Tag Archives: Drake

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Song of the Day #1,791: ‘Girls Love Beyoncé’ – Drake

girls_love_beyonce_drakeI know I’m supposed to like Drake — his albums typically earn critical accolades along with massive sales. He’s one of those emo rappers like Kanye who rap about their insecurities in between boasts about their sexual conquests.

Maybe I just haven’t heard the right songs yet, but so far I’m not impressed. For all of Kanye’s faults, I totally get why his music draws those raves. He paints vivid emotional landscapes in which he’s often the least interesting part. But Drake sounds like Kanye without the good stuff.

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Song of the Day #1,104: ‘I’m On One’ – DJ Khaled (featuring Drake, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne)

Here’s one of those all-star rap collaborations that crop up all over the place. It’s interesting how rap is the one genre where it’s expected that everybody shows up on everybody else’s records.

Certainly there are guest stars and collaborations on albums of all sorts (the new Brad Paisley features duets with Carrie Underwood, Blake Shelton and Don Henley) but in rap, it’s an expectation.

First you have the apprenticeship phase, where a rapper makes guest appearances on other people’s albums before releasing his own. Eminem made his splash rapping alongside Dr. Dre before he dropped his first solo album. Nicki Minaj had done about a dozen celebrated guest turns before her album came out. It’s an effective way to introduce an artist to the fans and build excitement so that even a debut album can be a smash hit upon release.

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