Why Drake Is No Longer In My Feelings
Drake is somewhat a mythic figure. The Canadian-born rapper, real name Aubrey Graham, first trod the boards of stardom in his cutsey role in high school teen drama Degrassi before transcending into heavyweight status, and is responsible for some of the biggest singles and albums of the 2010s. Early records such as Take Care and So Far Gone pioneered the fusion of R&B and Hip Hop that defined the sound of his genre for the coming years. Graham continued his hot streak with modern classics Nothing Was The Same and If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, and shot to new heights with ubiquitous no.1s such as One Dance, God’s Plan and In My Feelings, which hold the titles as some of the most streamed songs of all time.
The multi-Grammy winner holds the most Billboard Hot 100 chart entries ever and has spent a record 431 weeks on the US charts. He is a household name, and played a key role in cementing hip-hop as one of the frontline genres in music today.
However on deeper inspection, Drake’s actions and artistry paint a problematic career. Manipulation and deceit run deep through his history, and in inspecting these factors, it is clear to see Canada’s musical crown jewel must answer for his gross misdemeanours.
One of Drake’s most prolific financial endeavours is his OVO Sound label that includes some of the greatest R&B’s underdogs of today such as Roy Woods, Majid Jordan and PARTYNEXTDOOR. Being managed by Drake may seem like the jackpot to any new musician, yet the contracts that awaited them were exploitative, and saw the Drake disciples largely providing song writing functions and feature opportunities for their lord and master.
Speaking to FADER magazine in 2017, ILOVEMAKKONEN claimed that he was signed to the label because ‘they needed a hot song [his hit Tuesday which Drake remixed] and that was it.’ Following this, ILOVEMAKONNEN’s requests for features, production and promotion of his mixtapes were ignored, whilst OVO attempted to rope him into a contract years longer than he desired. Drake even allegedly threatened to beat up his signee at a VMAs after party in 2016, though ILOVEMAKONNEN eventually became the only artist to leave OVO Sound.
Almost all of the OVO roster owe their biggest singles to Drake, with dvsn and Majid Jordan’s only charting songs being the Drake songs Hold On’ We’re Going Home and Faithful. This would seem understandable given Drake’s status, however with a consistent trend of OVO artists dropping albums regularly debuting towards the bottom of the US charts, whilst still writing huge hits for Drake such as For Free and Work, they are clearly signed for Drake’s benefit rather than their own.
One man who caught wind of this dead end was The Weeknd, who was heavily speculated to sign to OVO after writing and featuring on numerous songs off of Drake’s prestigious Take Care album in his early career, instead unexpectedly signing with Republic Records in 2013. Talking about the move with Complex Magazine, and later with Rolling Stone, The Weeknd revealed Drake coerced the eager, unknown crooner into sacrificing several songs off his highly influential mixtape House of Balloons for Take Care, leaving Balloons shorter than Abel desired. Drake was allegedly desperate for Take Care to incorporate The Weeknd’s innovative R&B style, yet Drake has since downplayed Abel’s contributions to the album. Once again Drake’s slippery ways are on show, only Abel was able to avoid his clutches, which begs the question whether The Weeknd would be the superstar he is today had he signed with Drake.
Another under-analysed element to Drake’s career is his ability to mould his verses according to the trappings of a huge variety of genres with chameleonic effect. On MIA, Drake romantically raps in Spanish alongside Bad Bunny. Patois rhythms and dialect permeate Views and More Life, whilst on his latest mixtape, Dark Lane Demo Tapes, he emulates the grungy pacey flows of UK drill, having also collaborated with prominent British stars Dave and Headie One. On a surface level this would demonstrate commendable versatility, however, Drake extends his manipulative streak through this diversity.
Drake’s rise to stardom is concurrent with a growing American embrace of Latin music, K-Pop and Dancehall, which are steadily becoming heavyweight players on Global and American music charts, presenting a huge opportunity to cash in for Drake.
When Drake tries new genres, he claims to ‘get’ them, assimilating into the culture of his new market. He is an unapologetic culture vulture. When Drake first forayed into UK rap in 2016, he made a surprise appearance on the stage with the homegrown grime collective BBK, who did not have mainstream success outside of the UK, and helped revive British cult drama Top Boy, showing he was in touch with British culture.
On Controlla, Drake’s Jamaican accent is unconvincing and ignorant, which edged further into pantomime territory during his various Billboard Music Award acceptance speeches in 2017. Indeed, the phrase ‘and more tune for your head top so watch how you speak on my name you know’ frequently reappears throughout More Life, illustrating his accent was more than a homage.
Moreover, some of Drake’s signature hits, particularly One Dance, appeal to African audiences by relying on his African national treasures and OVO signees, Popcaan and Wizkid and their native dancehall styles, repaying them through neglectful management. It is insensitive to play Trojan horse in genres such as dancehall which are so ingrained in cultural identities Drake has no association with, and face such stigma from the western society that mostly comprises Drake’s fanbase.
This increased globalisation translates into larger tours, which is undisputedly the greatest source of income for a music artist, and thus, Drake escapes unopposed again.
Drake’s final unaddressed misgiving is perhaps his defining artistic feature. His attitude towards women. Drake is hip-hop’s premier ‘sad boy’, and this proves a strong trademark image that unfortunately becomes a touch stone of existential relatability for the failed talking stages of any 17-year-old white boy trying to establish a sense of masculinity. Drake’s discography is littered with boasts of his sexual conquests, yet his lyrics are more than juvenile. Make no mistake, Drake is a gaslighter.
God’s Plan features the iconic line, ‘I only love my bed and my mama I’m sorry,’ confirming Drake’s subscription to the ‘angel-whore dichotomy.’ Drake only shows affection to his mother, because of their sexually devoid relationship, whilst indulging in a playboy lifestyle. The women who do capture his eyes are respectable enough in his eyes to convey earnestness and avoid the dirtiness of the women he brags about sleeping with.
In Hotline Bling, he presses his once ‘good girl’ ex who ‘used to stay at home’ and since leaving him has ‘started wearing less and going out more’, telling her to ‘be yourself.’ This is gaslighting 101, demeaning her for embracing her independence and more free-spirited sexuality, equating this with being inauthentic (which he knows all about.) Instead, he believes she should have sex with him, which would be a more moral conduct of her femininity.
Drake shows awareness of his habit ‘of making monsters out of the women until it all goes bad,’ on Marvin’s Room yet continues to do the very same thing throughout his work. On Views, Drake spends half the album professing his undying love for a woman he also villanises for lying and playing mind games on tracks such as U With Me and Too Good, with Rihanna featuring on the latter.
Drake’s mistreatment of Rihanna also translated into reality, stealing her spotlight when she was awarded the VMA Vanguard award, announcing she is ‘someone I’ve been in love with since I was 22 years old.’ With the Canadian rap star also being subject to accusations of rape, Drake’s self-adorned status as ‘the good guy’ on Emotionless proves thoroughly hollow.
Drake is on the cusp of releasing his next studio album Certified Lover Boy this month which will no doubt be a huge success, but the public must be vigilant in holding Drake accountable for his wrongdoings. Charlamange Tha God has questioned if Drake’s era is over and Drake was also booed in 2019 at Camp Flog Gnaw festival, but for all the wrong reasons.
His statements about women are dangerous messages to send to his young male fans and require deconstruction. There needs to be a greater transparency in the inner workings of OVO and music labels in general, especially in their treatment of international artists, and Drake’s appropriation of other cultures for financial gain is an example of the deep undervaluing of diverse artists in music today.
There is one unifying aspect behind all the aforementioned issues, and something that is central to Drake’s character. Exploitation. Hold on Drake, you might just be going home.
Written by Charlie Wright
A passionate Film, TV, Music, Culture and 'The Room' fan (if you know, you know), I'm an absolute nut for a debate and article writing. I recently graduated from University of Bristol studying English Literature, have previously edited the entertainment section of interscholastic newspaper Rhino press, and scored a distinction in a Freelance Music & the Arts London School of Journalism course. I am also the first person be stung on both feet by two Jellyfish simultaneously whilst they were having sex, and I have also accidentally dated a neo-Nazi. I'm not sure if these qualify me for feature writing but I'm over the moon to be writing for the Everyday.