Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Music Snob: DRAKE

Ohhhhhhhh, Drizzy.

Let me start off by saying that Drake is currently THE MOST talked about, hyped up mainstream rapper we have out right now. No question. He's being considered the most popular rapper without a record deal. If you don't know, Drake is closely associated with Lil Wayne and Young Money Records (rumor has it that he's signed to them) and has been called Weezy's ghostwriter. The self-proclaimed "Lebron James of this game" appears to be ready to take over the industry. While he's NOT the greatest rapper of the decade (and lowkey, he isn't even the greatest rapper of THIS YEAR), he most certainly IS good enough for right now. The music industry needs a change and he brings a semi-fresh approach (sans his constant usage of the words "bitch" and "hoe" to refer to women and his sudden southern accent that I guess he picked up from Wayne and Crew). I DO keep his "SoFarGone" mixtape on repeat on the Zune.

Back to the point.

I was able to check him out last night at SOB's (thanks, Nadler!!) at the Hot97 "Who's Next" live series and was looking forward to a decent show. I've watched the Youtube videos of his live performances and have been quite underwhelmed by his insistence of the crowd singing all his songs rather than him - the one they paid to see. But this is...NEW YORK. He's never performed here and just to keep it funky, you've GOT to come hard with it here (I do believe you should put your all in to every show). So, Drizzy finally comes on the stage. I get his gimmick: he's a cute guy (if you like his type - he doesn't float my boat), he smiles a lot, and he's ALL ABOUT THE LADIES. In his JcPenney-esque outfit, he was all about gunning for the ladies when he stepped up. The girls knew every word that came out of his mouth. They screamed excessively when he said that he "didn't want a hoe but a real GOOD New York city woman." His dj went into some sexual r&b set as the show moved on. Yes, panties were two seconds from being thrown on the stage.

Bun B hit the stage to do "Uptown" with him and really, Drake could've left the stage and let Bun do his thing. As soon he got on the stage, you could feel the "spirit" of UGK about to take over! That was MY highlight. Drizzy did pieces of some other songs and only did "Best I Ever Had" and "Unstoppable" in their entirety. He did NOT do more of the popular songs on the mixtape, including "HoustAtlantaVegas." How WACK!! The show was mediocre, at best, to me. For someone who does a show damn near every other week, you would think that he would work on his stage presence. NOT. He kind of looked like a fish out of water and were it not for all the girls knowing the lyrics, he would have been a lost soul.

We've got work to do, Aubrey Graham (that's Drake - it's his middle name). Let's get that management together and get some MORE artist development going on. I SWEAR it'll help. You want to stick around? Got to put a little more effort into it, homeboy. Get BUSY and take it to another level.

Some of us with a little more common sense about this rap game don't have patience for mediocre people who COULD be better.

I'm watching!!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

HOLA,,,
Drake, aka Jimmy from Degrassi, is starting to grow on me (guess hearing a couple of his songs all day will do that). I haven't had the pleasure of listening to his mixtape but a few people told me to check it out. I saw his SOB performance and I agree Drake needs some work (although the young ladies were loving him, are light skin bros making a comeback. just kidding)
Also, I've heard more about Drake's alleged after party antics than the mixtape and cleary he is reaping the rewards of being famous.
(Oh yeah the Rihanna and Teyana Taylor rumors *smh*)

Let's see how long Drake Cakes last...good luck homie!!

XOXO

wynsters the tigress said...

agreed.

N.O. LADI said...

I LOVE me some Aubrey "Drizzy Drake" Graham as you well know. I love his mixtapes. Cannot wait to hear his official debut later this year. Now, he does not have the best stage show. But, I have seen alot of newcomers whose stage shows leave much to be desired. Namely Lil Wayne circa 1998. I went to his show here and loved it. I know that dude will only get better with time. I am listening to "Comeback Season" as I type this :-)

K*Mack said...

Ugh...I'll pass. He's probably a good example of an overhyped "artist" who's going to have theee worst album OR a shitload of guests on the album which will prob be better for him. I am no impressed with this dude, and yes I get he's a protege of Lil Wayne...he's a knockoff to me.

Ehhh.