[thegmanifesto]

I know tons of guys on here love Drake.

This just makes me nauseous.

I posted this on the Tornonto thread, http://www.rooshvforum.network/thread-14320-...#pid237330 , but this is so bad, it needed it's own thread.

Hell, he is easily The Softest Rapper of All Time.

I am just wondering if he is The Softest Human of All Time.

Check out these lyrics:

Lyrics:[Verse 1: Drake]
Hey girl,
Do you want my number?
That way you can call me
Everytime I come into town
And then I will drive up to your house
And take you out to dinner
I don't expect nothing at all

[Chorus:]
But what if we happen to kiss, then we touch
Put a rush on it, get it over with
What if I just know what you like
And it feels right, then it's over with
What if I don't call you back
Prove you right
And all this lasts just one night
(Maybe we should slow it down) slow, slow, slow

[Verse 2: Drake]
Hey girl,
I'm back in Atlanta
Second dates are lovely
This time you should choose where we go
Need suggestions?
How about the movies?
Many go for ice cream
I'm not picky, you'll let me know

[Chorus:]
But what if we happen to kiss, then we touch
Put a rush on it, get it over with
What if I just know what you like
And it feels right, then it's over with
What if I don't call you back
Prove you right
And all this lasts just one night
(Maybe we should slow it down) slow, slow, slow

[Tuthmosis]

What are the odds? I was, literally, listening to this song on my laptop when I saw this thread come through. Listen to these lyrics (which you might already know by heart, since it's a classic).

This jam is part of my getting-ready mix.

[Brian]

"is that beta?"

[JayMillz]

I don't listen to Rap music, but I've heard the name. Are you saying he is unmanly? Or do you mean his music is commercial? What do you mean by "soft"? Those are usually fighting words.

[Timoteo]

I know Ghostface puts out an annual "10 Softest Rappers" list on a hip-hop site (I can't remember which one it is right now), and there's ALWAYS a spot reserved for Drake on it. Where he is on the list changes, but he always has a spot.

Edit: I found it...

http://rapsandhustles.com/2011/07/09/gho...-the-game/

[Cookie]

I liked older Drake tracks (not a big fan of Take Care and the direction his career is going), but I do believe that rap, at least the mainstream stuff, is getting more beta in general. Look at old Biggie Smalls, Jay-Z, Wu Tang, Eminem, and even old Lil Wayne tracks.

Now compare there content (see "Back that ass up", "Me and my bitch", "Shake that", and "Fuck Friendz" all songs by then "mainstream" rappers) to the modern "buy this girl Louie V/Gucci/Private flights" type verses that every rapper seems to have now, and look at how the alphaness kind of dropped off (see "How to love", all Drake songs, all Trey Songz songs, a lot of Chris Brown songs, and a shit ton more tunes that I can't even think of right now).

[Newb#3]

I like Drake's music. Take Care might have been my favourite album of 2011. I think he really hit his stride on it--it was a lot better than Thank Me Later.

[thegmanifesto]

(07-15-2012 07:49 PM)Tuthmosis Wrote:  

What are the odds? I was, literally, listening to this song on my laptop when I saw this thread come through. Listen to these lyrics (which you might already know by heart, since it's a classic).

I can recite that whole album off the top of the dome.

I come from this school of thought:

I ain't the one, the one to get played like a pooh butt
See I'm from the street, so I know what's up
Only silly games that's played by the women
I'm only happy when I'm goin up in em
But you know, I'm a menace to society
But girls in biker shorts are so fly to me
So I step too em, with aggression
Listen to the kid, and learn a lesson today
See they think we narrow minded
Cause they got a cute face, and big-behinded
So I walk over and say "How ya doin?"
See I'm only down for screwin, but you know

Verse Two:

Sometimes I used to wonder
How the hell an ugly dude get a fine girl's number
He's gettin juiced for his ducats
I tell a girl in a minute yo, I drive a bucket
And won't think nuttin of it
She can ride or walk, either leave it or love it
I show her that I'm not the O, the N-E, say
I'm a ruthless N-I double-G A
Cause I'm gamin on a female that's gamin on me
You know I spell girl with a B
A brother like me is only out for one thing
I think with my ding-a-ling, but I won't bring no
flowers to your doorstep, when we goin out
Cause you'll take it for granted, no doubt
And after the date, I'ma want to do the wild thing
You want lobster huh? I'm thinking Burger King


Verse Three:

Give you money why bother?
Cause you know I'm lookin nothin like your father
Girl, I can't be played or ganked
Ganked means getting took for your bank
Or your gold or your money or something
Nine times outta ten, she's giving up nothing
They get mad when I put it in perspective
But let's see if my knowledge is effective
To the brothas man they robbing you blind
Cause they fine with a big behind, but pay it no mind
Keep your money to yourself homie
and if you got enough game
You'll get her name and her number
Without going under
You can't leave em and love and stay above em
I used to get no play now she stay behind me
Cause I said I had a Benz 190
But I lied and played the one
Just to get some now she feels dumb

[UgSlayer]

(07-15-2012 07:55 PM)Timoteo Wrote:  

I know Ghostface puts out an annual "10 Softest Rappers" list on a hip-hop site (I can't remember which one it is right now), and there's ALWAYS a spot reserved for Drake on it. Where he is on the list changes, but he always has a spot.

Edit: I found it...

http://rapsandhustles.com/2011/07/09/gho...-the-game/

Ghostface is hilarious. I read those lists and was dying.

And when it comes to Drake, that's just his hustle. His image is manufactured and put out like a product. He knows that his music sells to teenage girls and he and his label target that demographic. He is the nsync of the hip-pop world. He makes millions from it.

[Screwston]

Ghostfaace doesn't really write those.

This is the runner up. At least Drake doesn't starve himself

[porscheguy]

It's about sales. And sales = money. You can say the guy is soft, but I'm sure he's suffering no shortage of pussy in his life or money in his bank account.

If anything, the genre has gotten soft. Gangsta' Rap is largely a thing of the past. What would you do if Dr Dre put out an album at almost 50 years old talking about going to the projects doing drive-by shootings, and risking getting shot or going to jail? You'd think "that stupid mother fucker has no business doing that shit at his age and with his money." You wouldn't be able to take it seriously.

And when you think about, who bought the early stuff from NWA? Black males. So NWA didn't sell a lot of stuff until their last album that slowly opened the door to a larger demographic. Some of the singles released from The Chronic were clean enough to allow them to be played on the radio with some minor editing. And then what happened? More copies of The Chronic have been sold to white guys than any other demographic. Then all of sudden, Dr Dre found himself with A LOT of fucking money. Not because white guys hold some magic key to the universe. It's because there are a lot of us. And what did Dr Dre do once he got a lot of money? He did what any smart person would do(and he is pretty smart for surviving in the music business for almost 30 years) and bought himself a house far away from the 'hood. But there's one group that never bought into the older style of rap music: women. How many women do you know who own a copy of Doggy Style?

Fast forward many years and rap has mainstream acceptance. Fucking Snoop Dogg dropped a verse on a single from Katy Perry. That's a far cry from where he was 20 years ago. But bitches will feel a moment of "girl power" and they'll buy a copy of California Gurls. And there are probably a few guys who bought it too. If you soften your image and content and it results in a 30-40% increase in sales, guess what? You sell out and you do it.

I never heard of Drake until six months ago. The name alone makes me think he's a pussy. But I bet he's got the market for happy, lovemaking rap cornered.

[Kaizen]

ya he's soft. he would get his ass kicked by chris rock.

mind you , what does he care if he is labelled soft. 25 sitting on 25Ms as per his song...not bad.

[jordypip23]

porscheguy's analysis of the rap game is spot on. Dudes like Diddy (over the years) also contributed to the softening up of the rap game. Drake is basically an Emo rapper that was handpicked & "chosen" by the industry. He's definitely not from the 'hood. Matter of fact, he is half Jewish (his mom is Jewish), and he grew up in an affluent suburb of Toronto that was predominantly Jewish. His father is black, but divorced his mom a long time ago. Drake was also on a really lame TV show in his pre-rapper days called "Degrassi". Dude is soft as cotton candy and can't decide if he's a rapper or an R&B singer at times. At least Chris Brown is a good singer. Drake sucks at singing & rapping. But Drake has the luxury of being on a solid record label, being surrounding by solid production teams, and being blessed with high profile guest appearances on many of his tracks. And a lot of his singles cater to the clubs so at the end of the day he still gets to laugh all the way to the bank. Such is the nature of the music biz.

(07-15-2012 10:03 PM)porscheguy Wrote:  

It's about sales. And sales = money. You can say the guy is soft, but I'm sure he's suffering no shortage of pussy in his life or money in his bank account.

If anything, the genre has gotten soft. Gangsta' Rap is largely a thing of the past. What would you do if Dr Dre put out an album at almost 50 years old talking about going to the projects doing drive-by shootings, and risking getting shot or going to jail? You'd think "that stupid mother fucker has no business doing that shit at his age and with his money." You wouldn't be able to take it seriously.

And when you think about, who bought the early stuff from NWA? Black males. So NWA didn't sell a lot of stuff until their last album that slowly opened the door to a larger demographic. Some of the singles released from The Chronic were clean enough to allow them to be played on the radio with some minor editing. And then what happened? More copies of The Chronic have been sold to white guys than any other demographic. Then all of sudden, Dr Dre found himself with A LOT of fucking money. Not because white guys hold some magic key to the universe. It's because there are a lot of us. And what did Dr Dre do once he got a lot of money? He did what any smart person would do(and he is pretty smart for surviving in the music business for almost 30 years) and bought himself a house far away from the 'hood. But there's one group that never bought into the older style of rap music: women. How many women do you know who own a copy of Doggy Style?

Fast forward many years and rap has mainstream acceptance. Fucking Snoop Dogg dropped a verse on a single from Katy Perry. That's a far cry from where he was 20 years ago. But bitches will feel a moment of "girl power" and they'll buy a copy of California Gurls. And there are probably a few guys who bought it too. If you soften your image and content and it results in a 30-40% increase in sales, guess what? You sell out and you do it.

I never heard of Drake until six months ago. The name alone makes me think he's a pussy. But I bet he's got the market for happy, lovemaking rap cornered.

[Kaizen]

^ i meant chris brown but chris rock would also kick his ass

[rlongo924]

Rap is just awful nowadays. If Drake was this age like 15-20 years ago he wouldn't even me mentioned and would be totally irrelevant. The standards for rappers have just gone so low in the last ten years. It's pretty damn awful. What's even worse is a lot of people consider guys like lil wayne like a top 5-10 all time rapper, which is fucking ridiculous. Rappers, specifically him, just talk about shit that none of us can even relate to for the most part. Their songs are basically an advertisement for how their lives are so much better than most of us. It's gotten so annoying that I hardly listen to any new rap nowadays.

As for Drake, he's pretty soft and he pisses me off. Hopefully him and breezy will have their boxing match and chris will kick his ass, it'd be pretty entertaining and i'd love to see it.

[OGNorCal707]

Drake is a rapper? For real? That shit sounds like straight up R & B to me, I'd put him in the same category as someone like Usher. When I think about rappers I think about Tupac, Pimp C, Nas, The RZA, Too $hort, etc., Drake shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence as those guys.

[rlongo924]

(07-15-2012 10:46 PM)OGNorCal707 Wrote:  

Drake is a rapper? For real? That shit sounds like straight up R & B to me, I'd put him in the same category as someone like Usher. When I think about rappers I think about Tupac, Pimp C, Nas, The RZA, Too $hort, etc., Drake shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence as those guys.

agreed.

[Excelsior]

This Drake hate-train seems to be rolling along, and I'm not going to try and stop it. That being said, a few points of mine on the topic:

1. Drake says a lot of romantic, lovey-dovey shit. This is mainly marketing. He's playing the image of the rich, famous young guy with the world at his fingertips who still has a soft side (as expressed in the lyrics) but is conflicted because he either cannot show it (caught up in the fame/money, living that life with all the complexities that come with it) or knows, thanks to his experiences with women, that such vulnerability would be bad for him. Make no mistake, some of his lyrics show he knows how manipulative many women can be and how bad "beta" can be-dude has some game, he's not totally bluepill.

He's the guy with all the trappings of what could be considered alpha (fame, money, lots of hot conquests, some game/understanding of female nature, etc), but the conflicted "good guy" core. His image hits sort of a "greater beta" sweet spot.

Women eat this shit up, and women are by far the most powerful consumers in our economy. He plays to their desire for the alpha (money, fame, power, some sexual experience/game and status) and the beta ("nice guy" at heart, some romantic leanings, "understands" and "values" them, etc) all in one package, a package they never really see in real life (and almost never will except in music and on TV), but love to fantasize about. He's showing an ideal, selling a dream-the "good guy" with fame and game.

This is a very common portrayal in the media-everyone knows it sells, and Drake is no exception.

The real guy is probably a little more realistic and less romantic than what you actually hear on the radio. If he ever really did embody the "beta" aspects of the image he's selling, it was probably a long time ago (his "Acura days", so to speak).

2. I'm with OGNorCal on this one: I don't think Drake is a true rapper, at least not in the sense of the guys many in this thread are comparing him to. He's more of a hybrid R&B/Hip-Hop Singer-Rapper. He sings a lot, puts out a lot of smooth R&Bish productions, and can rap over a beat as well. He's covering a lot more ground than Eazy-E, Tupac and most other mainstream rappers past and present, so I don't think one should compare them. He's just a different breed of artist.
I'd put Trey Songz and Chris Brown into the same category-they're R&B crooners who can rap a little and sing a lot while meeting a wide variety of tastes (from soft babymaking music to smooth R&B to rapping over a good beat in cooperation with mainstream rappers).

I don't think one should take their existence as an insult to previous mainstream rappers, or a sign that rap as a whole has declined. They're in a different category of musician altogether, IMO.

3. Drake says a lot of real shit. Take Care was the best hip-hop/R&B album of 2011, and I am unapologetic about my status as a big fan. Not all of his shit is for little girls alone. Drake does put forward an image that, as I said before, is designed to draw in young women. That being said, he says a lot of things that other people can relate to as well.

[Adam Michaels]

Anyone who calls Drake a Rapper is just confused. He is a POP artist who happens to rap on a track. Take Care is not a Rap Album, that is a Pop album.

I have both his albums and all his old mixtapes. No one here can argue that he doesnt make good music. Is it alpha or manly? Hell no! But his music isnt supposed to be. Its POP and POP is supposed to be POPULAR and we all know the mainstream doesnt think alpha or manly is popular.

I listen to his music and he is in the same category to me as Justin Timberlake, a dude who makes catchy songs that both urban and suburban people can listen to.

Saying Drake is soft is like saying NSync, Backstreet Boys or Vanilla Ice are soft. Obviously they are soft, they are meant to sell out Arenas to teenage white boys and girls. Same goes for Big Sean, Wiz Khalifa, Lil Wayne, Nikki Minaj, etc. I've went to their concerts, shit is crazy. It is legit all teenage white kids. I was the only "person of color" at a Big Sean concert last fall. I was shocked but then got to thinking about their target market and everything started to make sense.

[BigDaddy]

I dunno, G...LL went through a really soft period.

Ja Rule was always pretty soft, and he sounds like Cookie Monster.

Then there's Chingy, Skee-Lo, Heavy D was kinda soft (he gets a pass for being Pete Rock's cousin.)

Guru went a bit soft after he split with Premier ( RIP to Guru).

Simpin ain't easy. Oh wait, yes it is.

[Deluge]

Take Care (the song not the album) is extremely overrated. Hence why they played it on the radio so much and every girl sings along because it excuses their sluttiness. Headlines is good shit though

He's not hood at all though, he grew up in a fancy Toronto suburb, not the ghetto. He graduated from a Jewish day school, not a inner city craphole. He's firmly upper middle class. This is worse then Rick Ross having been a prison guard.

[WanderingSoul]

You guys are trippin...Drake is the hardest motherfucker to ever come out of Degrassi.

[Screwston]

(07-16-2012 01:25 AM)RioNomad Wrote:  

You guys are trippin...Drake is the hardest motherfucker to ever come out of Degrassi.

This guy would slap him around

[theoogabear]

i miss when Drake did this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRMiySr8xIg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whtZtLAxw0A

[w00t]

Imagine a fag like drake coming up in the 90ies ... Guys like wu tang wouldve skinned him alive.

I vant stand the guy bc he raped some dj screw classic and calls himself the new sweet jones. The real pimp c wouldve given him a beating for that if he was still alive.

Rap has pretty much gone to shit and degenerated into watered down pop shit nowadays. Most of my fav mcs are dead or have.turned soft. Thees still some good guys holding it down tho but its not a good time for rap music riht noe