July 10, 2018
As we all know, Drake recently dropped his newest album Scorpion and the internet has embraced it with open arms. He has an extremely huge and loyal fan base, so the love that it has received doesn’t surprise me.
I just listened to it thoroughly today (I know I’m late, sue me) because I haven’t had the time and I didn’t want to listen to it in bits and pieces anymore. With any album by an artist I love, I feel like it’s only right to set aside time to listen carefully and be able to provide my best judgement. I like to let it sink in, sit, and listen to it a couple more times, then see how I feel.
Right off the bat, once Tape B began and Peak started playing, I knew I was officially a Tape B type of fan. For those of you who haven’t listened, Tape A is more upbeat, banger songs, while Tape B gives more modern Take Care vibes.
My top three on Tape A:
1. Mob Ties
2. Nonstop
3. Elevate
My top three on Tape B:
1.That’s How You Feel
2. Peak
3. Jaded
(If I could put 4 I would add Finesse)
All of Drake’s slow, mellow, smooth jams have touched my soul in special ways. I love everything he produces, but there is a certain vibe that Drake knows how to channel into his slower songs that I connect to. Drake and driving is a real thing for me.
As mentioned earlier, I’m not surprised at all the love the internet has shown this album. Let’s take into consideration the #InMyFeelings challenge that has broke the internet overnight. (I’m praying for anyone named Keke (or Kiki, that’s been a debate within itself) that has to deal with this from now on.) But what threw me for a loop at first was the amount of criticism that it got so early.
So many people took to Twitter saying that they were disappointed. Some said that they’re Tape B types of fans, but were still not satisfied with it. Others said that the entire project was “trash” and would not be bothered with it.
The big question here is: what were y’all expecting?
In my opinion, many people got gassed up with his single “I’m Upset” featuring Lil Baby. I agree that it was tough, but with it’s Soundcloud rapper type beat and flow to it, they probably thought that Scorpion would reflect new-age sounds just like that and more. I do have a feeling he’s going to experiment with it more soon.
Some people even tried to predict how a new album would sound months ago. The term “culture vulture” started being paired with Drake right after More Life came out with island rhythms and an acquired accent. People argued that he was nothing but an artist that copied other sounds and claimed them as his own.
Yes, Drake faked an accent. But did it sound good? Did you listen to the songs and like them? I know you did.
To me, there are so many similar beats, flows, lyrics, etc. that are similar nowadays that it takes a lot to call someone a culture vulture. I mean, we’re talking about Drake here, who is an icon and known to have his own style and vibe with everything he dips his hand in. That term is reserved for artists on the come up that are a bunch of 6ix9ine and Trippie Redd minions, but that’s another blog post for another day.
All in all, I’m definitely on the love wave for Scorpion and I’m ready to ignore any negative comments by wanna-be Drake haters. I’m SO looking forward to more projects by Drake and hoping for a tour soon.