OPINION: Joe Budden was right. Drake’s new album is not great. And why is he constantly whining about the women in his life?
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
I love listening to great MCs flowing like water and spitting mind-blowing lyrics. But sometimes, I listen to Drake. He has made some super-catchy monster hits — I still love “Nice For What” and “In My Feelings.” But most of the time, Drake’s rhyming sounds like the talk part of an R&B song. Sometimes I listen to him and think, is he a rapper or a slam poet with music? I grew up loving the slam poetry scene in NYC and it wasn’t uncommon to hear someone get up onstage and bemoan how difficult it was to date and how hard it was to understand the opposite sex and what it was like to feel sad feelings. This is Drake. But hearing a young, broke poet talk about women troubles is entirely different than hearing a superwealthy famous rapper do it over and over on an album called “For All The Dogs,” which is such a childishly bro-ish title. Joe Budden was right — how is he still out here whining about women and how they do him wrong? If someone made an album caricaturing Drake, it would be called something like “For All The Dogs” and it would probably sound like this album.
Budden was also right that the album is mid. In fact, calling it mid is being nice. NME called it “painfully mid,” which is getting closer, but that’s still not enough. At this point, I rate songs by putting them in one of three categories — 1.) I want to never hear that song again 2.) If I heard that again it would be fine, it’s interesting or 3.) I need to hear that again and again. Everything on “For All The Dogs” is a solid 1. I expect Drake to concoct one or two monster hits every album — unquestionable 3s — but this time, all the little Drake lovers’ stockings are empty. Because Drake did not…
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