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

I also did a major reversal on the Rolling Stones over a period of two years so my friends will have to deal

yeah i think what deej said is kind of ridiculous personally. drake is not the first successful rapper to not come from a rough neighborhood or poor family, and i don't see how his 'middle class kid takes his drive to be successful as seriously as anyone from the projects' persona is that different from, say, kanye's, to name one obvious precursor. i honestly think drake's music sucks because of his MUSIC, his vocals and his lyrics and his ear, and being a canadian cornball who grew up in show biz is pretty much incidental.

― some dude, Saturday, November 12, 2011 1:29 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

um, thats not what i said? did you read it at all>?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_eosGkndaIFM/TBopYIrX1bI/AAAAAAAANd0/yp2eTEPCY5k/s1600/boxing_round1.jpg

obviously drake's not even the 100th rapper to not be from a poor neighborhood. its the way he presents his struggles as if they are a parallel or related struggle to wider struggles that are intrinsic to rap's language that is off putting

kanye did have a 'struggle' to overcome -- that's actually very key to his early work -- 'through the wire,' the car accident, overcoming the stigma from roc a fella that he could never be a rapper, and the tools he used to combat that -- humor, self deprecation -- made his use of hip-hop's 'language of struggle' a lot easier to understand. with drake its like he tried to do the same thing, but his struggle doesnt feel like it ever really existed. i just don't buy that things have been hard for him, point blank. and the things that have been hard for him, he's unsuccessfully conveyed to me -- they simply dont resonate. i'm sorry that as a child star with all the access and money in the world and an existing fanbase and being seen as reasonably attractive made for a mild bump in the road on your sudden quest for fame that you now moan about?

i mean, even ignoring that kanye at one point had 'spaceship' tracks that directly addressed shit that ive personally felt, his struggle always felt a lot more like an uphill climb

for christ's sake al this isn't about authenticity

i feel like saying 'i just dont like his voice' or w/e is a surface criticism but doesn't really explain what it is that doesn't work for you about the music; i mean, its an unimpeachable attack, so congratulations on stopping any conversation about what his art tries or fails to accomplish, but i think that's a much less compelling argument than mine

drake's 'nobody thought i could be a rap star because i was a kid actor from canada' narrative isn't THAT different from kanye's 'nobody thought i could be a rap star because i was a producer and was never a gangsta' narrative imo

well, in their art it is very different

drake makes his struggle seem distant and faintly ridiculous, while kanye makes his seem funny & improbable

that said, i think in real terms kanye was much more of a longshot -- even becoming a producer in the first place was a huge long shot

*successful producer

i mean fwiw i think there's a HUGE problem in rap with these earnest dorks growing up idolizing jay-z and making WANTING to be a superstar the central facet of their identity, and it's equally tiresome whether they actually become a superstar or not. but that their boring record industry 'struggles' are described in the same language as much more serious life struggles is a pretty small part of why that makes for rappers with shitty music and/or unctuous public personas.

the diff between Kanye and Drake is that Drake is ugly iirc

im going to reword that whole post:

drake makes his struggle seem distant and faintly ridiculous, while kanye makes his seem funny & although improbable, also relatable

that said, i think in real terms kanye becoming a producer on major label records in the first place was already a longshot, overcoming the 'he cant rap' stigma was simple yet another obstacle to overcome

― When snap was real ... Thumbs up if you agree (D-40), Saturday, November 12, 2011 1:50 PM (8 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

like i'm sure his teachers in school asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up and he said "rapper" and they pursed their lips and said "have you considered carnie work?"

i mean i honestly don't see that much of a difference from the sincere argument you're making right now and the facetious 'i don't like drake because he isn't authentic' thing you were doing a few days ago.

simplY

i cant type

i mean i honestly don't see that much of a difference from the sincere argument you're making right now and the facetious 'i don't like drake because he isn't authentic' thing you were doing a few days ago.

― some dude, Saturday, November 12, 2011 1:52 PM (19 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i never made this argument idiot

look i am as embarrassed as anyone that i kind of like the drake songs i hear on the radio lately and i agree he looks like a fool a lot of the time but he's not ugly.

need to weigh in on the really important stuff.

xxxp

deej do you know what 'facetious' means

0h i misread

but he's not ugly.

http://i53.tinypic.com/161lxu8.jpg

at any rate, there is a difference

'realness' and 'authenticity' and 'sincerity' have nothing to do w/ this -- how those things are conveyed through music, though, is absolutely relevant. what i'm saying is drake conveys these ideas in an unconvincing manner and kanye (at one time) did so in a more convincing one. if the 'real' circumstances of drake's background make it a more difficult thing to overcome then it does, but that doesn't change that i find drake's 'struggle' to be about the least engaging possible storyline for a career

drake is not ugly & kanye is uglier than drake

u crazy

kanye is better-looking technically but also has a perpetual babyface so it's not in like a grown attractive man way and i get icked out by his sex tracks as a result. his skin is beautiful, though.

kanye doesn't have eyebrows that can cause solar eclipses for one

kanye was a sympathetic underdog -- this was a huge angle for his career. has drake ever been an underdog in his life?

i think maybe 'struggle' is confusing things bcuz people assume im talking purely poverty and racism, but really i just mean that rap music for has always been closely tied w/ underdog narratives & i just never felt Drake's fight as being particularly relevant to my life or applicable or meaningful or interesting or resonant

like, should you be rapping about this girl's thighs when you're five years old?!?

has drake ever been an underdog in his life?

http://lolamack.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/drake-as-wheel-chair-jimmy.jpg

Drake is attractive but often looks foolish

Kanye looks like a regular dude & his face looks kind of silly sometimes although i often wonder if that's related to the car accident at all

like, should you be rapping about this girl's thighs when you're five years old?!?

ask Jordy

everyone itt rong about attractive men except me

'realness' and 'authenticity' and 'sincerity' have nothing to do w/ this -- how those things are conveyed through music, though, is absolutely relevant. what i'm saying is drake conveys these ideas in an unconvincing manner and kanye (at one time) did so in a more convincing one. if the 'real' circumstances of drake's background make it a more difficult thing to overcome then it does, but that doesn't change that i find drake's 'struggle' to be about the least engaging possible storyline for a career

― When snap was real ... Thumbs up if you agree (D-40), Saturday, November 12, 2011 2:55 PM (44 seconds ago) Bookmark

well yeah i agree with how you've phrased it right here all the way, but a lot of the context you've put this argument in in other posts still rings really hollow to me.

drake's new "i have thugs and killers IN MY ENTOURAGE" thing is the most hilarious turn yet in his persona.

btw i saw this in the checkout line at the store this morning and made a mental note to post it to the 'drake lookin ridiculous' thread but i might as well put it here:

http://rapfix.mtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/drake-source.jpg

ahaha

thick eyebrows are agl, on men and women, in passing

i have a subscription to the Source that I'm tempted to cancel before that issue cover arrives in my mail slot

if he keeps posing for pictures like that i am going to start liking him for real :/

i feel like our paranoia about someone possibly believing in 'authenticity' can make us incapable of recognizing the ways in which a public persona might play into how we receive the music sometimes

if he keeps posing for pictures like that i am going to start liking him for real :/

― horseshoe, Saturday, November 12, 2011 2:02 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

kind of feel like everyone has a variety of moments like this w/ drake. its the problem of hating on v successful & everpresent public personalities. at least w/ a forgotten hated performer i dont notice when they do something sympathetic

what does ethan think about this record

i'm sure drake's a nice dude, i mean, i wouldn't intentionally knock over a tray he was carrying at mcdonald's or anything

btw sorry @ al i was in overtired overposting mode this afternoon & misread him

i think i've explained the drake thing at this pt so i'm going to take a break from discussing dude for awhile

until the 6-part 'drake on drake' miniseries airs on pbs in 2018

would make for an interesting game of one on one

especially if one of the Drakes were Ludwig Von

http://trapanati.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/im-doing-me.jpg?w=450&h=462

i had only just scrubbed that from my memory from the last time that was posted in the Drake Looking Ridiculous thread. thanks for that!

np

has kind of a gay Terrence and Philip vibe

he is canadian