Same it's been ex-girlfriends, melancholic beats from 40, smoking and drinking alone, late nights and, of course, being emotional.
It's why, after his latest record leaked earlier this week, the Internet's primary reaction was to rip into him with the #DrakeTheTypeOfNigga hashtag and memes. His "softness" is just too pronounced to ignore. But it's also why
Nothing Was The Same will undoubtedly be one of the best-selling records of the year – that same "softness" that makes Drake the source of such derision is also exactly what makes Drake more relatable to his market than maybe any other mainstream rapper out there. And Drake knows it.
With guest spots kept to a minimum and largely shoved to the latter end of the album (Majid Jordan on Hold On, We're Going Home, Detail on 305 To My City, Jay Z on Pound Cake, and Big Sean and 2 Chainz on bonus track All Me), this is Drake's most assured, confident offering yet. Take Wu-Tang Forever for example; the sombre piano-led hook, the address of the first verse to a girl, the admission that "luckily I didn't have to grow there" (the streets), the singing – all juxtaposed with a title and sample that references a great hip-hop act whose sound couldn't be further removed. It's a supreme show of confidence from Drake, not only in his sound, but in his stature in the scene as a whole.
However, it's when Drake gets carried away and tries to express that confidence through more poignant means that
Nothing Was The Same falls down. More aggressive tracks like "Worst Behaviour", in which Drake deepens his voice, stops pronouncing syllables and yells "Bitch you better have my money when I come for this shit like ODB", just don't really suit him. It's not that it's overtly bad, it's simply that when Drake goes tough or gets lost in braggadocio he in turn loses what makes him interesting, what makes him unique, what makes him popular.
On The Language Drake raps; "She just wanna smoke and fuck girl that's all that we do / Ok, now you're talking my language." But Drake's true "language" is really to be found on the more mellow tracks like Own It, Too Much or Furthest Thing. These songs are definitive Drake; built for lonely bedrooms or night-drives, 40s production dripping with melancholia and regret. The beat for Furthest Thing, a song about lost friendships and relationships, even sounds exactly like the swishing of windscreen wipers on your dashboard. On Own It Drake opens with the sung lines "You're still the one I adore / ain't much out there to have feelings for" and it's immediately won a place on your secret feeling sorry for yourself playlist alongside Take Care's Marvin's Room and Shot For Me.
Nothing Was The Same never quite reaches the heights of certain moments of
Take Care; the back to back force of Crew Love, Take Care and Marvin's Room carrying that album – even if Hold On, We're Going Home, Too Much and Started From The Bottom are veritable pop hits on their own. But as a record it's more consistent in quality and in sound. It's not a progression, it's not a departure, but, whether you love it or hate it, this is Drake.
Words: Joe Hall
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