Album Review: Drake – “Nothing Was The Same”

When Drake released Nothing Was The Same, the hip hop media circled their wagons around him, as expected. There was a lot of love and a lot of hate for the man who has become the biggest hip hop artist in the game. Nothing Was The Same made Drake the clear current leader of the game, there is no more denying it.

Of course, it is not all about the numbers, but Drake will be one of only a few hip hop artists who can still go platinum. All of this boils down to the fact that Drake makes good music. A few people in the hip hop media said Drake should focus simply on making rap records, but he is more than a rapper, he is an artist.

Those with open minds and ears who understand Drake is an artist who both raps and sings are ready to understand and appreciate Nothing Was The Same. With such singles as “Started from the Bottom,” “All Me,” and “Hold On, We’re Going Home,” Drake showed his range as an artist. But, the singles were just an appetizer.

The full album is the treat that hip hop listeners are in for and they will enjoy a merger, of sorts, between his first and second albums from a more mature perspective. Along the way, Drake asserts himself as the next leader of the game on such tracks as “The Language,” where he has gone after other artists in general. Some people may not want to admit it, but who else can provide a legitimate threat to someone such as Chris Brown and Kendrick Lamar, Drake doing that on one album deserves props.

Nothing Was The Same features the “Pound Cake” track with Jay-Z, which is definitely another one of those passing down the torch-type singles Hov is known for. This time around, Drake did things his way and he was unapologetic about it, so when people want to consider him as “soft,” he says let him. Hip hop is changing and Drake reflected the way the genre and the world is changing with his third studio album, which might be one of the top five albums to have dropped this year.

Hip Hop Vibe’s Rating: 7/10