Drake "If Youre Reading This Its Too Late" Album Stream, Tracklist & Cover Art

For real. I like all those lyrical cats you stated. Sometimes I wanna think so I play Lupe's new record, sometime I'm ridin in the car so I play Drake. People group all rappers together. Thats like commenting on a Kendrick lyrical record and saying "you can't even ride to this shit"

Good jokes.

You spend so much time looking for innovation in Drake's music, but you're not gonna find it because his shit is a combination of Nelly/Ja Rule/Kanye/Wayne. Besides, different doesn't automatically mean good.

Nothing you wrote in your long-ass essay sounds anything close to the truth. You repeat the same lies over and over again. There is no way you know anything about hip-hop or listen to the artists you named, you're just a 13 year old suburban white kid who hates rap music. None of those guys you mentioned (Biggie, Pac, Jay, Bone Thugs, Outkast, etc) were hated at all when they came out. They never got the same treatment as Drake, who isn't doing anything new or innovative at all (BTW, Know Yourself IS a standard structured pop-rap song). Drake is pretty much one of the safest mainstream rapper ever who is afraid of doing anything challenging. All of his music follows the same formula. B4.DA.$$ and Tetsuo & Youth shit on everything Drake has ever done. Kendrick Lamar is a more superior artist/emcee, his music is challenging and is more relatable than Aubrey's. Both Section 80 and GKMC are modern-day classics and both I and Blacker The Berry are dope records that challenge the listeners and make them think (BTW, Drake didn't elevate his popularity at all, he had nothing to do with his success). Don't waste time dickriding Drake because you're only wasting your time.

Note was really for Drake fans - not "real hiphop" heads with no ear for innovation but whatever.. @ OP wrong. Clearly, u know so little about hiphop history because u weren't around for its evolution. In 93-94 era when Biggie/Puffy were rising to the top, Plenty of hiphop heads in NYC dismissed it as pop and west coast derivative claiming that "real hiphop" was grimey shit ala black moon etc. biggie was heavily criticized for the R&B fusion of his sound / champagne popping videos. The hate even spilled over into the music - see vocal criticism like De La Soul's "Stakes is High", The Roots " Do What They Do", Jeru "Wrath of The Math". All that was a reaction to "shiny suits man" puffy and champagne waving models in biggie videos. When biggie died, everyone knew he would go down as a legend so the critics just folded / they switched over. They did the same with 2Pac. You see the west coast vs east coast rivalry actually had legs and existed for a reason - nEw York backpackers dismissed west-coast hiphop as lacking. That's what the west coast wanted : Respect. Jay-z was widely criticized as a corporate rapper all the way through his early career hence, NaS was largely favoured to win their battle. Jay-Z was hated for his arrogance especially by "real hiphop" head backpackers. Even Questlove has an interesting recent interview disclosing how his band feared collaborating with Jay-Z as his fans considered him the "anti-Christ" at the time. That has all changed now because Jay-Z has been canonized for a myriad of reasons but plenty of folks considered his raps superficial, all about money etc. and brandished him as the anti-thesis of real hiphop. these arguements have been going on since hiphop started. the innovator tries to dare hiphop into a different direction and if they are popular, the purists go completely crazy and diss it. Nothing new here with Drake. Bone thugs , Outkast are great sure but did u buy their shit when they first dropped or later once they were already established? Because (like Drake) they were both heavily dissed initially and had lengthy paths before gaining the respect of hiphop elitists (like yourself now). At the time hiphop was very regional and clique-y. Outkast's first album was getting zero play in NYC. Southern accents were considered bama and ass-backwards. BTW, I don't need to be schooled re: avant-garde hiphop dude. From MF Doom, Shabazz Palaces, Run the Jewelz... I know all that shit. I didn't buy Wu-Tang records ten years later. I bought the LPs when they dropped. You say Drake is not innovative and poppy but look at a song like "Know Yourself". The song structure is pop really? Are u listening to this shit for real? Pop records assume a standard structure. That ain't it man. Singing sentimental introspective love songs about strippers is not standard pop either. You mention Kanye West but he's the guy who is responsible for Drake's worst wackest pop songs "show me a good time" , "find your love" etc. and Kanye has whole library of pop songs to his credit, so I don't get it. (Don't get me wrong, I dig Kanye) @ anonymous. badass is good but he is not breaking rules, he is derivative of an old era. Gang-Starr, Jeru, Wu-tang, tribe called quest, beatnuts are all so much better. What Badass is doing is much easier. He is good at it but he is working from an established sound ala Lenny Kravitz, Cool Kids etc. He will need to innovate or be extra-amazing in order to last in the industry. Lupe's new album has great rhymes but I find the production pretty standard. Run the Jewelz much better for your arguement IMO. Kendrick Section.80 was great but his latest stuff sounds blah to me. anyways, didn't Drake greatly help elevate this guy's popularity - a concert tour , a spot on take care, two or three of his biggest singles have Drake features. Dudettes - if Drake was a dark skin dude from the Bronx with half the record sales would we even be having this arguement? I'm just saying. Somehow I really doubt it

Dude, you're reading WAY too much into Drake. His music is not that deep or different. It's just another forgettable mainstream album. Just wait for Kendrick's album or go listen to Tetsuo & Youth and B4.DA.$$, both better albums than this shit.

Your comment is Drake dickriding at the extreme. There is nothing innovative, gamechanging, or anything new about Drake's new album or any of his shit. He's not breaking any song arrangement/structure rules or blurring any lines between rapping/singing (which has already been done before by better artists). It's all the same stuff we've heard before. Aubrey is pretty much following the rules of mainstream rap with every song: club songs, radio songs, joingpts for the women, brag rap, etc. Nothing classic here. There's no longevity here, either, as this shit will be forgotten by the end of the year. If you want innovative boundary-breaking music, go listen to Kanye West, Outkast, Bone Thugs, or any avant-garde/experimental act because you won't find it here with Drake. BTW, nobody dismissed Jay Z, NWA, or Biggy back in the day (no one called Biggie pop because his music sounds nothing like pop).

What makes you think that? If anything people complain his music is too emotional. Killers are the ones who don't have emotions