To go from this...
So… Drake is not obscure. He is not new. He isn’t part of an unknown genre. He is unapologetically mainstream. And he is my guilty, very, very, guilty, pleasure.
I typically listen to Drake when I work out, need to get sh*t done, or when my kids are not in the car and I want to sing songs about sex with horrible curse words.
Ay dios mio… guilty pleasure…
To this...
I’ve burned probably 100,000 calories to his music. I can pump out like 5 extensive Excel spreadsheets in an hour to his music. And I love bad bitches when I’m on vacation with my girlfriends (and obviously, they are not my f-ing problem).
Oy ve… guilty pleasure…
What can I say? Drake.
To collaborating with one of the hottest women in the world...
He makes me blush and feel like a bad ass at the same time. When I listen to Drake, I can imagine being in a strip club, popping bands, and throwing “hunneds”, and telling the strippers they deserve it. When I listen to Drake, I am ok with being the furthest thing from perfect. I mean, I’m drinkin’ (on the weekends), but I’m not smokin’, f*ckin’, plottin’, schemin’, or getting’ money (well, I’m “gettin’ money”, but not Drake money).
By now, everyone should know that Drake started his entertainment career on Degrassi. His mom is Jewish. His dad is Black. He’s been “mitzvah’d”. He did not grow up underprivileged, lead a life of crime, or battle drug addiction. Not to generalize most rappers, but many have the aforementioned background. Drake grew up middle-class in Toronto. As in Canada. That country located just north of us. Americans make fun of their idiosyncrasies.
Everything about Drake suggests he should be the most uncool person in the world; however, he openly raps about his background. He raps about starting from the bottom, playing soccer, making chump change as an actor, then buying his mom a house and flying private. He also raps about puppy love and past girlfriends. Which to most men, is very “soft”, but it built up his female fan base. And to appeal to the male base, he raps about loyalty to his boys and cockily proclaims he is a legend.
The man knows how to laugh at himself. I love this. He doesn’t take himself seriously. His horrible dancing in “Hotline Bling”, made him an internet sensation and he went along with it. I will never know if he was serious with the video and his dance moves, but I do know the video looks better when he is holding a light saber. From SNL skits to T-Mobile commercials, this man is not only milking it, but he is having fun.
All of that aside, when you listen to his lyrics, they are all clever. His lines are up there with “Girls pee pee when they see me” (Notorious B.I.G.). I mean, how do you come up with words like “Somewhere between psychotic and iconic, somewhere between I want it and I got it”; or “Every girl I meet thinks I’m f*ing groupie hoes; The honesty of my music has left me too exposed”. And he is always exposed. When he writes about past relationships, did he do it after drinking a bottle of wine? Whatever, it makes him more relatable and his success almost attainable.
So yes, I couldn’t have picked a more commercially successful person at the moment. Drake is probably passé and I honestly don’t know how much longer his reign as the King of Hip Hop will last, but I do know I can watch him dance with a light saber like, 50 times a day…
He is living the American (uhh… Canadian) dream…