Simpin Ain't Easy: The Official Thread For Drake's Sophomore Album, TAKE CARE

nah, the kid actors were the worst part of 'gran torino'

fair point.

Ok, I'll get y'all some cheesecake.

I'm sorry, though, I like LTTP a lot, but Diddy is not and will never be "genuinely emotionally affecting" as a performer, to me. He's way too stiff and unnatural.

― all i see is angels in my eyes (lex pretend), Thursday, November 10, 2011 12:08 PM (33 minutes ago) Bookmark

lex's post about the self-absorption of the lyrics/total lack detail about other people is probably the best criticism that will be written about this album & besides the (admittedly improved but still often) awful rapping is it's greatest fault. it's a really repulsive quality, like people who interrupt you when you're talking to them & clearly weren't even listening to what you were saying and then just talk about themselves endlessly. wouldn't be such a problem if the whole thing weren't seemingly geared towards inspiring sympathy? idk, i guess this is a kanye thing. i find drake at his best while either singing or when he's most blasé & detached; i think a big reason he's improved as a rapper is he's ditched (for the most part) attempts at humour or overly emotional delivery. i kind of like his flatter, colder, more angular style; his attempts at dynamic or like, increasing intensity throughout a verse, are usually pretty bad, but there aren't too many of them. the production is obviously the highlight & is best at it's most moody submarine music/noodly sad synths, but it's all really really good. pretty great album on the whole

fav songs are

over my dead body
we'll be fine
good ones go (interlude)
the real her

i know this has been discussed a lot lately on rap threads but: is rick ross the best rapper in the world right now? can't think of anyone who's had as many standout verses or whose features/album i look forward to more atm

Also, is Andre's verse kind of awkward here? Sounds like it would be better read than rapped...

when rawse DIDN'T start rapping in the reema major video i was so relieved

rawse = space filler to me tbh

it's a good qn though but surely nicki/yela/tip, anyway. can see meek mill getting there in time.

your take on ross is so 2+ years ago lex gwtp

i wouldnt go that far but there is an emptiness to Ross that keeps him from ever being 'best rapper' imo

i dont think yela is anywhere near it. agreed about meek mill

he hasn't changed all that much to me! when he pops up i think "oh it's you again" and nothing sticks, ever (apart from a couple of his verses with meek mill)

i really pray he doesn't appear on teedra's album just cuz she's on his label

ross is way ahead of meek mill imo

and yeah, drake's personality is still the biggest stumbling block for me and i don't think i'll ever get over it. or i feel like, if there's ever an album where you'll get over it for the music, it'd be this one, and i still can't make that leap

to me its just that he's chosen hip-hop to be his vehicle when the kind of music he makes doesn't fit into that framework. His whole approach . Hip-hop's language, its way of speaking & of bragging, has always been the language of the struggle & it feels like he tries to co-opt that language and it just comes across as blatant cynical branding imo, instead of organic understanding.

ross is way ahead of meek mill imo

― lloyd banksfein (flopson), Thursday, November 10, 2011 2:40 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

as a rapper?? no way. meek mill connects w/ people in a way ross never will

i wouldnt go that far but there is an emptiness to Ross that keeps him from ever being 'best rapper' imo

― AFAP Raggett (D-40), Thursday, November 10, 2011 3:38 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

but its all relative, ross has improved & everyone else has gotten worse

what the hell is wrong with you guys

meek mill does not connect with me the way ross does

i'm actually right in between flopson & lex on this one though -- obvi ross has improved greatly as a rapper and i think as long as he keeps up the writerly style he'll be important. possibly the biggest rapper (no joke intended) in the game. but not really the best. he's not tapping into that tier that Boosie did, or the lineage of guys who resonated as real legends imo

ya but who is

meek mill does not connect with me the way ross does

― lloyd banksfein (flopson), Thursday, November 10, 2011 2:43 PM (8 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

dont know what to tell you -- try harder?

meek's verse on 'middle of the summer' hits an emotional realness that ross never has for me

ya but who is

― lloyd banksfein (flopson), Thursday, November 10, 2011 2:44 PM (8 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

agree w/ lex that meek has that potential. a lot of guys right now have potential

but ross isn't one of them. he's a hitmaker

i'm not sure i agree - i find his personality repellent but the whole thing with pop, and i include rap in that, is that done in the right way, an artist can totally sell you a repellent persona. i mean, duh, obviously hip-hop does that. it's...literally, his voice. the timbre of it, the tone, the way he comes across vocally. i guess you could call it swagger. rappers like tip and dizzee rascal and nicki, i could listen to them all day. drake is just boring to listen to.

oh many xps to deej re drake

I think Drake has a dope voice, the timbre of voice appeals to me at a gut level. I know I'm in the minority here.

i think atm the boosie tier is not rly being breached by anyone, maybe meek mill will be the next to do so but ross is closest & wins by default fttb. i like meek mill a lot but i dont think his writing is at the level of the awesome frantic energy of his delivery

kinda think even though his career isn't particularly going anywhere atm, someone like young dro still has so much more charisma and imagination going on than ross ever will. equestrian dro dropped this year after all!

Drocabulary is awesome.

NO ONE TOLD ME DRO DROPPED ANOTHER MIXTAPE RECENTLY UGH @ YOU ALL! i don't have time right now! gah

speaking of the best rapper i think noz was otm when he said :

"There are points on Take Care - “HYFR,” “Look What You’ve Done” - where you can clearly hear Drake bending and tightening his flows to a Kendrick angle. Drake still comes off a lot looser and whinier and more insufferable, but the influence is pretty clear. Which is interesting because I think there’s always been a little bit of Drake in what Kendrick does, creating something of a feedback loop."

drake has like 5 rhyme patterns that he reuses way too often

Where did noz write that?

i have no idea what criteria you guys are using for "best rapper in th world right now" - like in terms of quality? or in terms of popularity? or both? in terms of quality i'm sure we could all name at least 20 rappers ahead of anyone mentioned itt - if it's a mix of the two isn't the default answer kanye? you guys all loved his last album too remember

did lex just draw three random rappers out of a hat or what - nicki (lol), yela ('who?' answers 90% of rap listeners in the country), and TI (what year is this?)????

rennavate :

http://tumblinerb.com/post/12504625405/drake-f-kendrick-lamar-buried-alive

Thanks!

eh maybe i'm being unfair to ross, i guess there is sort of a power vacuum at the top

the thing is, he has to write really really well to even be considered in that spot in the first place, while his persona is a xerox of a xerox and his rap *style* is nothing special so its hard to imagine him as a 'best rapper' as much as a 'best artist' or something. its like saying jeezy is a great rapper, except i think even jeezy is more charismatic when it comes to the actual skill of rapping

Also, is Andre's verse kind of awkward here? Sounds like it would be better read than rapped...

― "I know its hard to hear but I'm a Realest." (rennavate), Thursday, November 10, 2011 3:35 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

this is EVERY recent andre verse

propose that ren be forced to changed his display name to "I know I"m in the minority here."

yes some dude otm

as a rapper?? no way. meek mill connects w/ people in a way ross never will

― AFAP Raggett (D-40), Thursday, November 10, 2011 3:42 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark

well i don't think this is true -- i mean it's a weird blanket statement, obviously, but i also think that meek mill was able to use ross as a springboard because ross has started to connect w/ ppl in the way that you mean

to me its just that he's chosen hip-hop to be his vehicle when the kind of music he makes doesn't fit into that framework. His whole approach . Hip-hop's language, its way of speaking & of bragging, has always been the language of the struggle & it feels like he tries to co-opt that language and it just comes across as blatant cynical branding imo, instead of organic understanding.

― AFAP Raggett (D-40), Thursday, November 10, 2011 3:41 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark

"he's co-opting the language of the struggle" really sounds a thinly veiled way of saying he's not a good rapper because he was never poor fyi

propose that ren be forced to changed his display name to "I know I"m in the minority here."

― J0rdan S., Thursday, November 10, 2011 6:49 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

I actually don't think I'm in the minority as much as it sometimes feels like.

Do you not agree with my assessment of Andre's verse?

no that i agree with

"he's co-opting the language of the struggle" really sounds a thinly veiled way of saying he's not a good rapper because he was never poor fyi

― some dude, Friday, 11 November 2011 01:55 (2 hours ago) Permalink

yeah i know, i make this point in full understanding that there is a class implication to what i'm saying. i dont think the problem is that he was 'never authentically poor,' though, its that he's trying to make a 'struggle' in the actual text of his music -- and that others have made in defense of that music -- around the idea that acting like a self-involved 'wounded' 'vulnerable' person gives him an equally powerful 'struggle' to rap about -- i find that narrative really thin, though, the implication that he ever had it hard bcuz he dared to be 'different' to be v facile

i mean, al, i would argue that there is an actual connection between rap's actual way of speaking, its style & its presentation, that comes directly from poverty. the problem isn't that drake is rich, its that he uses that language that comes from poverty to present a story that doesn't have that class conflict as a part of it but expresses his own challenges in that language which to me trivializes him

im not sure if i'm explaining this well. but there is something disingenuous about him comparing the travails of a successful child star with the travails of the bulk of other rappers who are telling v. different stories that grates to me.

well i don't think this is true -- i mean it's a weird blanket statement, obviously, but i also think that meek mill was able to use ross as a springboard because ross has started to connect w/ ppl in the way that you mean

― J0rdan S., Thursday, November 10, 2011 7:51 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

i'm not talking about his songs connecting with people -- obviously ross has a much larger audience -- i'm talking about his actual rapping. not just the lyrics, but his style.

maybe i'm wrong tho that video bw posted of fat trel rapping ross verses all impassioned was kind of o_O to me

well i think maybe that it wasn't only critics who a couple years ago started going "fuck this guy can really rap now!"