Bomani coming through w/ that truth on pretty much all sides of the Drake discussion.

http://theshadowleague.com/articles/drake-officially-shut-hip-hop-s-door-on-gen-x-with-nwts

Drake’s Nothing Was The Same is really good. Gotta start there, because otherwise zillions of teenagers will swarm every inbox I have. That generation is a sensitive bunch. But that’s not merely preventative. Even if Drake can’t sing, he's created a worthy album – it’s the god’s honest truth.

Good luck finding a better made album, with its flawless production, seamless transitions and top-notch rapping. It’s a testament to the value of letting one producer – Drake's chief collaborator Noah '40' – handle the lion’s share of the tracks. The consistency of time and place that this often brings, Drake can rap his ass off, and there’s no track he rhymes on -- when he rhymes -- that he doesn’t get handle. He’s clever, has a voice that jumps out on every track and has moments of amazing clarity. Anyone who says Drake is wack or can’t acknowledge the brilliance on NWTS is probably hating.

So why does this album get on my last nerve? Because, for the first time, I can legitimately say a big reason I can’t get with something is because it makes me feel old.

***

I’m 33 years old. I graduated from high school in 1997, about three weeks before Wu-Tang Forever came out. In 2013, the Wu’s music has made rap’s canon, but just as fascinating at the time was their unlikely ascent. After selling out to try to get on ( “Come Do Me,” “Ooh We Love You Rakeem”), the RZA and GZA took their music in a totally opposite direction, going for unapologetically hardcore beats and working with emcees that did little to nothing to make themselves accessible. And it made them stars, brilliant businessmen whom operated with a cooperative capitalism and figured out how to sell hip-hop almost totally devoid of pop (and did so with an uncommon level of control).

So imagine how hard I laughed hearing Drake do a love song over a track that sampled “It’s Yourz” from Wu-Tang Forever, an album where RZA decries what he called “R&B – rap and bullshit.” Play the track without the title and it’s bananas. It’s definitely a track you’d expect from Drake, one you could play for a lady, maybe even because she requested. It knocks and Drake does the job. But isn’t a track like that exactly what RZA was talking about? How painfully lacking in self-awareness must one be to miss the irony? The dude sings with AutoTune.

Then again, why am I even asking that about someone who, without one iota of shame, sang a song about drunk dialing his ex-girlfriends? Or maybe I should ask a different question: why ask at all?

While rappers who dropped in the ‘90s have found lanes that allowed them to grow up on the mic, rap – with its raging and oft-misguided masculinity – will always be a youth-centric genre. It will speak to youths first and respond, in kind, with what they’re into. You can find rap to get into as you get older, but rap won’t go out of its way to find you.

Those who came up listening to gangsters, pimps and revolutionaries are at least one full generation away from Nothing Was the Same. The notion of reminiscing on the good times he spent with a waitress from Hooters on “From Time” – good times that seem to involve, like, hanging out – one track after invoking AMG and the Ol’ Dirty Bastard comes with uncommon cognitive dissonance.

What’s so strange to us isn’t that Drake raps about women, or blatantly panders to them, nor how it contradicts the album’s unavoidable misogyny. It’s the simple fact he’s willing to admit these things in public right after trying – and failing – to sound hard...and the fact millions of kids shamelessly relate to it.

This isn’t the rap I grew up with. Seeing how rarely I’ve heard men confess these things among themselves, it isn’t the world I grew up with, either. It’s the millennial generation . It’s the millennial generation – one that fights to stay young the same way my cohorts clamored to be men, even if through contrived machismo – staking its claim to hip-hop. There’s a difference between the Nas-coined “Second Childhood” and never leaving the first one.

It’s a world I don’t like, one I don’t understand...and some other stuff old people say when they realize what they thought was cool is yesterday’s news. Rappers aren’t just pop accessible. Many carry themselves like pop stars, singing from stools on stages and proudly declaring their desires to avoid being seen strictly as emcees, if they even care about the magnitude of that title. And what makes me feel older -- I firmly believe that’s the youth’s problem and not ours.

***

Drake’s probably the most polarizing rapper ever. Legends like Bun-B gave him the crucial co-signs he needed, as a former child star from Canada, for legitimacy. Others, like DMX, have dismissed what he does. But is the problem his music, or the fact that it resonates?

Our fussing at Drake feels analogous to what we heard from people who said that the boys down South didn’t make “real” hip hop. Rap’s paradigm was changing, and the most startling part was no one asked them if they were coming along for the ride. The culture they felt they helped create had outgrown them, and they liked it the way it was.

That’s where Generation X stands now. But is it hip-hop that’s changed so much, or the people who make it? Whether talking specifically about the music, or just youth in general, Drake is the first time many of us have felt left out of something that had always pulled us close. He’s not for us, and it’s enough to make us wonder if the same could be said about hip-hop.

Nothing Was The Same? If nothing else, he got the title right, even if the music feels so wrong.

Did he forget

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqbpZvtIQZ0

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqPAUfuNgbc

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIdPfbwNV3w&list=PL629F2FA8DA74CA6F

Meth is nowhere near as vulnerable and Ghost is getting all sentimental over his old earth, a hallowed figure in hip-hop's deeply ingrained Madonna-whore complex.

I guess GFK's "Never Be The Same" and "Back Like That" are closer, but they're still very careful to counteract the vulnerability with tough-guy posturing and male bonding, so they don't feel as... lonely as Drizzy does.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8tafbtM3Rk

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfnBXfEOMCo

and even (lol)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoZsCw21FcQ

I say that to say this, one nigga will never represent to the magnitude to make me question anything about hip hop as a music or culture. Drake is just one nigga. A popular and polarizing one, but just one.

but this should shed light on why folks don't like drake

cause *some* ppl feel like cats like him are in a way *forcing* the issue in regards to changes in the culture that many of its truest adherents do not like

its partially an age thing but on that tip i want to say, like you do, that no one artist can ever "shut the door" on the generation most responsible for hip-hops worldwide growth & mainstream acceptance

i feel like the only door that would be shut would be one that leaves drake on the other side of the closed door from hip-hop

>i feel like the only door that would be shut would be one that
>leaves drake on the other side of the closed door from
>hip-hop


____________

Dallas Heatvricks BACK 2 BACK CHAMPS!!

http://www.sportsgrid.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/0621-miami-heat-party-02-480w.jpg

And to add to that, the only thing that shuts the door on an entire generation is a) progressive evolution or b) a total deterioration of the generation'a values.

Neither have happened...yet

>And to add to that, the only thing that shuts the door on an
>entire generation is a) progressive evolution or

at least this is choosing to shut the door behind you

or closing the door of your new house but still owning your old house to crash at & rent out to youngins that "get it"

>b) a total
>deterioration of the generation'a values.

or their ability to impart the good parts of ghose values to the kids

>Neither have happened...yet

only to certain degrees, which is again why ppl target popular figures cause we feel theyre not truly representative

>>And to add to that, the only thing that shuts the door on
>an
>>entire generation is a) progressive evolution or
>
>at least this is choosing to shut the door behind you
>
>or closing the door of your new house but still owning your
>old house to crash at & rent out to youngins that "get it"
>


^^^^ true...I like that


>>b) a total
>>deterioration of the generation'a values.
>
>or their ability to impart the good parts of ghose values to
>the kids
>
>>Neither have happened...yet
>
>only to certain degrees, which is again why ppl target popular
>figures cause we feel theyre not truly representative
>

thats true too..word

People always get their panties in a bunch when there is a popular dude they don't like. He's not shutting the door on anything because the vast majority of Hip Hop still sounds nothing like Drake's music. Killer Mike. Kendrick. Schoolboy Q. The pendulum always swings back and forth. Everyone was all upset with 50 when his brand of hyper aggressive Hip Hop was at the forefront and people hated when LL dropped I Need Love.

i mean, i know since the "player hater" days cats been shook to call out shit they don't like for fear of being looked down on by whoever but it really *is* ok to vocally dislike certain acts & styles

>i mean, i know since the "player hater" days cats been shook
>to call out shit they don't like for fear of being looked down
>on by whoever but it really *is* ok to vocally dislike certain
>acts & styles

It's not that I'm afraid of calling out shit I don't like...I do. I would just rather talk about shit that I do like rather han waste time or energy talking about something I don't like. I listened to the Drake album, didn't care for most of it and I went back to listening to Ghostface, Killah Mike or whatever else was moving me this week.

what im saying is...fuck it, if i think some shit's corny i feel like sometimes going in on that shit

like, nah...fuck Drake, not fuckin with him

>what im saying is...fuck it, if i think some shit's corny i
>feel like sometimes going in on that shit

Oh you'll get no disagreement from me about him being corny and more importantly wack. He's had very few moments as a recording artist that I've enjoyed. I just don't see that as being any different than when I didn't fuck with The Fat Boys, MC Hammer, Special Ed or whatever else I didn't like that a bunch of other people did at any given time. There has never been a time where there wasn't some dude that people loved that I didn't like at all. It's not the sign of the apocalypse or the end of the Hip Hop I loved. After listening to the full album I said to some friends God this is soft as baby poo and I'm gonna need to listen to like 24 hours of ghostface to get this out of my system. I also made some snide remark about Canada. That was like a week ago...now I've moved on and I'm not really thinking about his ass until he pops up on First Take comparing his career to Lebrons.

>like, nah...fuck Drake, not fuckin with him

Hmm this is a very curious response from someone who was debating with me that Hip Hop should be about peace, love and brotherhood and leave all that "who merked who on what track" in the past and stop being cavemen. I'm just saying.

>>what im saying is...fuck it, if i think some shit's corny i
>>feel like sometimes going in on that shit
>
>Oh you'll get no disagreement from me about him being corny
>and more importantly wack. He's had very few moments as a
>recording artist that I've enjoyed. I just don't see that as
>being any different than when I didn't fuck with The Fat Boys,
>MC Hammer, Special Ed or whatever else I didn't like that a
>bunch of other people did at any given time. There has never
>been a time where there wasn't some dude that people loved
>that I didn't like at all. It's not the sign of the apocalypse
>or the end of the Hip Hop I loved. After listening to the full
>album I said to some friends God this is soft as baby poo and
>I'm gonna need to listen to like 24 hours of ghostface to get
>this out of my system. I also made some snide remark about
>Canada. That was like a week ago...now I've moved on and I'm
>not really thinking about his ass until he pops up on First
>Take comparing his career to Lebrons.
>
>>like, nah...fuck Drake, not fuckin with him
>
>Hmm this is a very curious response from someone who was
>debating with me that Hip Hop should be about peace, love and
>brotherhood and leave all that "who merked who on what track"
>in the past and stop being cavemen. I'm just saying.
>

yeah i actually thought about that when posting this...dualistic (or bipolar lol) thinking i guess plus i was going a bit too hard on my anti shit at that time

Especially in the era he came out...standards were much higher and I just thought he was a very basic abc ass rhyming dude. I was pretty much alone in feeling that way amongst my circle of friends.

>>>like, nah...fuck Drake, not fuckin with him
>>
>>Hmm this is a very curious response from someone who was
>>debating with me that Hip Hop should be about peace, love
>and
>>brotherhood and leave all that "who merked who on what
>track"
>>in the past and stop being cavemen. I'm just saying.
>>
>
>yeah i actually thought about that when posting
>this...dualistic (or bipolar lol) thinking i guess plus i was
>going a bit too hard on my anti shit at that time

I was just giving you shit.

KL is the "Outkast" right now in all sense of the word..the Neo the anomaly that sells without catering as of right now.

I mean look at the top selling Hip Hop artists right now. I'm not talking about if you like or dislike any of these songs or artists just style: Eminem, Jay Z, J-Cole, Rick Ross, Trinidad James, Macklamore...do any of these artists sound anything like Drake? Even Drake's idol Kanye latest album sounds nothing like Drake. Only artist I would say are occupying that same lane are maybe Future, B.O.B and Nicki Minaj.

.

but that article was kind of shit tho

.

And yet, I find it fascinating that he has seemingly become the spokesperson for a generation or two (or maybe even three — I see you old dudes, trying too hard).

I dunno. I just had a really long post written that I decided to delete because, actually, I really don't see any point in sugar coating it:

From what I've heard, his music is for people that aren't really into music as a serious and intellectual and stimulating and crushing and life-affirming and ultimately hopeful, but very sad, very incredible and very challenging thing. For people who listen to Drake and force themselves to connect with it, music is something that they listen to in order to hear their own terrible selves reflected back at them, because, "Hey, at least I'm not the only scumbag around." To actually hit an emotional chord with this type of listener exposes them to empathy. And, for this person who literally hates themselves and the world around them, to see/hear anything real would literally turn them into manic depressives.

That his music is embraced by children is terrifying.

At least I'm old enough to realize this, see that it's clearly not meant for me, and assertively walk away.

There's a strange sense of something in the air. I can't quite put my finger on it. But there is definitely something going on.

1963--> 1976--> 1989--> 2002--> 2015?


``i know you are fake. . . 'cause man, i'm the same.``
"doctor who nursery rhyme." http://bit.ly/18oC1gH
"jacques." http://bit.ly/17V33fa
"with henry james." http://bit.ly/1cIpnM6
"wind." http://bit.ly/180r30E
"one year later." http://bit.ly/1eQNPwI

get him SeV

he might be white too

Aren't you older than I am?

What's your excuse?


``i know you are fake. . . 'cause man, i'm the same.``
"doctor who nursery rhyme." http://bit.ly/18oC1gH
"jacques." http://bit.ly/17V33fa
"with henry james." http://bit.ly/1cIpnM6
"wind." http://bit.ly/180r30E
"one year later." http://bit.ly/1eQNPwI

read the whole post

Sev been having serious tantrums whenever some one doesnt adore Drake over the last two weeks

____________

Dallas Heatvricks BACK 2 BACK CHAMPS!!

``i know you are fake. . . 'cause man, i'm the same.``
"doctor who nursery rhyme." http://bit.ly/18oC1gH
"jacques." http://bit.ly/17V33fa
"with henry james." http://bit.ly/1cIpnM6
"wind." http://bit.ly/180r30E
"one year later." http://bit.ly/1eQNPwI

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." © Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

that shit was funny, I see where you're coming from though and understand your point

He just is.

Give him 10 more years and he'll be the next Michael Eric Dyson.

.

cause he educated? is on tv? talks about sports and music, and gets paid?

overall, I got no beef with him though

>cause he educated? is on tv? talks about sports and music,
>and gets paid?

Bomani isn't the first or only educated brotha on tv talking about sports and or music and getting paid.

He's corny because of his really annoying personality and condescending tone he usually takes with anyone he is debating with. It's like he thinks he's the smartest person in the room and puts his opinion out there as fact. Kind of like this wack ass article of his.

not some one who is corny

but than again this place calls people like Lupe and Common corny, so i take it with a grain of salt

I would describe him as a corny asshole. And I actually like him sometimes but he can be pretty unbearable at times when left by himself. I find him more entertaining when he's with someone else that kind of balances his personality out so it's not so annoying.

I don't make it much of a point to read anything else he does. I guess I follow him on Twitter, and he had a pretty good Combat Jack interview.

But you're right. Him and Le Batard together would probably erode my brain.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." © Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Yep you know why he works on Around the horn? Because they can mute his ass and he knows it so he's not allowed to go on one of those self indulgent rants that he has a tendency to go on. I love his "pinky rang" celebration and Around The Horn is probably the best format for him.

it takes several niggers to do that, including 'fans'