Skip to main content

Drake

84
Drake


Drake
It’s not everyday that a rapper comes along & breaks arecord for most Top Ten singles by an artist or band, a record held by The Beatles for 54 years. Drake released his first mixtape in 2006 but he first bust onto the scene (not including his acting career on Degrassi High) with 2009’s timeless-single “Best I Ever Had,” which, with the help of its sexist (but still sexy) video, peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, not bad for a song off a  mixtape: 2009’s So Far Gone. With the unexpected success of the mixtape, the debut album 2010’s Thank MeLater quickly arrived. I didn’t jump on the band wagon until his second album, 2011’s Take Care, which, I will still argue is his best. It probably helps that the title track was produced by one of my favorite DJ’s, (Jamie xx). 2013 gave us Nothing Was The Same,  which proved Drake could really spit bars. His lasting power could no longer be questioned. 2015 gave us If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, with the timeless track “Energy.” 2016 gave us Views, his commercial peak, with “Hotline Bling.” If Drake wasn't everywhere before, he surely was everywhere now. Even being certified as a meme. 2017 & 2018 gave us More Life: A Playlist By October Firm & Scorpion, respectively, each with hit singles: “Passionfruit” & “God’s Plan.” Then this year [2020] Drake dropped Dark Lane Demo Tapes, with another smash with "Tootsie Slide," a Tik-Tok dance-challenge that went viral. Just as easy as it is to dismiss Kanye as crazy, I understand how it’s easy to hate on Drake; A pretty-boy from Toronto who sings & raps over R&B… but when the man has been consistently putting out great music for over a decade…well... ya' gotta' show some respect because not a lot of people can say that. What Kanye’s 808s & Heartbreak and Kid Cudi did to bring emotion back into rap- Drake has done with blending rap, R&B, and 21st-century-soul. For that, we thank you.
It’s…
Drake

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cake

43 Cake Cake What you need is some CAKE. The late 90's were primed for CAKE. When the emotional hangover of the grunge scene was too much, we got CAKE. This isn't a gag joke. In fact- your gag reflexes are in need of some CAKE.  Despite CAKE's quirky surface, singer John McCrea's deadpan delivery and Vince Di Fiore's mariachi trumpet playing, CAKE is as real as it gets. And with more than 25 years as a band and still going strong, they have nothing left to prove. It all started with 1994's Motorcade for Generosity with the single " Rock 'n' Roll Lifestyle " which mocked trust-fund rebels. Then came 1996's Fashion Nugget with the all-time classic " The Distance ." 1998 gave us Prolonging the Magic, a high-water mark. I got on board in 2001 with Comfort Eagle . I was big on disco at the time and their cover of " I Will Survive " caught my attention, and then I saw the " Short Skirt, Long Jacket " video o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Grouper

 131 Grouper  Grouper Reverb. Echo. Effects. Acoustic. Droney. These are some words you could use to explain Grouper's earlier work. Grouper is the solo project of Liz Harris. Her first album was self-titled & self-released. Grouper's second album was 2006's Way Their Crept . There was something special about that mid-ought's droney-underwater sounding indie. Grouper would go on to release five (!) more albums before I came on board as a fan: 2006's Wide , 2007's Cover The Windows & The Walls , 2008's widely acclaimed Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill & 2011's double-album (but separately released) AIA: Dream Loss & AIA: Alien Observer ... just to be followed up by 2012's double album: Violent Replacement Part I and Violent Replacement Part II . It wasn't until Grouper's more structured-releases that I became a full fledged fan. It was with 2013's The Man Who Died In His Boat that I finally jumped on board as a full-fled...
Post a Comment
Read more

FKA twigs

99 FKA twigs FKA twigs FKA twigs is the brain-child of Tahliah Barnett. Under her stage-name of FKA twigs (which I'll just refer to her as twigs from here-on-out) she has released three EP’s (2012’s EP1 , 2013’s EP2 , and 2015’s incredible M3LL155X EP )  and two albums (2014’s LP1 & 2019’s Magdalene ). With someone with such a small catalogue, it's amazing how dense and rich this music is. Before Billie Eilish made the whole whisper-singer mainstream last year, twigs was already releasing down-tempo-trip-hop-whisper-sung music back in 2012. That is when she released her debut, EP1 . twigs hqd been studying dance since the age of six, but deep down, she knew she always wanted to be a recording artist so she eventually left the dancing behind (in a way [dance has always been a big part of her project]) to focus on her music project. However, limiting to just a music project is doing it an injustice in labeling. It’s more of a visual-dancing-art project. Ever ev...
Post a Comment
Read more