B. Dot Miller: I think that if you're talking about Take Care, it's more of an influential
album than a classic album for the influence of The Weeknd, and what it did for Kendrick
Lamar.
Rob Markman: A lot of things Drake was doing on that album artists can still do today.
It doesn't sound old. It doesn't sound dated. "Lord Knows" is some of the best Drake
rapping we ever got.
Rob Markman: Hell Ya Fucking Right is on it.
Tracy G: That is my shit! And that was his first music video he got right too.
B. Dot Miller: Are you still listening to Marvin's Room?
Rob Markman: Yes.
Lowkey: It goes back again to the experience. I was going through a situation and I remember
at four or five o'clock in the morning that shit hit SoundCloud.
Tracy G: Yes!
Lowkey: And like it just took me to a different zone. And to this day, if I hear that, I relapse.
Rob Markman: What's up geniuses? Welcome back to For The Record. I'm your host, Rob Markman.
Now we're coming up on February 13th. So you're thinking Valentine's Day, but it's another
very important day. Alright, February 13th 2009 was the day that Drake dropped his So
Far Gone mixtape, okay?
Rob Markman: Respect to Room For Improvement, and Comeback Season, but this was the arrival
of Drake's songs like Successful, Best I Ever Had, Houstatlantavegas has really defined
a generation and inspired MC's for years to come. So we thought on this anniversary, we
should get a panel together and answer the question that drives the timeline crazy every
time. Does Drake have a classic album? It's gonna be a fun one, I swear. First up, we
got from Beats 1, okay, he's a DJ and he's the host of the hottest parties in the world.
I'm talking karaoke. I'm talking DussePalooza, okay?
Rob Markman: He is not hiding his kid from the world. He's hiding the world from his
kid. My man, Lowkey. Welcome to For The Record.
Lowkey: Thank you for having me.
B.Dot Miller: I can't even get into a DuseePalooza party.
Lowkey: Come on, we're not gonna start that. We're here for Drake.
Rob Markman: Next up from the Rap Radar Podcast, we have my man, one of the best journalists,
done some of the best interviews around. Diss him and and you'll always hear a reply
for it. My man, Brian B. Dot Miller, man. Welcome to For The Record.
B. Dot Miller: Thank you Rob. It's not even my birthday. Thank you. Appreciate that.
Rob Markman: You like that. So I owed you a gift. You know what I'm saying? And finally,
last but never ever least, from Sirius XM Shade 45 Sway in the Morning, the wellness brand
she is beauty and the beast-
Tracy G: Facts!
Rob Markman: Tracy G. Finally, welcome to For The Record. We've been trying to book
Tracy forever.
Tracy G: Oh gosh! Why you have to let them know the fine print.
Rob Markman: She's also AKA what you doing that's so important?
Tracy G: You bringing out the Drake bars already?
Rob Markman: We going Drake bars today. It's all Drake bars. No, but this was the panel.
These are the people that I wanted to talk this with. You know what I'm saying? 'Cause
I remember So Far Gone, we were all kind of maybe just getting started in the industry
2009 and it was a special time. Hov is already established. Wayne is already established.
As we grew in the industry, Drake is one of those artists that we grew with and were there
for each album and each release. And you probably remember where you was the night each album
was released and how you felt, etc. etc. etc.
Rob Markman: But, we want to talk about this classics talk at the end of the day. You know
what I'm saying?
Tracy G: Well that's what gets me excited, the fact that Drake is one of those artists
where I feel like I'd read his book from beginning to end while it was happening. Like, Hov,
because he's older, I had to go back and catch up. And even for Wayne, even though I was
a wild Wayne stan, like that 2004, 2009 run. But I wasn't paying attention in 2000 so much.
But from the onset of Drake, the moment I feel like he left the womb of hip hop and
entered the space, I've just been watching him mature and build, so-
Lowkey: I think you make a good point about the book watching. I think sometimes with
Drake, and this is my personally problem, there have been too many-
Rob Markman: You're starting with the problems already?
Lowkey: No, I'm just like-
Rob Markman: I'm trying to
Lowkey: You wanna talk! I think the problem with me and the classic talk is some of the
chapters in that book have been repetitive.
Tracy G: So?
Lowkey: And, you wanna see a different story, you wanna read a different lineage, and you
wanna just get a different grasp of his life, but it's like he's kind of telling us it over
and over, but just in different cool fun ways.
Rob Markman: Let's go back. Let's take it outside of Drake for a second. B. Dot, I'll
start with you. 'Cause we've had this conversation before many times. How do you define a classic
album? What's a classic album? Does every track have to be hitting?
B. Dot Miller: I googled that before we came here. A classic album ... it is subjective
because it's art, right? But I believe that a classic is something that's impacted culture
and it permeates outside of an artist's core. Everyone knows about it, it's unanimous. Even
if you don't like the artist, they recognize it as a classic. But I think that it can be
subjective, but I think it still holds to those tenets at the end of the day.
Tracy G: Yeah, to build on that, I think it's really important that we remove the nostalgia
before we get into a conversation about classic album because nostalgia as a seasoning can
just make you think that you love something a little bit more than you actually do. So
for me, for a classic album, I'm thinking to myself the lessons from this can they be
attained, put into motion, received with ease by a new generation? You know? Or was it so
much a part of a trend, a very particular style of that time that had a clear expiration
date that it doesn't really serve a new time?
Lowkey: And that's how I look at his music. There's always an expiration date. Maybe So
Far Gone set the trend for him as an artist and a lot of other artist. So that's why ... I
might lend to the fact that that might be his classic because of what it's done. Because
of the influence, the impact, what came from it, the deals that came from it, the Grammy
nominations. There's so many things outside of just the music that I can't really necessarily
say about the albums just yet. Like the other albums, or maybe it hasn't been enough time
yet. You feel what I'm saying? So, So Far Gone talking about the ten years, that's that
body of work that's set him up for to other babies being born.
B. Dot Miller: But when we also talk about classic, we also got into what you were saying,
Rob, I don't think that a song ... An album can be, it can have it's flaws and also be
a classic. I don't necessarily agree that-
Lowkey: Everything has to be-
B. Dot Miller: Perfect. So it's always about a body of work and how it affects the listener.
Rob Markman: Okay. So let's get into ... Can we all agree, or maybe we can't and it's cool
if we don't. It's actually probably better for ratings if we don't, right? Drake is arguably
one of the best rap artists right now. Anybody could put him at the top, number one, right
now, and that wouldn't sound crazy to anybody.
B. Dot Miller: It wouldn't sound crazy. He's top ten already.
Tracy G: Oh, okay. Oh, you mean in general? Like with people who are in a grave top ten?
B. Dot Miller: Yeah.
Tracy G: Oh.
Lowkey: He's top ten already?
B. Dot Miller: Yeah.
Lowkey: But we can't even define if he has a classic yet!
B. Dot Miller: I think Drake is one of the exceptions that doesn't need an actual classic
album to be considered top ten.
Tracy G: I thought we said So Far Gone was a classic?
Lowkey: I mean that's still subjective, and I don't think ... I haven't really seen that
kind of talk. This is thinking back over the years, for me, personally.
Tracy G: Okay. The reason why I also think it's a classic is because I was telling you
earlier before we jumped on camera that-
Rob Markman: And this is So Far Gone a classic?
Tracy G: So Far Gone, yes I do believe this because the new way that I listen to music
is I read it first. So, easy plug, I do go to Genius.
B. Dot Miller: Shameless plug!
Tracy G: There's the alley-oop, let's put it in a basket. But I do! But I do! And preparing
for this conversation, I was like, "You know what?" Again, the production that has a level
of hypnosis around it, but I said, "Let me read these lyrics. Let me hone in on that
factor." And I just feel like there's so much that a young man or even a young woman is
going through right now, and it's a safe way to always be relatable. But I wonder if Drake
is gonna be capable of making classics as we move further along in his career because
we're maturing. We care about activism! And the one thing that Drake does not know how
to rap about is things that don't have to do with him. He only knows how to rap about
him.
Rob Markman: So, as he grows ... Arguably, we've seen Drake, he's in his tenth year.
Again, and he has years before So Far Gone, but he's kind of in our collective hip hop
consciousness as a home run. So Far Gone, impossible to escape. Every hip hop fan knew
who he was. He's in his tenth year. Are you suggesting ... Obviously, he can still mature,
if you look at what Hov is doing with 4:44, twenty years into his career. But I feel like
Drake could get better or mature more, but we've kind of seen everything that he has.
Lowkey: But with Hov, there was sprinkles of that from '96 to 2019. Just talking about
putting money away, financial literacy, getting niggas out the hood. We're seeing the same
repetitive chapters with Drake, but he's dressing it up to a point where we just don't pay that
much attention to it. Or to her point, he only talks about himself, and if it doesn't
relate to him, it's kind of like-
Rob Markman: But isn't that what we love? Isn't that what stood out for So Far Gone?
Was the-
Lowkey: It wasn't relatable.
Tracy G: We were-
B. Dot Miller: He was transparent!
Tracy G: And we weren't all activists back then.
B. Dot Miller: Drake is a rapper. He doesn't have to be Al Sharpton.
Tracy G: No, I don't require that from him, but I feel like in some ways my growth is
stunted if I were to just feast on Drake right now. Because I'm like, how is it that I continue
to have a birthday and I'm learning more and I'm interested in more, and you're still stuck
here? And I saw an interview recently for this YouTuber who I follow, Shannon Boodram.
She's from California um moved to California from Canada. She's cool with him and she said
that he believes relationships are the death of creativity. And I was like, that is so
interesting because I've always wanted Drake to be in a relationship, so at least-
B. Dot Miller: He's been in a relationship since 2009.
Tracy G: He's been in breakups ... since 2009.
Lowkey: Well that's what I'm saying.
Rob Markman: The flip side to that is that we often ... Whenever somebody breaks up,
right, whenever a musical couple breaks up, we be like, "Oh, that next album is gonna
be fire!" We say it all the time. So at the same time, we group that on almost. "Oh yeah,
it's gonna be fire!"
Lowkey: When you're in the spotlight and when you're under a microscope, we don't care.
We listen and we watch you and we observe you. So when you break up, yes, we want the
bullshit. We want the train wreck. We want the mess. We're not rooting for love. You
saw what happened with Hov and Beyonce. The world went in flames when Lemonade came out!
When Hov admitted to what happened. We didn't give a fuck that these niggas was married.
We didn't give a fuck, like none of that! So we wanna see the fire in the relationship.
Rob Markman: Not me. Hov made it hot, man.
Tracy G: I thought we forgave him quite easily.
Lowkey: I mean, no …
Rob Markman: I felt uncomfortable listening to Lemonade.
Lowkey: I don't want that. I don't want him to be unhappy. I don't want their marriage
to be in shambles. But America thrives off that.
Rob Markman: There's growth in Drake.
B. Dot Miller: I agree.
Rob Markman: Like literally, if you take the last track from So Far Gone, which was The
Calm. When he's talking about his father, right, how I'm in a Bentley and my dad is
like I'm paying for cigarettes with a dollar and some change. He said that he love me,
I hope he don't say that shit in vain. Right? That's the last song on The Calm and if you
look at the last song on Scorpion, March 14, it's really him analyzing his relationship
with his pops and then reconciling his relationship with his son.
Lowkey: But that card was forced too.
Rob Markman: Huh?
Lowkey: That card was forced.
Rob Markman: I don't think it was forced. I believe-
Lowkey: You think that was an original bundle of ... before that whole Pusha thing?
Rob Markman: What I believe, and listen, you can look. I've been critical of Drake before.
I'm not afraid ...Pusha T obviously won that battle. So I'm not, this is not like the Drake
bandwagon. But I believe that March 14th was done, written, or in play before Pusha. I
think that song sounds differently because you don't hear Story of Adidon. But I think
the song is the same. I think he still planned to reveal to the world that he had a son on
this album. And it changes the perception and the story of that album. Pusha is just-
Tracy G: Yeah exactly.
Rob Markman: Spoiled the milk.
B. Dot Miller: But that doesn't ... It goes to your point that Drake offers glimpses of
his life throughout his entire careers. And again, he's the biggest artist in the world.
He doesn't have to do that and he doesn't drop as prolific as some of that other artists.
So, when we do get a moment of Drake's music, it's almost like we're getting a ... a look
at his life.
Tracy G: Right. His journal. His diary. It's very introspective.
Rob Markman: So let me ... Okay, So Far Gone, we all can agree is a classic. Absolutely.
But the battle whether it was a mixed tape or it was presented as a mixed tape-
Lowkey: Yeah, I mean we're never gonna come to a general consensus. It is what it is.
Rob Markman: But it's a classic.
Lowkey: It's a body of work.
Tracy G: Exactly.
B. Dot Miller: I think it's definitely if you're talking mixed tapes, undoubtedly top
five of all time.
Rob Markman: Yeah, absolutely. And it's not five.
B. Dot Miller: One through five, it's somewhere in there. I'd say top three.
Tracy G: I agree.
Rob Markman: Okay, so we agree on So Far Gone. So, alright. Let's look at his albums proper.
Does Drake have any ... Take Care comes up a lot.
Tracy G: I love Take Care
Lowkey: That's the closest one I'm gonna give.
B. Dot Miller: To Drake fans, but that's not a classic.
Rob Markman: You're a Drake fan though?
B. Dot Miller: Yeah, I'm a Drake fan.
Rob Markman: You're a Drake fan.
Lowkey: Yeah.
Tracy G: I'm a Drake fan. Shit! You can't help but be a Drake fan.
Rob Markman: Take Care's not a classic.
Lowkey: That's what I'm calling that, that's the closest one he's gonna have in his body
of work outside of So Far Gone. I think Views is aging, starting to age beautifully. I remember
last time I was here-
Rob Markman: You said that.
Lowkey: So I think it's starting to. More Life came and went for me.
Tracy G: What makes something age better? What are the different outside elements where
five years from now you're like, "Oh, this is good." Is it something that's particular
to you? Maybe you're experiencing things-
Lowkey: I think just like how he said, you always remember places you are when you hear
certain songs, when you take in certain albums.
Rob Markman: So that's a subjective thing?
Lowkey: Yeah. But to me, I can't say that's not the criteria for all you guys. But out
of the albums that were released, those are the songs that really hit. And Take Care,
yeah, but-
Rob Markman: So what prevents ... 'Cause I think Take Care is a classic.
B. Dot Miller: Really?
Rob Markman: Honestly.
B. Dot Miller: How?
Rob Markman: How not is what ... It was just really ... 'Cause I think-
Lowkey: I've been looking for reasons as to why it's not
Rob Markman: I think Thank Me Later was ... Everybody was looking for it to be that and I think
there was some confusion with how it was set up. I think maybe Drake was pulled into a
couple different directions, maybe did songs or did things that he thought he had to do
that kind of didn't make that album as cohesive as it could be. And I think he learned from
that mistake. And I think Take Care, I think he knocked it out the park. I think from the
beginning ... First of all, the smoke from the beginning, Over My Dead Body-
B. Dot Miller: That's a great record.
Rob Markman: I think I killed everybody in the game last year and fuck it I was on though.
B. Dot Miller: It's a skit!
Rob Markman: Listen.
Lowkey: But you just said that That a classic album doesn't happen... I'm just saying...
B. Dot Miller: I agree. No, I agree. Listen, I think Take Care is more influential.
Rob Markman: What was it? Shot For Me?
B. Dot Miller: Shot For Me, yeah.
Rob Markman: Shot For Me is a skit?
B. Dot Miller: It's a skit.
Lowkey: Shot For Me is a skit?
Tracy G: Shot for me...
Rob Markman: First of all, I don't want to skip Over My Dead Body, because I think Over
My Dead body, when we talk about this Pusha T., Drake, Kanye, that's such an important record.
Tracy G: Yeah!
Lowkey: It is a great record.
Tracy G: It's foreshadowing.
Rob Markman: Because that's Drake getting at Sean and 'Ye. Off of the heels of the
Ludacris shit. "All of your flows bore me, paint drying. And I ain't never tripping'
off of what ain't mine" A couple lines later, "Don't make me tear your world apart, boy."
That's Sean's ad lib.
Tracy G: Oh yeah.
Rob Markman: "You and whoever the fuck gave you your start, boy!"
Tracy G: He also borrowed that!
B. Dot Miller: That was a great start to that album. I think that was one of his best-
Rob Markman: That was Free smoke before, Free smoke, dog.
B. Dot Miller: That was a great project, that was a great intro, right? I think that if
you're talking about Take Care, it's more of an influential album than a classic album
for the influence of The Weeknd, and what it did for Kendrick Lamar, but I don't think
it's a classic.
Rob Markman: You splittin hairs
Lowkey: That was that tour they were all on, right? Around that time?
Rob Markman: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
B. Dot Miller: How am I splittin hairs??
Tracy G: That sounds so synonymous. I feel like ...
B. Dot Miller: Something can be influential and not classic
Tracy G: I feel like a prerequisite to being classic is being influential.
Rob Markman: The only song-
Lowkey: That was one of the criteria we were talking about.
Rob Markman: We talk about how things age, right? I still hear that song. A lot of things
Drake was doing on that album artists can still do today. It doesn't sound old. It doesn't
sound dated and that album came out in 2011 so that's eight years ago. It wasn't that
long ago. The only song to me that I don't hear it the same, is no offense, is Make Me
Proud, like Beauty and the Beast. Come on, he had Lord Knows. Underground King, Lord
Knows is some of the best Drake rapping we ever got.
Lowkey: If at any point people will say that's probably one of his best if not best verses.
B. Dot Miller: I think The Ride is his best song to this date.
Rob Markman: Crew Love. You can't-
B. Dot Miller: A Weeknd record?
Tracy G: Hell Ya Fucking Right is on it.
Rob Markman: At the same time, it is a Weekend record. Hell Ya Fucking Right is on it.
Tracy G: That is my shit!
Lowkey: Look What You Done.
Rob Markman: Look What You Done.
Tracy G: And that was his first music video he got right too.
Rob Markman: The Motto was damn near a bonus track.
B. Dot Miller: Are you still listening to Marvin's Room?
Rob Markman: Yes.
Lowkey: It goes back again to the experience. I was going through a situation and I remember
at four or five o'clock in the morning that shit hit SoundCloud.
Tracy G: Yes!
Lowkey: And like it just took me to a different zone. And to this day, if I hear that, I relapse.
Lowkey: I can't. That's why ... There are things in that record that are very vital
to the listening experience.
Rob Markman: Sounds like a classic to me.
Lowkey: That's why I said that's his closest to-
Rob Markman: But you still won't give it the classic.
B. Dot Miller: I can't. Not yet. I can't listen to that album all the way through without
skipping around.
Lowkey: That's my only thing.
B. Dot Miller: And in totality, at its core ... And I think it's too long as well.
Rob Markman: Let's talk about that because that's one thing that Drake has and I wrote
it down.
Rob Markman: Scorpion had 25 tracks so that's kind of a double. More Life had 22 tracks.
Views has 20 tracks. If You're Reading This, 17 tracks. Nothing Was The Same. A Sweet Spot
13, 15. 15 if you count the iTunes bonuses which all ends up on streaming now anyways,
so it doesn't even matter. Take Care was 18 tracks, 20 if you count the bonuses again,
which all that stuff ends up streaming.
Lowkey: So his average per album is like 19.
Rob Markman: Yeah he's giving you like 19 tracks. Is that ... And if you play the law
of averages, that does leave more room for error, like-
Tracy G: Hell yeah! So then where's the editing?
B. Dot Miller: I agree! I think a lot of Drake tracks overstay their welcome. I think if
Drake gave us a good 12-track album, we could definitely have that classic conversation
Lowkey: If Take Care was a 12, 13 track album, instant classic.
Tracy G: But here's the thing-
Rob Markman: But what is it that doesn't make it a classic? I still haven't heard what doesn't
make it a classic.
Lowkey: To me, to his point, it's too long. I just-
Rob Markman: What songs do you skip?
B. Dot Miller: I skip a lot of the R&B joints.
Tracy G: So, it's too many. So, if he had just three skipables, then in could be a classic.
But it wasn't because it's like six, then it's like nah. What's the minimum and the
maximum?
Lowkey: The minimum skipping?
Tracy G: Yeah.
Lowkey: The minimum skipping is like ... three. The minimum skipping.
Rob Markman: I don't skip more than three tracks. Make Me Proud might be the only one
that I skip consistently.
B. Dot Miller: And some of the songs, even though they were hits, I just can't listen
to them. They were so ubiquitous.
Lowkey: What's the joint with Birdman?
Tracy G: That's my shit too!
Rob Markman: Or was it We'll Be Fine.
B. Dot Miller: We'll Be Fine. That was the Birdman joint
Rob Markman: You don't like it?
Tracy G: And then what was the joint where he flipped Juvenile .
B. Dot Miller: Practice?
Lowkey: Get that out of here!
Tracy G: Whoa!
B. Dot Miller: Get that out of here!
Tracy G: Y'all need to grow an ass
Lowkey: That's three! I'm already on three. What?
Tracy G: You don't know what to do when that song comes on. I thought that every DJ did
a disservice to team estrogen by not playing practice at the clubs, man
B. Dot Miller: I'd play the Juvenile record instead.
Tracy G: You could have put your broken heart piece back together if you knew what to do
to Practice, boy!
B. Dot Miller: Boy!
Lowkey: Why did it have to go there?
Rob Markman: You aren't whoever the fuck gave you your start, boy!
Lowkey: That's why I listen to Marvin's room because of women like her, fucking like
this, don't know how to control their mouth. That's exactly why I love that song because
you all-
Rob Markmab: So you all gonna kill me?
Tracy G: He got sensitive.
Rob Markman: I honestly feel, and again, I've been very critical of Drake. I think when
the Quentin Miller stuff came up, it definitely raised an eyebrow to what's really going on
here, you know what I'm saying? But, I gotta give him Take Care. The next album too-
B. Dot Miller: Nothing Was The Same.
Rob Markman: Nothing Was The Same wasn't no pump, boy! There's some days when I'm like
Nothing Was The Same was a classic too.
B. Dot Miller: You're just giving everything a classic these days.
Tracy G: What wasn't a classic?
Rob Markman: Everything else. And I feel like, like I said, on some days. But I kind of feel
like the way Lowkey feels about Take Care, I feel like about Nothing Was The Same.
Lowkey: I feel like-
Rob Markman: The only song I skip on that is 305 To My City.
B.Dot Miller: That's the only song?
Rob Markman: 305, I hate 305.
Lowkey: I'm not mad at that song.
B. Dot Miller: I don't like that song too much either.
Rob Markman: I hate that.
Lowkey: I'm just not mad at it. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly.
B. Dot Miller: I feel like a lot of albums sometimes fall in between. They're not necessarily
trash. They're not necessarily classic. They're just good. They're above average. And I think
that's where Drake is.
Rob Markman: I wouldn't give Nothing Was The Same a classic, but it's damn close. Started
from The Bottom?
Tracy G: Yeah. It has so many. Forever.
Rob Markman: Tuscan Leather.
Lowkey: The intro. The intro was stupid. The intro was silly.
B. Dot Miller: Pound Cake.
Lowkey: See now Pound Cake, I don't like Hov's verse on Pound Cake.
Tracy G: Me either.
Rob Markman: Really?
Lowkey: I do not.
Rob Markman: I didn't love it.
Lowkey: I did not love it.
Rob Markman: You know what would be dope? Speaking of Hov, if Drake did ... Remember
when Hov ranked his albums where he just put the picture of. I would love to see-
Lowkey: But it wasn't any particular order. Was it from the bottom up?
Rob Markman: Yeah, he stacked them in order.
B. Dot Miller: I think it's from the top down.
Rob Markman: From the top down.
Lowkey: Well see, that's what we don't know. Did he say it was from the top down or bottom
up? No dude, did he say that?
Rob Markman: Yeah. Yeah.
Lowkey: Oh, he did?
Rob Markman: 'Cause Kingdom Come was at the bottom.
Lowkey: It might be one of his favorites.
Tracy G: It's gonna be interesting though when Drake moves further along and it's time
to create a compilation of all of his hits.
B. Dot Miller: A lot of hits.
Lowkey: He's got a lot.
Tracy G: The thing is as a singles, he has these strong classic singles and so many,
an innumerable amount. Where I wish I could just do a choose your own adventure and curate
my own Drake album. Because that's called a playlist though.
Lowkey: The consumption for those big hits have changed because of streaming services.
Tracy G: Yes, indeed.
Lowkey: So it's like, we're not really ... how we really judging those singles. Are we judging
them through influence, longevity? Where is the criteria for those singles 'cause I'm
not denying ... A number one single is a number one single, but how it got there is different
than from back in the day.
Rob Markman: My favorite song on any album is rarely ever the single.
Lowkey: Right. Yeah.
Rob Markman: Wait, so you're saying Take Care is not a classic?
Tracy G: My heart doesn't beat that loud for it, but I love it.
Lowkey: It's debatable.
Rob Markman: So everybody can agree that So Far Gone, and I'm the only one that thinks
Take Care is a classic.
Lowkey: I'm almost. I'm 75% with you.
Tracy G: Now, do you think that Take Care is necessary listening? Let's just say when
we have children ... Well, yeah!
Rob Markman: Absolutely!
Tracy G: When you think about with your kids.
Lowkey: Necessary listening? No. No. No. That's a good question. So Far Gone, I'll give necessary
listening. Every other project, no.
Rob Markman: I hear up and coming younger artists just coming into the game now, 20,
21 talking about Take Care, some of the ones that I talk to, in the same way that we talked
about Nas' Illmatic or Reasonable Doubt. And I say that because I came up, I was well
aware of Rakim. Eric B. And Rakim, Paid In Full. And I could recognize that as a hip
hop classic in the canon and I have respect for it. But I don't feel as connected to that
album as something that came out in the mid-90's. Enter the Wu-Tang, or Doggy Style or Reasonable
Doubt, or even the Get Rich Or Die Trying. Because those were my prime years. I was around
for that.
Rob Markman: And I feel like it's kind of the same way. These kids might respect a Nas
Illmatic or a Jay Reasonable Doubt, but that Drake Take Care, that's my shit!
Tracy G: Of course.
Rob Markman: That's the shit that made me want to rap and sing.
Lowkey: I can't tell a younger kid, I can't tell them, "Nah, that don't mean shit!" Because
that means more than it is ... I can't tell you that.
B. Dot Miller: It's personal.
Rob Markman: What happens over time though? Because you said Views is getting better over
time.
Lowkey: Views has got better to me musically.
Rob Markman: Is it getting closer-
Lowkey: No.
Rob Markman: Is it a classic? Oh, it's not.
Tracy G: I'm dying.
Rob Markman: I'm just making sure.
Lowkey: Stop trying to set me up! Come on man.
Rob Markman: I'm just trying to understand. How much does time play in. In anything that's
out from Drake right now, can it eventually become a classic? Take an album like 808s
& Heartbreak.
Tracy G: Ooh! I love.
Rob Markman: When it came out it got panned.
Tracy G: And 808s is the sperm of So Far Gone, I just wanna say that.
Lowkey: That's very factual. That's very factual.
Tracy G: When I heard So Far Gone, one of the first things I thought was, "Wow, Now
many people are finally gonna appreciate 808s & Heartbreak." I said, "They're literally
gonna come back to 808s & Heartbreak" because your ear has to be tuned, trained in a different
way with repetition.
B. Dot Miller: Even if you don't like 808s & Heartbreaks, I feel like So Far Gone is
the evolved version of that particular album. So I gotta give credit to Kanye West for the
inspiration.
Rob Markman: I feel you, absolutely.
B. Dot Miller: I'll stop talking about Kanye West now.
Rob Markman: I gotta give credit to T-Pain. I think T-Pain is the catalyst to all of that
shit.
Tracy G: Oh, I love T-Pain.
Rob Markman: I think if you don't have Good Life, 808s don't happen
Lowkey: He doesn't get enough credit. They don't get enough credit or props for what
he's done.
Rob Markman: Well, we're gonna give him flowers today. So 808s ... over time though, people
recognize ... I think over time you could see the impact that that album had and a lot
of people may say classic or at the very least super influential-
Lowkey: Or a cultural classic?
Rob Markman: Nah. What's the difference? They're all cultural classics! I don't care what anybody
outside the culture think.
B. Dot Miller: Good point.
Rob Markman: Personally. You know what I'm saying?
Lowkey: Those terms are thrown around, with certain artist and certain projects. "It's
a cultural classic."
Tracy G: And you mean cultural classic like it's spawning or-
B. Dot Miller: Yeah, like seminal works
Rob Markman: So can Drake ... Can any of the Drake albums evolve over time? Can we-
Lowkey: I would like for that to happen to him. I don't think anything outside of Take
Care will get to that point. I just don't. It's not a listening requirement. None of
those projects outside of Take Care and So Far Gone to me are required listening.
Tracy G: He has a point because ...
Lowkey: They're not gonna make or break the listening experience for my kid if they don't
hear any Drake album.
Tracy G: Because it wasn't a new lesson. Because like you said, he remixes his own subject
matter.
Lowkey: The chapters are repetitive. And it's no disregard to what he's done over the last
10 years, but it's like I haven't ... The only thing ... I said Take Care, that's the
only thing that might hit me where it's like, your father was going through this shit. I
was at this place.
Rob Markman: You gonna really tell them that story?
Lowkey: Yeah! You don't talk to your daughter about certain music? Yeah. Like, I was here.
Lowkey: My dad did it. My dad worked in the music industry and he would talk about Michael
Jackson shit all the time. I would love to tell my kids like, "I was at the 4:44 tour.
You gotta listen to this." I want Drake to have it. I don't think he has it just yet.
B. Dot Miller: I think he's capable of making a classic album.
Lowkey: Of course.
Tracy G: I'm rooting for that!
B. Dot Miller: I think we all are. As of right now, as of today, outside of So Far Gone,
I don't think he's there yet. But I'm not counting him out by no means
Rob Markman: So what does he have to do to make a classic?
B. Dot Miller: I think shorten the track list.
Tracy G: Yes!
B. Dot Miller: I think I've told him this. I said, "I would like more-
Tracy G: Oh!
Lowkey I wasn't gonna do it
Rob Markman: First of all B. Dot gonna get a call, when this shit airs like, "Wassup?
Mans dont got no classic?" B. Dot Miller: I also think that he needs
to appeal more to the hip hop demographic. We all know he's capable of the singing and
things like that, but the R&B songs, if you're gonna do it, just make sure it's done right.
Not necessarily a throwaway r&b record.
Lowkey: I've always had an issue with that. I've always had an issue because I don't think
he can sing at all. But-
Rob Markman: Nobody can sing today.
Tracy G: But I like that though!
Lowkey: But I've always kept the same marker, I don't think he can sing. He can make a great
R&B song, but he just ... As an R&B fan, that ain't it.
B. Dot Miller: But he's made great R&B songs.
Rob Markman: I don't think ... I think he created this thing. You're right, he's not
a purebred singer. He's not gonna kill you with his vocals. But I think a lot of the
game changes with Drake as one of the catalysts. Because even our rappers today aren't straight
up rapping.
Lowkey: And that's why you look at So Far Gone.
Rob Markman: Everything has melody in it, now
Lowkey: Yeah, but that's why you look at So Far Gone-
Rob Markman: Drake is one of the catalysts
Lowkey: And you give them, okay, they've shifted shit. So that's why So Far Gone can be and
probably will be considered that classic. Just off of that point alone.
B. Dot Miller: It was a game changer, without a doubt.
Tracy G: And I think for myself because I totally get your point especially being a
huge R&B fanatic, where they don't appreciate his vocal chords. Maybe this has to do with
me being a woman, but there's some type of sincerity I feel when a man who can't sing
is singing. I remember one time Kid Cudi said the reason he has to make these sounds is
because just he can't find a word to fully express that emotion. Some people, you hit
them and they yell, "Ah!" Some people say, "Shit!" You know what I mean? And so something
about Drake just attempting, realizing like, "I'm limited, so I just have to go for the
most natural feel of expression and it's trying to sing." You know? And something about that
just, I don't know, I wanna listen.
Lowkey: Break it down.
B. Dot Miller: He's not Luther Vandross. He can carry a note and R&B is part of who
he is. It's part of his repertoire and I've accepted that, but as a hip hop head, I wanna
hear ... 12 tracks of those time stamped type of songs.
Rob Markman: Oh, like 6 pm in New York
B. Dot Miller: 4 pm in Calabasas
Rob Markman: I remember and I give him cred it again, we talking about So Far Gone ... I
remember having these ... I was at XXL at this time and I'm not gonna say with who,
but I remember having these arguments and it was all across the industry within critics
as to whether the game really wanted a guy who rapped and sang at the same time and whether
that was gonna work. And a lot of people didn't think it was gonna work.
Lowkey: LL did it. Ja Rule did it. Nelly did it.
Rob Markman: Yeah, but not in the way that-
Lowkey: I mean obviously it's more heightened with him, but-
Rob Markman: And that's what I'm saying. I don't give him all the credit, but he is a
catalyst in that because there were many that came before. And we acknowledge that, but
... he was straight trying to be Trey Songz on some joints.
Lowkey: But I guess to her point, R&B is a big part of his repertoire and even though
he can't sing, there's something that he wants to express or get out. Obviously he's a ladies
man, so it's gonna pertain to them a lot more than it does to us. So, I'm not mad at it,
but that was my first criticism of- when I first really started to get into him. Like
I don't want you to sing my nigga. Like this is not- this ain't it. Like you could rap.
Tracy G: Right. Here I Am. Tell me more.
Lowkey: Here I Am. Like nigga, step right there. Now he's just singing all over the
place. It's just like this is who we are. This is who y'all crowning?
Tracy G: This your king?
Lowkey: This the nigga? This the nigga?
Rob Markman: B. Dot says he's on the GOAT list. He's top 10 now. Is he top 10? Without
a classic? Without a traditional classic album, as you say, is he top 10?
Lowkey: He's top 15.
Tracy G: Damn. So who's your top 10?
Lowkey: We're not doing this today.
Tracy G: No, not in order.
Lowkey: We're not doing this today.
Tracy G: No, not in order, not in order. Just to see like, names that box him out.
Lowkey: Names that box- okay.
Tracy G: So I can understand why he's not there.
Lowkey: Snoop, Cube, Hove, Kiss-
Rob Markman He's covering his mouth. I don't know if he believes it.
Lowkey: No, because I don't like.. This spawns a whole other thing
Rob Markman: Because you could also-
Tracy G: Because I'm not going to argue with that list. I just want to see how behind Drake
is.
Lowkey: Scarface.
Rob Markman: They came at me when I put Scarface on my list.
Lowkey: X, Kanye was recently taken off.
Tracy G: Right. So then I would like to slide Drake into Kanye's if that's open.
Lowkey: Budden.
B. Dot Miller: The reason why I put Kanye- I mean Drake- Talking about Kanye. I feel
like I'm just being objective as possible. I feel like Drake, when you're talking about
his catalog of records, Drake could be on stage for almost three hours-
Tracy G: Yes.
B. Dot Miller: And the whole crowd could recite his songs. And you don't necessarily have
to be a Drake fan to know Drake's music.
Tracy G: That's why Drake is in the top ten to me as well.
Lowkey I mean, that's true.
Rob Markman: Who in this generation is in the top, is Kendrick in the top ten?
B. Dot Miller: Yes.
Rob Markman: Is Cole in the top ten?
B. Dot Miller: Not yet. He's getting there, I think he's top 15.
Tracy G: Well I'm on my island, top ten.
Lowkey: Drake and Kendrick are right there.
Rob Markman: Again I'll be honest like... to me the writing help from Drake. The Quentin
Miller thing. To me that's still isn't 100 percent resolved within me.
B. Dot Miller: Really?
Rob Markman: It is, because I know he can rap. I believe he wrote "Back to Back."
B. Dot Miller: Okay.
Rob Markman: And 6:00 PM in New York in and then the rap songs.
Lowkey: I think the hits where the help comes in at.
Rob Markman: But, there's that little asterisk in my head, it's like HDH, I think a A-rod
before he tested positive for all that stuff, was killing it, but- do I really know? Like I remember
Barry Bonds before he had the big head, but for whatever- It raises a doubt. I haven't
reconciled that 100 percent and I wanna give it the benefit of the doubt. If it wasn't
for the writing thing I think he's top ten. With the writing thing I'm not sure, cause'
I can't put him against somebody who just writes and writes and writes.
Lowkey: You know what happens with that? When we're talking about the generation that comes
up that looks at Drake as he's just the god of everything, they don't care about that.
They're not going to pick out, they're not going to have these arguments. They're not
gonna put that asterisk there.
Rob Markman: And to his credit, and this is the part where I credit him, is the influence.
He's changed that, that's why this guy was a game changer for somebody like me who was
old enough to know the generation that came up on the Nas', and the Wu-Tang's, and Jay-Z,
where you had to write every single lyric.
Tracy G: Right.
Lowkey: Is that for the better?
Rob Markman: I don't know. For me it's just what I value. But with the way the these young
artists are coming up, for them it's not as important, and so that's not a strike against
them, you know I think it's a generational thing, and however it ends up, he changed
that. He made people be like-
Lowkey: But that's my point, what I was saying off camera. How low the bar is. You feel what
I'm saying, how short the criteria has gotten. And its like all they want is put it on streaming
services, make sure it's two minutes and 30 seconds, and I can run around to it. And you
could find little subgenres within that, but those three points, that's really it. This
generation's attention span is not fucking long at all.
B. Dot Miller But to your point Rob, when you're talking about Quentin Miller and ghostwriting
allegations, I just wanna know who wrote The Ride, I want to know who wrote... I'm just
saying there are moments of Drake's greatness where there are no reference tracks or anything
like that, so I've still got to give the man his flowers and is just due because he's great,
he's phenomenal, there's not a notebook of someone else's music. And Drake's-
Rob Markman: That we know of, and absolutely I agree with you, like I said I want to give
him the benefit of the doubt. You listen to those tracks and, you know, this shit is so
good. I'm pretty sure... but I don't know, you know what I'm saying? Even if it's a little
bit of doubt, the question always kinda-
B. Dot Miller: If that didn't happen we wouldn't be having this conversation.
Rob Markman: At all. And it's now top ten and ignorance is bliss you know, and to his
credit a lot of rappers from the 90's was having shit written for them. I just don't
know.
Tracy G: Right.
Rob Markman: We've gotta think about it, we never heard a reference track. The first reference
track I ever heard in hip hop was Biggie doing "Queen Bitch" for Kim.
B. Dot Miller: Yeah, that's true.
Rob Markman: We knew that Kim didn't-
B. Dot Miller: Didn't write that.
Rob Markman: Anyway, but we heard it. It was like "alright, this is ill." I hadn't heard
another one- I heard one from TI that wrote something Dr. Dre.
Lowkey: But that information was forthcoming, too. With Dre having people write shit for
him, but-
Rob Markman: And the Quentin Miller stuff, so you got to still look at hip hop for all
these years. This shit is like we've heard stories, and I know what happened. I absolutely
know-
B. Dot Miller: And people's flows, shout out to Trett, shout out to Kane, they was definitely
helping people's flows-
Tracy G. But also, I look at-
Rob Markman: I mean there's been rumors about Nas for years if we keeping it real.
Tracy G: That's true.
Rob Markman: Queens Get the Money with Jay Electronica, that wasn't a thing-
Lowkey: There's no reference-
Rob Markman: I had never heard the reference so I've got to give Nas the benefit of the
doubt.
Lowkey: You got it, I don't have any evidence for you.
Tracy G: The way I've been able to kind of reconcile it is looking at it from a sociological
perspective, going back to Lowkey's point with how the kids, they have created the standard
of quantity over quality, and the amount of work that you have to push out, and then I
think about how we have our phones that are extensions of our arms and everyone's brain
is shrinking, like that's a fact. So now enters an artist where you have to create, but you're
constantly distracted, you know what I mean, and you have a 24 hour news cycle. I may not
be able to produce as much, I may need somebody who studies me to launch me off. It's different
versus before, you have no social media, lock yourself in the studio- and J. Cole does that,
but this is a different type of person, you know? But you lock yourself in the studio,
all the freaking curtains pulled, and you can zone out. But it's just a different time
where I could understand someone needing a little push, like remind me who I am?
Rob Markman: Part of it is a generational thing, right? But you make a good point, the
music changes when the technology changes. Every bit of how music is consumed and then
made now is the technology. There's more records coming out then ever because everybody can
record in their bedroom, you don't even need a record deal, you can upload to SoundCloud,
or you can through DistroKid and get your thing, or TuneCore and get your thing, or
Spotify. There's more artists than ever, and more things on our phone competing for our
attention.
Rob Markman: And so these artists, in a way, are also forced to- they've got to make that
song dope in one minute, because you're gonna move on.
Tracy G: Right.
Rob Markman: And it was kind of like that tapes- cassette tapes changed the way that
the music was made. Isaac Hayes would do eight and nine minute songs, and it would be four
songs each side on that album, however the music is delivered. Same thing when CDs came,
it was like "Oh, 80 minutes of music?"
Rob Markman: I got to fill this up, I need the No Limit album with 22 tracks. The technology
dictates how the music is made, and I think we just end that again, so-
Tracy G: That's what I'm saying.
Rob Markman: Okay, so- Damn man I thought I was gonna get some back. I feel like now
they're gonna be like "Oh you on Drake's dick."
Lowkey: We've had some disparaging comments about him and how he writes, and how he works.
Tracy G: Low kicked it off.
Lowkey: I kicked it off. I'll take the heat. We give a nigga his flowers while he's here.
I'm not gonna wait till it's over and done with, nah the nigga's nice but he has stuff
to work on.
Tracy G: As all humans.
Rob Markman: If this was spades, classics wise he got two and a possible.
B. Dot Miller: at the end of the day we're talking about an album 10 years later after
the fact, this guy has been on top for a decade strong.
Tracy G: Indeed, strong.
B. Dot Miller: You know what I mean? We really haven't seen a run this long, and I don't
know if we're ever going to see another. You got to get the man his props at the end of
the day.
Lowkey: Hov's was choppy with the run.
Rob Markman: Hov's thing, to his credit, Hove always managed to stay relevant but Hove wasn't
always the top rapper every year. It's Dark and Hell is Hot was tough.
B. Dot Miller: Right behind you.
Rob Markman: Yeah that 2003 was 50, but Hov consistently stayed his spot. What Hov says
on What More Can I Say is never been this good for this long- is this truth.
Lowkey: So Drake's consistent run right now overshadows? Or it's not on the same tier
as Hov?
Rob Markman: You gotta talk about 20 years. I put Hov in a different thing.
Lowkey: Because it's 96' and it's 19' and homeboy just released.
Tracy G: Wow.
Lowkey: It's 96, it's '19, and 4:44, and everything is love and, you know what I mean?
Rob Markman: Jay-Z is the GOAT to me.
Tracy G: Without a question
Rob Markman: So I say So Far Gone, Take Care. Tracy, you say just So Far Gone, final answer."
Tracy G: I feel like I'm being so hard on him because of the context. But the thing
is that the songs still moved me, so I'm going to say it's two classics. For someone to have
a decade of being on top, how could it just be one classic? That's not mathematically
possible.
B. Dot Miller: It is.
Tracy G: So it's two.
B. Dot Miller: It's algebra. I'm just gonna go with So Far Gone. Hands down, I'm say it
again, So Far Gone: one of the best mixtapes of all time. Top five, definitely top three.
Lowkey: I'ma go with So Far Gone just cause of the influence that it spawned and what
it did for just streaming and Grammy nominated, got this nigga a record deal, got this nigga
on tour, just think outside of the music and then we look inside the music at what he was
doing or trying to do, and what he was saying, the collaborations, picking people off that
were not even known. I'll give that to him. And I'm that man's harshest critic, but, like
you said, when it's 10 years later and we still talking about his first mixtape. You
gotta do what's only right. So Far Gone is the classic for me.
Rob Markman: Alright man, and there you have it man. We talked about it, we debated, we
discussed. I don't agree with most of these guys. Me and Tracy got it together though!
We wanna know what y'all saying in the comments, hit us up. How many classics does Drake have?
Which ones? Talk to us, we talk back, and tune in next week for another For the Record.
Peace.
For more infomation >> Introduction to BackGammon Classic Pro 2019 - Duration: 14:55. 
For more infomation >> Beautiful The Classic American Boxcar Shipping House | Lovely Tiny House - Duration: 2:59. 
For more infomation >> Mercedes-Benz C-Klasse 200 CDI Classic Topstaat.Stoelverwarming.Cruise. 118.000KM! - Duration: 1:02. 
For more infomation >> Winter Classic Dog Show - Duration: 0:25. 
For more infomation >> Classic Flavor JuniorSize Whoopie Pies 20Count AutoShip - Duration: 6:15. 
For more infomation >> Mercedes-Benz A-Klasse 160 Classic Lang 100pk Elek. Lamellendak, Airco, Radio/CD, Trekhaak - Duration: 1:08. 
For more infomation >> Winter Classic Dog Show - Duration: 0:48. 
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét