Drake x Lil Durk. NBA Youngboy. Internet Money x Don Toliver x Gunna x Nav. Chika. Mac Miller.
Heads up, there's a super deep dive into Drake's single, I got teary eyed at one point, and Scooby-Doo and Stephen Curry get brought up.
Now that you know what's ahead, enjoy the article, and Friday is the new day of the week for the series.
How it works: Each song will get a short review followed by a Tinder-style rating of swipe right or swipe left. For Tinder context, swipe right means approval, and swipe left means rejection.
The same concept applies to this series, but instead of the swipe deciding sex or no sex, they dictate stream or no stream. Each swipe decision will also be accompanied by a general theme of the swipe.
Ex.) Swipe Right(Regret in Morning)
Disclaimer: If the intro didn't give it away, this series is freer than other articles on SoundSports. Bias will probably show. If you happen to be a recruiter trying to gauge my fit in your company, pick another article.
Drake "Laugh Now Cry Later" (feat. Lil Durk)
Most people will see "Laugh Now Cry Later" as just another Drake hit, but between the song and the video, there's a lot to unpack here.
To neatly unpack the major takeaways, let's do three subdivisions.
Subdivision Number One: Beef
Drake is nowhere near done beefing with Kanye West.
It's been two years since the beef peaked, yet Drake is still taking shots on Kanye on the hook of his album's lead single. You're probably thinking, "Wait, where is Drake taking shots at Kanye?"
I'm glad you thought that. Allow me to answer.
The entire track operates like a callback to a previous track that Kanye had issues with.
There are three key callbacks from Drake's verse on Travis Scott's "Sicko Mode" on "Laugh Now Cry Later".
"I did half a xan, 13 hours 'til I land" turned into "I took a half, she took a whole"
"I be spinnin' Valley, circle blocks 'til I'm dizzy, Like where is he?, No one seen him" turns into "We took a trip now we on your block it's like a ghost town". "Ghost Town" is also the name of Kanye West's hit 2018 song.
"Checks over stripes" turns into a full-blown video at Nike headquarters.
If you think I'm reaching, let's look at a few lines from Drake's first verse.
He starts the verse by saying, "Tired of beefin' you bums" and ends it with "Distance between us is not like a store, this isn't a closeable gap." That line sounds oddly forced because it is. Kanye West and Gap recently announced a 10-Year 'Yeezy Gap' deal.
Between this song and Kanye West ominously tweeting "Drake" every Twitter rant, it's safe to assume the two won't collaborate anytime soon.
Subdivision Number Two: Poor DJ Khaled
Last month on this very series, I documented the nature of DJ Khaled's existence. In doing so, I mentioned how artists give him scraps and how he gets used as a rollout meter.
Drake gave DJ Khaled two scraps, "Popstar" and "Greece", saw that they both debuted top-10 in Billboard's Hot 100 Chart, and then prepared for his real offering, "Laugh Now Cry Later".
From Drake's standpoint, this is business 101.
The Khaled singles were his version of a minimum viable product. For those who haven't taken a USC Marshall School of Business, congrats on saving your money, and allow me to explain what a minimum viable product(MVP) is.
An MVP is a product that produces quantifiable results with the least amount of effort.
Drake borrowed flows from DaniLeigh and The Weeknd to rap about nothing on "Popstar" and "Greece", and it resulted in two top-10 singles. Drake was able to wash his hands of the tracks, knowing that when he decided to drop for real, it'll chart at worst in the top-10.
Unfortunately for DJ Khaled, Drake's MVP was his best efforts—efforts that are falling down the charts("Popstar" at 18, "Greece" at 58).
Subdivision Number Three: The Ascension of Lil Durk
Around this time last year, Lil Durk's Love Songs 4 the Streets 2 released to Durk's highest sales total(44,000 units) and chart ranking(4th) of his career. The only rap album charting higher than him that week was Drake's Care Package.
Fast forward a year later and Durk has outsold his previous high by 13,000 units and is the lone feature on Drake's lead single. With Durk's talent and young age, I wouldn't be surprised if this catapolts his career to an even higher level.
Also, after Durk's use of the flip, it's time to retire the Drake/Draco play on words.
Maxo Kream did a whole song dedicated to it and Drake himself uses it on the unreleased track "Not Around". It was a good flip. Now, please retire it.
Swipe: Right (Dime)
Internet Money "Lemonade" (feat. Don Toliver, Nav & Gunna)
Fun Fact: Internet Money started the term "type beat", according to Fader.
This is an all-around good song.
Two weeks ago, I mentioned how some of the best and most slept-on music comes from producer records. Look no further than "Lemonade".
Despite Don Toliver, Gunna and Nav all being big names in music and each delivering quality performances, this track will probably go unheard by the masses. So if you're looking for sleeper aux additions, here's your track.
Swipe: Right (Velma from Scooby-Doo Archetype)
Chika "My Power"
This is just a soundtrack record from a Netflix movie, but I feel like soundtrack songs tell you a lot about an artist.
For example, despite being allowed way more freedom than a single soundtrack record, Kendrick Lamar's execution on the Black Panther album showed a layer of creativity from Lamar that he probably would have never ventured into without the movie as a muse. The same can be said for Beyoncé on The Lion King album.
This random Chika Netflix track has meaning.
In a week that a lot of people are probably being introduced to Chika's music through the XXL Freshmen list, this track shows off her creativity and legitimate rapping ability.
All that, for this:
Swipe: Left (Blurry Picture)
Mac Miller K.I.D.S. (Deluxe)
After first listens, both songs are good. I can't listen again.
Circles didn't make me sad at all. In fact, it brought me a lot of comfort, but these two tracks made me almost as sad as the day Mac Miller passed.
It's something about hearing young Mac that really brings home how I grew up with him and he's no longer here.
And that is too sad for me to willingly engage with.
Swipe: Left (Looks Like an Ex)
NBA Youngboy "Kacey Talk"
NBA Youngboy's popularity is probably the most difficult to gauge in all of rap.
On one hand, his last two projects sold below 100,000 first-week units, but on the other hand, he's the most viewed artist on Youtube.
The joke is that his fans aren't the type of people to buy an album or subscribe to a paid streaming service, so all of Youngboy's numbers are flooded to Youtube. That joke is the best guess as to why Youngboy can be trending number two on Youtube right now, trailing only Drake, yet still not be indisputably regarded as a superstar.
One thing that's not confusing is that NBA Youngboy is the best contract in all of rap. Similar to how the Warriors were lucky enough to lock Stephen Curry into a bargain deal when he was in the midst of injuries and reap the benefits, Atlantic is doing the same with Youngboy.
Youngboy signed a 5 album, $2million deal with Atlantic in 2016, and according to Youngboy, that deal is still costing him in 2020. This single was distributed through Atlantic Records, and funny enough, it features Youngboy literally flipping off people in what appears to be a label meeting.
This is a good single, but it feels bad supporting a rollout when you know the artist is in a terrible situation.
Guilty Swipe: Right (She has a boyfriend)
Liked the article? Leave a like or share it. Make sure to subscribe to SoundSports to not miss next weekend’s Rating Singles and other great content dropping throughout the week.
Comments