Caleb Ryerson | Arts & Life Blogger
On Sept. 20, I was enjoying my breakfast in the dining room. ESPN was on, as usual. I noticed one of my favorite rappers was on the television, Drake. He was on ESPN to promote his new album that was coming out that day called Nothing Was The Same. I am a huge fan of Drake, but I didn’t even know that he even had an album coming out. I found out that day that Drake and I had the same favorite team in the NBA, the Oklahoma City Thunder. I love Drake’s sense of style and his voice, but there are a few things I don’t like about him.
Born Aubrey Drake Graham in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Oct. 24, 1986, Drake’s mother lived in Toronto. By the age of five, his mother and his father separated, and his father moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Drake started out his career as “Jimmy” on the Teen Nick show Degrassi. After eight seasons, Drake’s character graduated which lead him to stop being on the show. In 2006, Drake started releasing his own mix tapes, his first one being Room For Improvement. This was when the career of the young hip-hop rapper began.
Drake decided not to pursue his career in acting but chose the life of music instead. He continued to make mix tapes until 2009. In 2010, Drake started making his new debut album, “Thank Me Later”, and released it June 15, 2010. This album sold 1,551,000 copies in the U.S and had popular singles, including “Over”, “Find Your Love”, “Miss Me”, and “Fancy.”
On Nov. 17, 2011, Drake released his second studio album, Take Care. This album for me will rival Marshall Mather’s: The Eminem Show for the greatest album I have ever heard. Every song has a different style of emotion so perfectly portrayed that you can’t help but feel that emotion with Drake when he raps or sings. In the song, “Make Me Proud”, it makes me feel joyous and happy that he found someone to be proud of. When I listen to the song “We’ll Be Fine”, I can’t help but feel like partying, because if anything goes wrong, Drake will make things better. Almost the rest of the album makes me feel somber and sad for Drake because of his sad love life. Take Care also won best rap album of the year.
Despite the poor advertising for Drake’s third studio album (It usually is for any artist or album), the album sold 658,000 copies the first week. I guess when I saw his promotion on ESPN, I realized that I wasn’t a die-hard Drake fan like I thought I was. In conclusion, Nothing Was The Same seems like it’s a good buy and worth listening to but not nearly as meaningful as Take Care. I will definitely ask for it for an early Christmas present.
Photo by Tyson Domingo
