drake

Carla Jenkins

It's undeniable that Drake has become a force to be reckoned with. Rising to stardom since converting to rapping from acting in 2006, after 5 albums and numerous mix tapes, singles and collaborations - including the allusive and enigmatically downbeat and silently dropped If You're a Reading This It's Too Late, which emerged Beyoncé style and ended with all 17 tracks being placed in the Hot RnB/Hip-Hop Top 50 Songs chart, Drake has a back catalogue that has gained him nothing but success and recognition as the cross-cultural - platform that he is. 

But one asks- what separates him from the bank of ever-talented and hard working RNB artists that are emerging daily? Having come from a background that is not usually associated with successful rappers, his upmarket Forest Hill upbringing in the suburbs of Ontario may lead some to speculate whether he is just another cog in the machine of the big dogs. But, upon listening, it is clear that there is something different about Drake. 

Firstly, he can sing. Unlike his ever auto-tuned counterparts (we're looking at you, Kanye) Drake knows how to charm those chords away and to the right sounds. Mixing hip-hop, down-tempo electronica, RnB and dub step - a few among others - underneath his own clear and resonating voice, Drake creates a sound that is softer than a lot of rap artists about today, an easier listen among some of his other harder and more rap-based tracks. His collaborations have gained him - and will gain him - eternal recognition, namely those with Kanye, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna, as well as the likes of the XX and James Blake. 

But what could be the most alluring element - as with many rap tracks today - are Drakes lyrics. Coining the 'YOLO' trademark that seems to be the emblem of our generation, to say that Drake 'raps a lot about parties and women' is almost insulting. With refreshingly barefaced honesty, as well as non-isolating references ("...why you think I got my head in the clouds my last album cover...") Drake bears all in his music. In an almost therapeutic sense, we hear of the divorce of his parents, his sick relatives, and the pains that come with 'working the night shift', the bewilderment and unrecognisable change of life that comes with fame and success. His tendency to romanticise the despairing isolation that comes with the job, as well as the products of such success, his music, with its crippling honesty -'...I've had sex 4 times this week, I'll explain / having a hard time adjusting to fame' - faces head on the demons that have determined the end of so many others, 

And so we ask - why is there love in melancholy? Perhaps the only subject that is more hammered on within his music is Drake's love of woman and the enigmatic 'shawty' that weaves herself - perhaps the same girl, perhaps different - through most of the witticisms and reflections in his lyrics. But that is not what we want to know. Why are we so drawn to someone who has everything but wishes for nothing? Or is it fair to say 'nothing'- should we say, perhaps, someone who has everything but wishes for nothing but the simple pleasures in life - a night off, a girl to come home to, a stability and a drink at the end of the day? What is it that is so attractive about the sound Drake creates, and the melancholy wanderings that he places over them? Maybe it is the reflection of real life that shines through.

Although the answer evades us, it is safe to say that Drake comes from a world that is alien to our own - but his music merges the two differing worlds together with all encompassing sigh of 'Life is hard. We are all only human, and we all have our own crosses to bear.' It's just that his sigh sounds much, much better than any of mine.