Toronto's actor and rapper
Drake (Aubrey Graham), a member of Lil Wayne's crew, became a star thanks to
Best I Ever Had, from the short mixtape So Far Gone (2009),
and thanks to the over-hyped album Thank Me Later (2010),
on which he delivered some of the most ridiculous self-analyzing
lyrics ever rapped/sung to humble atmospheric synth-laden arrangements (mostly
Noah "40" Shebib) usually reserved for r&b crooners
(a cross between James Blake and
Kanye West).
Nonetheless,
Over (one of his smoothest transitions from pop singer to rapper and viceversa), the relatively upbeat and pounding ballad Find Your Love and
Miss Me (in which Lil Wayne steals the show) further increased his popularity.
Take Care (Cash Money, 2011), another slab of obnoxious juvenile
autobiography, features the eerie soul narrative Marvin's Room
and spawned a record number of hits, notably The Motto, produced by
Tyler "T-Minus" Williams.
The rapper fails miserably to engage, but the production by Canadian producer Noah "40" Shebib, Jamie Xx and Just Blaze is admirable.
Nothing Was the Same (2013), mostly produced by Shebib, includes the
pop crossover Hold On We're Going Home (one of his signature songs)
and Started from the Bottom.
Dacoury "DJ Dahi" Natche produced Worst Behavior.
The album was followed by
the mixtape If You're Reading This It's Too Late (2015).
Summer Sixteen (2016), produced by
German duo Cubeatz (twins Kevin and Tim Gomringer),
was another hit.
Drake's mildly innovative and stylish pop-soul creations, littered with
pale imitations of grime and Afro-beat, on
Views (2016), with the Rihanna collaboration Too Good (produced by Toronto producers Paul "Nineteen85" Jeffries and Maneesh Bidaye with Jamaican producer Dwayne "Supa Dups" Chin-Quee),
and the more interesting One Dance (produced by Nineteen85, Shebib and South-african producer Themba "DJ Maphorisa" Sekowe, and featuring Nigerian singer Ayodeji "WizKid" Balogun),
Feel No Ways (with a beat crafted by Kanye West and Jordan Ullman), and
Nineteen85's Hotline Bling (another big hit),
and on
More Life (2017), whose highlight Get it Together is sung by
someone else and whose Free Smoke is typical of how pointless his lyrics
are,
make for an incredibly boring experience.
Nonetheless, One Dance became the first song to pass one billion streams on music streaming service Spotify.
Drake finally lost any artistic ambition on the
25-song double album Scorpion (2018), but the hits kept coming:
God's Plan (2018), produced by Ronald "Cardo" LaTour, Daveon "Yung Exclusive" Jackson, Matthew "Boi-1da" Samuels and Shebib;
In My Feelings (2018), produced by Benjamin "TrapMoneyBenny" Workman and Adam "BlaqNmilD" Pigott;
Nonstop (2018), produced by Brytavious "Tay Keith" Chambers and Ernest "No I.D." Wilson;
Nice for What (2018), produced by No I.D., Nineteen85 and Shebib;
etc.
His vulnerable blend of rap and soul made him the best-selling hip-hop musician of his generation.
Toosie Slide, off Dark Lane Demo Tapes (2020), produced by Swiss producer Ozan "Oz" Yildirim,
and Laugh Now Cry Later (another collaboration with Cardo and Yung Exclusive, and
produced by Roget Chahayed)
were the hits of 2020.
In 2020 Drake was the second most streamed artist in the world after Bad Bunny.
The trap-infected
Certified Lover Boy (2021) was another mega-hit. At one point Drake had nine of the top 10 hits in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, led by Way 2 Sexy, followed by Girls Want Girls with Lil Baby, Fair Trade with Travis Scott, Champagne Poetry, Knife Talk with 21 Savage and Project Pat, In the Bible with Lil Durk and Giveon, Papi’s Home, TSU, and Love All with Jay-Z. Drake was the first artist ever to claim such a feat in Billboard's history). Drake was also the first artist since the Beatles to have the top five positions, and tied
Ariana Grande
for most number-one debuts with five. He joined
Mariah Carey,
Rihanna
and the Beatles as the artists to have spent an entire year at number one.
Honestly Nevermind (2022) is de facto his interpretation of house music of the 1990s,
a mixtape of subliminal background muzak
all form and no susbtance.
South African's deep-house guru Nkosinathi "Black Coffee" Maphumulo,
Diamante "Gordo" Blackmon and
Noah "40" Shebib come together to shape Currents.
Gordo shapes the more retro-futuristic Massive with Richard Zastenker and Johannes Klahr, and then he shapes the subtler Sticky with Ry "RY X" Cuming.
It takes the combination of Cubeatz and Brytavious "Tay Keith" Chambers (the brains behind Travis Scott's Sicko Mode) with Anderson "Vinylz" Hernandez (who previously helped Kanye West, Jay Z, Lil Wayne, and many others) and about ten songwriters to compose Jimmy Cooks.
An incredible waste of talents.
Her Loss (2022) was a collaboration with
21 Savage that recycled old Drake cliches,
as musical as the whining of a little child.
In 2023 a song titled Heart on My Sleeve, credited to Drake and The Weeknd, went viral on streaming services; but it had been generated with a software program; proof not of the computer's intelligence but of how easy it was to create Drake and Weeknd songs.
For All the Dogs (2023), another bloated album for an artist of limited
talent, contains
Rich Baby Daddy, crafted by seven producers and songwriters
(who came up with the genius idea to sample
Florence + the Machine's
Dog Days Are Over)
and
8am in Charlotte, crafted by Conductor Williams, Mario Luciano and Jason Wool.
