As expected, the newest albums from two of hip hop’s biggest stars, Kanye West and Drake, have become a social media spectacle—to put it mildly.
Released on August 29 and September 3, respectively, Donda and Certified Lover Boy have dominated the conversation and the charts, with West landing his 10th number 1 studio album while Drake’s CLBsmashed the record for biggest single-day streams for an album in Spotify history.
Asian hip hop artists have tuned into these major hip hop events and shared their thoughts on social media.
BLKD
Filipino rapper and activist BLKD took to Twitter to comment on the better album—and recommended Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, the brilliant new record by British rapper Little Simz.
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1MILL
The Thai rapper shared that he’s feeling the Right Said Fred-interpolating “Way 2 Sexy,” from CLB, which features guest spots from Atlanta rappers Future and Young Thug.
Bohan Phoenix
Chinese-American rapper Bohan Phoenix tweeted that he can’t stop thinking about how CLB sounds like it’s “made by an algorithm after an AI learned all of Drake songs.”
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VannDa
The Cambodian rapper-producer cannot make up his mind between the two and asked his fans instead.
Big Spoon 大匙羹
Hong Kong producer Big Spoon 大匙羹 shared that while he considers “No Friends In The Industry” as the “best song” on the latest Drake record, he’s “not really feeling” CLB, Donda, or even Baby Keem’s “Family Ties,” which features Keem’s cousin Kendrick Lamar.
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West courted controversy with the appearance of the embattled Marilyn Manson and DaBaby during the third public listening party for Donda in Chicago. Manson is facing abuse and sexual assault allegations, while DaBaby had been dropped by numerous music festivals for homophobic comments he made during his Rolling Loud performance.
Drake’s CLB track, “TSU,” had drawn scrutiny for having R.Kelly listed as a co-writer. The disgraced R&B singer is currently on trial for federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges in New York City and multiple sex charges in Chicago.
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After the release, both albums have been met with mixed—mostly negative—reviews, with Vulture’s Craig Jenkins writing of the new Kanye West record, “Donda’s messaging clashes as much as its music,” noting on the disparity between the subject and the output. He adds, “Is Kanye leading a charge toward Christian forgiveness and redemption, or is this another act of misguided defiance from the guy who wrote ‘Can’t Tell Me Nothing’ and spent the last five years showing us the many ways that he meant it?”
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Writing for The Atlantic, Spencer Kornhaber describes Drake’s latest outing as “undazzling” and that “the rapper embraces his caricature on his new album, but being in on the joke turns out to be pretty boring.”
