I’m going to preface this by saying this isn’t a discussion about beef or anything directly to it. This is a discussion about Drake as an artist. Please take any opinions otherwise to the countless other threads available to discuss.

It’s no secret that Drake is my favorite artist. I’m very open about how much his music means to me. Over time there has been a shift in both his music and character that have strayed from what attracted the millions of people like me to his music. I’ve had some criticisms that I’ve shared here and there over the past few years, but I think due to the events that have happened over the past month I’ve come to some conclusions about how I truly feel about him as an artist currently. I do believe that he’s still incredibly talented, but I have to concede that there are a lot of things left to be desired in his current output. Over the past few years I’ve struggled on how to conceptualize my thoughts, but I think the best way I can do it is identify songs that truly showcase my favorite attributes of his and what I would like to see moving forward.

Jungle

One thing that I unequivocally believe is that Drake still makes elite sounding R&B tracks such as Race My Mind, Hours in Silence, Tried Our Best just to name a few. The issue that I have with his current R&B approach however is that lyrically these can come off a very rough around the edges and has lost a lot of those softer stripped back sounds that were indistinguishable in his early career. I would like to see him ironically take a step out of his current comfort zone, by showing more vulnerability and less vulgarness again.

Furthest Thing

Something that I’ve been a little critical of Drake recently is the usage of beat switches. I think as a concept it’s a great tool to help narratively shift a song and change tone, but it seems like lately there is really no point to most of them, at least compared to a song like this. I think purposeful and intentional switches would help give his songs more meaning, rather than feeling like a track with multiple instrumentals meant to just fill up space.

The Ride

Introspective Drake is always the best version of him to me. He has an uncanny ability to paint a picture through music and make you feel like you’re living in the moment he’s describing. Now obviously over time Drake the person has changed and I can’t fully blame him for losing his relatability to an extent, but I find that disconnect over time has started to diminish that connection he was good at establishing. I would like to see him find more creative ways to bridge the gap through his life, similar to how he did on Away From Home.

Where To Now / Come Winter

The narrative that Drake is simply a popstar has always felt dismissive to me, especially when you listen to his first two mixtapes (Comeback Season especially). You can hear a lot of the origins to his sounds he’s evolved over the years all throughout these songs. This is something that I appreciated tremendously as someone who was really starting to flourish in their hip hop exploration at that time, the fact that he was rapping over soulful samples/beats sounded so natural to him. Both of these songs embody what I believe something he’s lost over time, and that’s getting back into that quintessential hip hop sound that has stood the test of time. I understand the thought process of trying to evolve your sound around what the current landscape is, but to me sometimes it can sound unnatural at best and completely out of place at worse (Daylight, IDGAF etc). I think it’s a fun for him to jump on the tracks of others as a feature artist to showcase his versatility, but a lot of criticism he receives in his recent projects I believe are rooted in the fact that he’s putting these types of songs on his own projects.

Passionfruit / Hold On, We’re Going Home / Nice For What

Drake is elite at making pop records, full stop. The combination of his writing, his melodies (come on even Kendrick admitted it) and his catchiness has given us countless moments that supersede the music itself and provided a lot of us with tangible moments that allow us forever connect ourselves emotionally. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb by saying that the three aforementioned songs are some of Drake’s most recognizable and universally beloved. Unfortunately, I think due to his shift in tone and how he approaches music, he’s lost this type of style to time. I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that a lot of his music doesn’t stick around commercially due to this as well (not trying to start an arguments over charts, just an observation). Scorpion being his last blockbuster album hits wise says it all in my opinion.

I agree, OP, Drake needs to get rid of Yachty.

(I don’t know if you mentioned him, I didn’t read your essay but I think we can all agree Drake would be better off without him)

Honestly Nevermind 2 out November 2024

I didn’t, but I agree. I think collaboration is good, and we’ve gotten some fun moments out of it like Jumbotron S*** Poppin but I think it’s made him a little lazy as an artist imo and sound out of place at times like I said in the paragraph about Where To Now / Come Winter

I understand some of the criticisms about his vocal performance (it’s not for everyone) but it’s easily the best thing he’s done since More Life and a Top 3 Drake project of mine. A true passion project that really shows he can still be focused

TLDR.

The issue with Drake and it has been clear for probably the last 5 years now is he hasn't grown up yet.

It's not the place of fans or honestly anyone else to force an artist to grow up. Their lifestyles are totally different from an average person, which probably makes growing up harder. But as his fans have grown up, he hasn't.

There's just so many times you can talk about a girl not liking you, even though you bought her a rolex and condo (this is so corny). That is so surface level. There's just so many times you can talk about some girl not liking you or ruining a relationship etc (why does he never talk about why it may be his fault). He can still make music about these topics, but he needs to go deeper as to why these relationships aren't working. That would require him to do a lot of soul searching/being honest.

He doesn't need to go full on concept album like Kendrick does, but he can always delve way deeper into his life/mind.

He has instances where he does this (Is there more), but he never really does it. He just talks about his feelings at such a surface level. It may have been "deep" when his fans were teens/college students, but now it falls flat.

Even though I think people over exaggerate how "deep" Kendrick is, Mr. Morale is a perfect example of someone being transparent and showing growth/maturation.

The dude can talk about being a father, not finding love, why he thinks things haven't gone his way in terms of love, his own issues with women, why he has these issues, how he has all this money etc, but something is missing (he always alludes to this, but never goes into it), but instead he's out dissing Meghan the Stallion, and making songs written by Cash Cobain.

What people loved about Drake initially, the introspection, is no longer there. And when he does it, it's very surface level.

Brother how are you going to say TDLR and then write a long winded post I think we feel the same way just different approaches of wording it lol good post though

He’s gonna need

Lol I'm saying TLDR, on my own post. My bad. I know most people won't read it when seeing all that I wrote. Self deprecation.

Let's just say it: he needs to work with 40 again. Half of these songs were produced or co-produced by 40. Their partnership was so crucial to Drake's success and it becomes more obvious with every passing year.

Nice For What was one of his last REALLY ubiquitous, universally-beloved hits and it was the last one 40 produced.

This is the exact vibe I would love to hear from Drake.

Oh yeah well I read yours and appreciate the contribution to discussion I agree with everything you said

Furthest thing and jungle

If he can get back in that back

Except I don’t like how you didn’t rly mention some classic raps

Tuscan leather/ energy were dif for me as well and are very detrimental to his career

Drake hasn't had a hit, hit in a long time. Something that really lasted. Something you heard everywhere.

But honestly there haven't been a lot of major Hip Hop/Rap hits in a long time. Ironically, Not Like Us is that hit the genre was craving :​

Honestly some of those were low hanging fruit so I tried to avoid using them and get a little out of the box in some of selections. I agree those are just those staple Drake tracks that people will reference back to like “I want him to make music like that again”

I feel like Tuscan leather is always considered “his best intro”

Nice for what is a classic
Gods plan
If you noticed with these lists, no one rarely mentions his more rap song, which I personally think he does a great job in his older music, idk if he’s gonna listen tho tbh seems like he’s doing his own nothing and won’t go back to the older sounding drake sound

I honestly disagree with the sentiment he needs to go back to his old sound. I actually want him doing new things/playing with new sounds.

The issue for me is his content is not progressing at all as he ages. His content is actually regressing. It's like he's a guy that doesn't want to grow up or age.

Instead he tries to latch on to what's trending or hot at the moment (Yeat, Sexy Redd, etc) and then he does really childish things like diss Rihanna (this was ridiculously corny), talk about plastic IG models that mess with Dillion Brooks, or diss Serena William's husband. Like come on now.

This makes sense, put it better than I could.
But go back to NWTS IYRTITL, he honestly and even take care
He doesn’t sound like he’s a young kid
There
I honestly think Her loss was amazing , didn’t have 1 skip besides the 21 solo
He sounded very energized on this way more so than he did in FATD and CLB

it’s like he’s a guy that doesn’t want to grow up or age.

That’s the problem. I think we all have to come to terms with it to an extent, but his issues are deeply rooted and I think he needs to do some soul searching as a person not just as an artist

I don't think he would take the risk to drop a sequel to a controversial album when his reputation is damaged the way it is right now, unfortunately because that would be fire

And those deeply rooted issues/soul searching as a person would make for great music. But either he doesn't see these issues, doesn't want to be honest about these issues, or doesn't want to admit to these issues publicly.

He never dropped a sequel to any projects
Don’t see why he would choose this album out of them all
I wanna see he might go strictly r&b album on his next one
Similar to HNVM, and maybe sneak in rap song at the end like he did with jimmy cooks, but then ppl will look at this like he rly got bullied out of the rap game so

Her Loss was fun. It felt like a mixtape so him doing his typical surface level stuff didn't bother me. I enjoyed Her Loss a lot, but he had plenty of corny moves on there (Meg diss, Serena Williams husband diss, etc). But as a mixtape go on and pop your stuff. Do the stereotypical rapper flex.

But then you have to come out with an album that provides more in terms of content and substance after that. And he hasn't.

I hate to psychoanalyze a person, but he clearly has a lot of issues. You can hear it here and there in his music. You can see it in the way he moves. I wish he put it on his songs, but that's not my place to tell an artist and in general a person how to handle their issues.

That's why I knew Kendrick could destroy him in a battle. There's so much ammo out there against him and his character. He literally puts everything out there.

Honestly I don't think he can go full R&B right now either, speaking solely from public perception going away from rap for a full album after Kdot make sure to paint him as a outsider "I like Drake with the melodies" "keep making me dance and waving my hand" would look kinda crazy for him

I agree in the moment, but coming back after a period of time it wouldn’t be a bad move. Kendrick was right to an extent so I don’t think it’s a bad look to go back what you’re appreciated for most because clearly what he’s doing now isn’t resonating