Is The Drake Era Over?

April 12, 2021

Originally published January 22, 2021.

Front Seat

This is what's driving hip-hop this week….

DRAKE MADE HISTORY THIS WEEK when it was announced that he had become the first artist to pass 50 billion streams on Spotify. With his single “Laugh Now Cry Later” a Top 5 record at urban radio, strong streaming numbers on DSPs and the video racking up views on YouTube, it was as good of a time as any for his highly-anticipated Certified Lover Boy to finally see the light of day. After teasing the project throughout 2020, many thought the album would arrive this week. But then Drake took to his IG Story to announce he was gonna focus on rehabbing his injured knee after a recent operation. “I’m looking forward to sharing it with you all in 2021,” he wrote, with no new date. While labels will move cautiously to avoid dropping anything when Drake drops, his lack of output leaves him in an unusual spot: open to criticism. Just before New Year’s Day, Charlamagne The God opined on Drake and said he thinks the OVO star’s time in the sun has faded. Hmm….

Back Seat

Respect my mind or die from lead shower.

WHEN I FIRST MET DRAKE way back in 2009, I cornered him in a Panama City Beach hotel lobby, after he performed at MTV’s Spring Break with Lil Wayne. I had just finished interviewing Lil Wayne on his tour bus and being a good boss, Weezy insisted Young Money flank him while on camera. So Nicki Minaj joined us, as did Lil Twist, Jae Millz, and, of course, Drake, among others in the new squad. Upon exiting the bus, I asked Drake if we could talk one-on-one, being as though less than a month earlier he had released his breakout mixtape, So Far Gone. He was gracious with both his time and his candor. Two things stick with me to this day that he said during our sit down and they’re intertwined and still related to all his (many) successes and his (few) setbacks. First, when we were setting up the camera and lights, Jae Millz asked Drake if he wanted a drink from the bar and he replied he’d take a red wine. Second, in a bit of a B-Rabbit move, Drake volunteered he already had three strikes against him “coming from Canada, being on a TV show, being super light-skinned.”

The red wine observation was trivial; I expected him to say Henny or a Heineken. But it tied into his three strikes notion. Drake knew who he was; he didn’t try to front and in many cases he could weaponize the (low) expectations folks had for him. This dude rampantly talked about your girl and running the game, and it was too late before anyone seriously challenged him. Instead, they paid their respects and recorded with him.

From there, the rest is history. Hits, followed by more hits; gifting hits to others and breaking artists better than any influencer could.

But a funny thing happened on the way to releasing Views, his fourth album and sixth major label release (2015 saw him drop his Future collab LP, What A Time To Be Alive, and arguably his most defining work, If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late).

Drake was the undisputed king.

His fiercest challenger, Kanye West, had fallen wayside after Yeezus. And it’d been five years since Ye and Jay turbocharged the game with Watch The Throne. Now what?

“Drake has given us so much music that I don't know if he has another gear.”—CThaGod

Although no one would ever accuse Drake of being Kendrick Lamar (or even J.Cole, for that matter) when it comes to his album quality, Views didn’t meet expectations. Overall, the project was a bloated retread of Drake’s (finest) past work. The hits kept coming, though. Fast forward to 2018 and his next album, Scorpion, didn’t fare much better in terms of its reception. And this was after a palette cleanser the year before via More Life. Yet, the hits kept coming. See my point: Drake knows who he is and what his currency is. (That’s hits, if you’re not following along.)

Has anything really changed, though?

Or, rather, what’s changed to make Charlamagne Tha God, in a recent episode of his ”Brilliant Idiots” pod, say “I don't think we've been in the Drake era for the last two, three years.” (The conversation starts at the 25:00 mark.)

Well, he’s not entirely wrong. As an indicator that tracks with his timeline, in August, 2017, Billboard reported that Drake fell off the Hot 100 chart for the first time since the year I met him. A staggering achievement that Drake also honored and said it was time to start a new streak after the 431-week one ended.

But, a quick look at the subsequent years doesn’t exactly track.

  • 2018: “God’s Plan,” “Nice For What,” “In My Feelings.” Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode,” Blockboy JB’s “Look Alive” and Migos “Walk It.”

  • 2019: “Money in the Grave,” Meek’s “Going Bad” and Chris Brown’s “No Guidance.”

  • 2020: “Laugh Now Cry Later,” “Tootsie Slide,” Future’s “Life Is Good” and DJ Khaled’s “Popstar.”

In two of the three years, Drake had or was on the biggest rap song of the year, whether we’re talking about “God’s Plan” or “Sicko Mode” or “Laugh Now Cry Later” or “Life Is Good.” His 2019 wasn’t too shabby either, to keep it a buck.

What Charlamagne was mainly using to bolster his argument was an insistence that radio props Drake up and he criticized the format for being slow to adapt to the quick-changing tastes of hip-hop’s audience. Therefore Drake’s success at radio is a result of a lag at the corporate level of machinations. However, charts measure streaming consumption as well as radio and Drake scores well in each category. (He also cites Drake fatigue and the rapper’s omnipresence as marks against him compared to the scarcity of Kendrick; “Drake has given us so much music that I don't know if he has another gear.”)

There is a Drake era that has ended

I’d argue Charlamagne is looking at this all through the wrong lens and out of focus; instead of radio, focus on streaming and instead of Drake, look at everyone else.

A key part of Drake’s ascendence was his being ahead of the streaming evolution. He bolstered his popularity through Soundcloud loosies, allowing his fans to engage in behavior that would soon become the norm. He had a hack in that his fans were used to using their phones to access his music.

This proved to be a double-edged sword on the what giveth also taketh away tip.

As Drake consolidated his efforts above the fold and all his music landed on all DSP’s, the consumption skyrocketed. He broke streaming records with Views. “God’s Plan” alone has tracked in streams what lesser artists entire discographies have done.

And, while his 2018 looks great, his 2019 ran into Lil Nas X’s own record-breaking music, plus an onslaught of material (mixtapes, projects, albums, all in one place to consume for a monthly fee) from DaBaby, Lil Baby and a new class of rappers.

In that sense, there is a Drake era that has ended: his unquestioned reign.

Challengers to his throne now run aplenty beyond his usual contemporaries and often times they’re using his strategies to close the gap.

Can the Lover Boy certify his position with his next release?

We’ll all have to wait and see.

Trunk

Music, links, podcasts and videos I'm checking for.

  • BRS Kash (LVRN/Interscope) plugged DaBaby and City Girls into “Throat Baby” to put a charge into his underground heater. Lot of chatter on the TL saying this record would be large if we were all back outside. For my money, the original > the remix. [Listen]

  • Wale with a layup; “Good Vibes” is the thing its’ title says it is. [Listen]

  • Congrats Gabby & Dallas Martin; the pair were named co-presidents of Asylum Records. [Read]

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  • Complex’s 30 Rappers to Watch in 2021. [Read]

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  • Weezy, Kodak Black and Death Row founder Harry-O were pardoned. [Read] [Read] [Read] Roc Nation CEO Desiree Perez and former Detroit mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, once known as the “Hip-Hop Mayor,” were also pardoned. [Read] [Read]

  • Riz Ahmed is making noise with his Amazon film, “Sound of Metal”; The Hollywood Reporter gave him the cover treatment as a result. The actor, also known as RIZ MC, also inked a first-look deal with Bezos and them. [Read] [Read]

  • Something that sounds terrible, but maybe it will be decent? NFL partners with Verzuz for Pro Bowl programming. Verizon tossed the bag too. [Read]

  • Started the Dissect podcast on Childish Gambino’s Because The Internet; an excellent first episode. [Listen]

  • Nas’ “27 Summers” visual with a Henny commercial in the middle. Ha! [Watch]

  • Fat Joe does my favorite thing of 2021 so far by recruiting the kid from Twitter (follow him, here) with the ill blends for his latest, “Sunshine.” [Watch]

  • Busta ups the ante on his “Czar” remix video with M.O.P. in the fold but newjack CJ clapped the loudest with his 16. [Watch] CJ also spoke to Complex recently about his detour into drill music and inking to Warner Records. [Read]

  • Jim Jones’ El Capo deluxe got some heat; “Bad Boyz” is one of my favs and now it has a video behind it. RIP Fred the Godson. [Watch]

  • FX’s “Hip-Hop Uncovered” is coming soon, with Haitian Jack among others participating. I can’t wait for this. Wow. [Watch]

  • Virgil Abloh releases a gorgeous clip for his latest Louis Vuitton showing featuring Yasiin Bey and Saul Williams, among others. [Watch]

  • J.I. The Prince of NY speaks to Hard Knock TV about his earliest influences, from Big Pun to Kendrick Lamar. [Watch]

Backseat Freestyle is written and produced by Jayson Rodriguez for Smarty Art, Inc. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to email me: [email protected]. And follow me elsewhere:

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