Is Drake just the flavor of the month?

A few years ago, Denzel Washington starred in the movie American Gangster. He played the role of Frank Lucas, the driver of Harlem crime boss Bumpy Johnson. After Johnson died, Lucas took over the empire and ran it himself. He was ruthless and unforgiving; but more importantly he was successful. Our gangster took over the narcotics industry when he introduced his Blue Magic drug to the streets. Where am I going with this? Well for lack of a better comparison, Drake is the new Frank Lucas. He has flooded the streets of every city in North America with his lyrics and beats thanks in large part by the backing of his connect Lil’ Wayne.

With the help of Weezy, Drake was able to secure some solid production which is a huge factor in his success. One of Hip Hop’s dirtiest secrets is that your beats will take you to places. If you have great production, it practically doesn’t matter what you rhyme about on your tracks. Don’t believe me? Check out some hit tracks from the past few years:

-Lean With It, Rock With it by Dem Franchise Boyz

-I Really Mean It by Cam’Ron

-Atlanta Zoo by Gucci Mane ft Ludacris

- A Millie by Lil’ Wayne

-Dutty Wine by Tony Matterhorn

-Mrs. Officer by Lil’ Wayne

-Woop That Trick by DJ (from Hustle & Flow)

If you want to get tons of radio play, your best way as an artist to do so is to get some great beats. Keep in mind though, having great tracks does not make you an emcee. Hell, I can spit a few bars on the Pump It Up instrumental, but that won’t make me a Hip Hop star. So what is it about Drizzy that makes him such a huge hit across the globe (I mean let’s be real, Drake is Canadian; and us Canadians tend to get a really bad wrap unless we consistently blow people’s minds away)? Drake has benefitted from his ability to secure a spot on tracks with some awesome lyricists. Indeed, people tend to notice when you appear on songs with the likes of Jay-Z, Eminem, Kanye West, Weezy and Trey Songz to name a few. But that’s only part of the answer.

One of the major reasons that Drake is a hit (it’s also the reason that some of the older Hip Hop heads don’t really like him) is that his raps appeal to a crowd that’s around his age. We tend to forget, but the Toronto rapper is only 23. Hence, the demographic that follows him is approximately his age and lives vicariously through Drake’s songs. You see, unlike Jay, Drake wasn’t the guy hustling on the corner and selling industrial amounts of cocaine to people. Also, he didn’t follow in Eminem’s footsteps either; he does not have any unresolved issues with his mother (he actually embraces her in his songs) nor does he express the need to kill a former girlfriend.

On the contrary, in some of his songs Drake has touched on some of the issues that he has faced with women: his inability to at times let go, wanting to make things work, trust, sleeping with other women while thinking about his ex-girlfriend and the like. Drizzy essentially touches on issues that we have all gone through. 

But to be fair though, his heartfelt messages are often lost because of his radio friendly singles in which he raps about haters, money, hoes and cars (a.k.a. things that most of us don’t really care about because we’re not living it up with him); fans have trouble listening to him because they think that that’s all he puts out. In addition, he’s not really crafty with his wordplay and settles more often than not for basic rhyme deliveries.  As a result the older Hip Hop heads struggle to listen to Drake because of his lack of life experience and the manner in which he conveys his messages. Put it this way, if Drake was an NBA star, he would be the 1996 version of Allen Iverson. Iverson appealed to the younger generation despite his shaky past (I know we can’t compare AI doing jail time with Drake starring on Degrassi; but their past still made it tough for them to be accepted to some degree) because of his flair and individuality while the older generation of fans and players struggled to accept him because they thought he was just other random cocky kid with game that thought the world was owed to him because of his God given talent. Consequently, few felt that he would be able to last in the league.

This reiterates the original question: will Drizzy have some staying power or will his shine fizzle out shortly? I think that he will be in the game for a while. As he grows and matures as an emcee, so will his current audience. Therefore, he will always be able to grasp the attention of his current fan base and he might even possibly be able to captivate some of the wiser and more seasoned Hip Hop fans as he improves as a lyricist (at this point I’m assuming he’ll improve). We saw this happen to some degree with Wayne; he went from being some random Cash Money rapper to a guy who had hits in heavy rotation (let the record show that Weezy used his fame to become arguably the most desired inmate at his correctional facility; it just had to be said).  So the transformation is definitely possible. I suggest you give Drake’s new album Thank Me Later a listen and judge from there if he’s what you’re into. He has some potential and ultimately I think he will be able to fulfill that potential to earn himself a lasting spot in the rap game.