MFC: Predominately About Drake (ch 16)
What started as an explanation of why this post was so hard to write morphed into something else throughout the writing. In a nutshell, this week's entries are all hip-hop and rap songs. I've included other songs from this genre in the current list, so I am not unable to write about rap; it's just that sometimes I feel phony doing so. Writing exclusively about rap also seemed a daunting task, and every week, when I would open the list of remaining songs on the top 100, I saw these natural fits for an entry.
Each time, I would ask: is this the week I write 2500 words on Drake? Admittedly, I didn't think I would actually write 2500 words on Drake, but the more I started typing, the more I had to say. I go LONG on Drake below so that I won't belabor too hard on the point here. I am still trying to figure out what my favorite Drake song is and if it's a Drake song or if it's a song that he's merely a piece of. My operative theory is that Drake has a lot of hits, but if you ask five people what their favorite Drake song is, some will refuse to engage, but the rest of them will have something different than what you expected. That could be the case with any artist with a catalog as varied and extensive as his, but I digress. You'll see what I mean below, but start thinking about your favorite Drake songs and their more significant role in the culture. What does Drake mean to you?
Since some of you have told me you only read this thing because you're looking for details on my life, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we got the boy's haircuts this weekend. We mostly avoided using the words Cut or barber because both seemed to elicit negative feelings. Instead, we talked about going to the Saloon and getting a trim. Eliot had grown tired of mega knots in his hair, and despite getting a new brush that dealt well with ratty hair, he opted to go short like his classmates. Roman, whose hair grew much slower, was going to get his first cut and was petrified by the whole experience. Thankfully, his brave brother went first and underwent a mega transformation, going from long locks that often led to the wrong pronouns to a much shorter cut that he was pumped about. Both boys look great and are running much faster now that they have summer hair. Who knows what will grow back or what the cadence of the cuts will be now, but for the moment, short hair for the Hasler boys. Am I next? Who knows. Time will tell. And now, the hits.
This Week's Theme: Hip-Hop & Rap
Song
Ready or Not
Artist
The Fugees
Released
1996
Lyric
So while you imitating Al Capone
I'll be Nina Simone and defecating on your microphone
One Word
Influential
|More Than One Word|
This is the one song in this group that does not involve Drake, so let's get it up front lest you want to skip this entire thing.
The only way that Enya is going to make this list is if I talk to you about the song Ready or Not by the Fugees. For the first two months of this project, I had the Fugee's cover of Killing Me Softly in this spot. But the more I listen to this song over the past few months, I realize that that song does not really reflect the impact that this group had on me and, to a lesser extent, the culture.
That song is a bigger hit, highlighting Lauryn Hill's greatness. But if I wanted to feature a Lauryn Hill song, I would've selected something from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, but that differs from what this project is about. So it came down to Fu-Gee-La or Ready or Not. Both songs are great, but for me, Ready or Not is the one that takes the cake.
I think this was the first time I ever heard the word defecation, and bonus points to Ms. Hill for using it when discussing where she's about to shit: on someone's microphone. Truly an innovative use of pooping used in music.
I already discussed Wyclef Jean's influence on my musical appreciation (see Gone Til November) and nodded to Lauren Hill. But the last member of the Fugees, oft-forgotten Pras, doesn't get the respect he deserves. You might not remember it, but Pras wrote a song with Mya and O.D.B. called Ghetto Superstar for the Bulworth soundtrack.
That song goes. More people should talk about Bulworth. Check out Bulworth!
But back to Enya.
If Killing Me Softly is a cover of Roberta Flack, then Ready or Not samples Enya's song, Boadicea. If the reporting is believed, Enya was about to sue the group for copyright infringement because they just used her song and didn't credit her at all. But then she listened to it a few times and realized that the song was great and that the Fugees were not a part of what she deemed gangster rap. According to Wyclef, she gave them a pass, and the band learned from this and didn't make the same types of copyright clearance issues going forward. Thanks, Enya.
This blend of different musical elements created a unique sound indicative of the Fugee's influence on music, and we should celebrate its creativity and impact. Who else, other than me, did it impact? During his 2008 presidential run, candidate Barack Obama cited this song as his favorite of all time.
I can't imagine there are many songs that both Barack Obama and I have in our top 100 songs of all time, so it's good to know that we at least have some common ground. That common ground we share is over Wyclef, Lauren Hill, and Pras coming together to sing about topics as varied as empowerment, integrity, Guantanamo Bay, Cassius Clay, and even Buffalo Soldiers.
Song
Forever
Artist
Drake, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Eminem
Released
2009
Lyric/Moment
Now it's super bad chicks givin' me McLovin
You would think I ran the world like Michelle's husband
I also want to shout out the piano during Lil Wayne and Em's verses. Underrated piano.
One Word
Collaborators
|More Than One Word|
Lebron James' team lost in the playoffs last night. His team was inferior and lost to the defending champs. This morning, he's hinting at retirement but definitely still wants to win championships. It would take a miracle to win one with his team currently constructed. LeBron can pull off miracles, like the miracle he pulled off in 2009, getting four of the best rappers alive to agree to be on a track paying homage to his greatness for his hagiography documentary about his time as a high school basketball player. You have to really hop in the cultural time machine to appreciate the moment and each artist's role in this song and the music industry at the time.
--Drake was in his nascent stage of fame and nowhere near the cultural icon, he would come to be. At the time of release, he hadn't put out an album and had only three mixtapes to his name.
-- Kanye wasn't known as a prodigious rapper in the competition for best in the game (he was still known mainly as a backpack rapper), and despite the success of his first three albums, he wasn't seen as competing with the heavyweights (even if, in his mind, he was the best). (Side note: This song came out mere weeks before the famous VMA incident.)
-- Lil Wayne's influence on music needs to be discussed more. For me, it begins with her verse on Back That Azz Up and mostly comes to a screeching halt with the release of Tha Carter III -- namely the track A Milli (named best song of 2008 by multiple publications and sources). Then he went to prison on weapons charges and never regained his spot.
-- Eminem is an artist I wasn't allowed to listen to. My mom would have objected to most rap music, but Emimen was pervasive enough that even the morning talk shows and newspapers said he was dangerous. By the time he appeared here, 8 Mile had been out for seven years. His years of being an agent of chaos under Dr. Dre and rapping about impregnating the Spice Girls were a decade old.
In reverse order then, Eminem was the old hand, Wayne was at the top of the game, Kanye was an interesting genre-adjacent addition, and Drake was the up-and-comer. Truly, an impressive collection of artists on a track that Jay-Z quipped was the apex of Posse Cuts of the decade. How would you rank these verses? Personally, I go, Kanye, Em, Drake, Wayne.
I don't love the idea of critiquing anyone's lyrics, but I would like to commend Drake for crooning about "Shutting Shit Down At the Mall." What a genuinely of-the-moment lyric I do not think makes nearly as much sense in 2024 as in 2009.
Bonus fact: rumor has it Kanye rewrote his verse for two days after hearing Eminem's. (It paid off! Some people say his is the best verse on the track!)
Song
1Train
Artist
A$AP Rocky ft. Kendrick Lamar,Joey Bada$$,Yelawolf, Danny Brown, Action Bronson & Big K.R.I.T
Released
2012
Lyric
I've been thinkin' 'bout all the O's in my bank account (What?)
One Word
Assembly
|More Than One Word|
After seeing Drake's role in Forever (up-and-comer), A$AP Rocky decided: What if everyone on this song had that? For his track 1Train, he assembled a group of six rappers whom he thought needed some shine and respect. What they produced is probably the best collaboration rap song since.
I think many people gravitate to A$AP's other posse track, F**kin' Problem (where Drake has arguably the best verse), but this is the one for me. That song was mostly ruined for me when I spent the summer of 2013 in Oman learning Arabic. A guy in the program ran around the entire summer trying to translate that chorus into Arabic to use it as a pickup line with Omani girls.
It did not work. And it killed the song for me.
I also gravitated to 1Train because of Action Bronson. If you've never spent any time hanging out with or consuming Action Bronson content, I point you to his food show. No other person put me onto Natural Wine more than Action Bronson. In addition to being a rapper, the man is a bon vivant, gourmand, and all-around good time. He also introduced me to Bonci pizza in Rome, which is a mainstay of my recommendations whenever someone tells me they're going to Rome. If I've ever sent you to get pizza in Rome, I got my info from Action Bronson. I would like to include an Action Bronson song on this top 100, but it won't happen. (If it were going to happen, it would be this one; Leen and I really like this one. Features some good Chance the Rapper.)
Bonus points for Joey Bada$$ being 17 when he hopped on this song. That's cool. I was not rapping very well at 17. I was not doing anything very well at 1t. What were you good at 17? Are you still good at it now?
Song
Nosetalgia
Artist
Pusha T
Released
2014
Lyric
What I sell for pain in the hood, I'm a doctor
Zhivago, tried to fight the urge
Like Ivan Drago, "If he dies, he dies"
Like Doughboy to Tre, if he rides, he rides
Throwin' punches in his room, if he cries, he cries
One Word
Cocaine
|More Than One Word|
Portmanteau is a funny word. I bet it's French. I can't think of a lot of French portmanteaus, but one that sticks with me is their use of one to describe Email, opting for "courriel," a portmanteau of "courrier" (mail) and "électronique" (electronic). I learned most of what I know about Portmanteau when I taught 11th and 12th grade English. I'd assign these poems to kids to read and then head to www.literarydevices.net to see what pathos, hypophera, or synecdoche meant. It's amazing how much you can learn about English when you have to teach it.
I got into a discussion the other day about the emoji 🤌.
Can a gesture have a denotation? Can an emoji have a connotation? All these things were discussed, and thank goodness for literarydevices.net, so I knew which was which. Anyway, we didn't use the emoji because someone might find it offensive.
I digress.
This song "Nosetalgia" is a portmanteau, combining the words, nose and nostalgia. If you know anything about Pusha T, you can probably assume why he is rapping about noses. The man loves to talk about drugs. Produced by Kanye West and featuring Kendrick Lamar, this song gives different perspectives of the drug epidemic of the 80s and 90s that Pusha and Kendrick grew up during. Pusha T talks about his early days as a drug dealer in middle and high school, and Kendrick talks about watching his father deal drugs and his general childhood in the drug world.
Pusha T is famous for many reasons. I learned of him through Eric Van Cleve in the summer of 2002 when The Clipse released Grindin. If you've never heard Grindin, stop reading and click here. We listened to It a lot.
After The Clipse broke up (as much as a group can break up when it's two brothers; Pusha T's brother had a sweet name, Malice), Pusha signed with Kanye's label and went on to release two highly acclaimed albums and featured on countless tracks, including two of the standout tracks on Kanye's My Beautiful Dark and Twisted Fantasy.
At some point in his career, he is rumored to have created the McDonald's "I'm loving it' jingle, though a dispute with Timberlake leaves this subject unsettled. He also dropped an incredible rap over the Succession theme song with its soaring piano and baseline.
Arguably, though, his most significant impact on the Culture was when he revealed that Drake was hiding a child in epic fashion. Before I explain that or refresh your memory, you need to know that Drake and Meek Mill beefed in 2015, and Drake ended Meek's career. Meek accused Drake of using a ghostwriter on the Meek Mill track R.I.C.O.
Drake hit back with two songs in short succession, most potently on Back to Back, which criticized Meek Mill for many things, including his subpar music career and relationship with former Drake collaborator and Meek's girlfriend at the time, Nicki Minaj.
Drake won the fight and proved himself to be a force reckoned with in the rap battles. As Omar Little put it in The Wire, you come for the king; you best not miss.
Pusha did not miss.
Pusha and Drake have been jabbing at one another since 2012, but in 2018, Pusha released a track accusing Drake of using a ghostwriter. This accusation seems to dog Drake often. Drake responded by criticizing Pusha and Kanye West; that was a bridge too far.
Pusha T then released The Story of Adion, which contained the lyric:
Since you name-dropped my fiancée/Let 'em know who you chose as your Beyoncé/Sophie knows better as your baby mother/Cleaned her up for I.G., but the stench is on her/A baby's involved, it's deeper than rap/We talkin' character, let me keep with the facts/You are hiding a child/ let that boy come home/Deadbeat mothafucka playin' border patrol, ooh
I'm not saying that fatherhood is taking an L, but I am saying that trying to hide a child and that secret being revealed amid a rap battle with Pusha T is definitively losing. Don't pick a fight with Pusha T, especially if you're hiding a child.
For a while, Pusha was the president of Kanye's record label G.O.O.D. Music, but they cut ties over Kanye's rabid antisemitism. Pusha, again, makes good choices. And that's why Nosetalgia is such a great song. I legitimately just wrote 300 words on Pusha and hardly said anything about Kendrick Lamar, and arguably, Kendrick has the better verse on this song. But again, that's sort of the problem with inviting Kendrick onto your song: he's probably going to win. You'll notice that Kendrick has not recently engaged Pusha in beef. He very wisely avoided going after the king of ending rap battles. Check out a little bit further below to see Pusha T’s role in this ongoing Drake-Kendrick beef. I’ll give you a guess who’s side he’s on.
Song
A Collection of Drake Songs but probably this one
Artist
Drake
Released
2010-2020
Lyric
"Bout to call your ass an Uber. I got somewhere to be."
"We threw a party, yeah, we threw a party/ Bitches came over, yeah, we threw a party."
"Worst."
"God's Plan"
"'Cause ever since I left the city, you/Started wearin' less and goin' out more."
"Since my dad used to tell me he was comin' to the house to get me/He ain't show up/Valuable lesson, man, I had to grow up."
"My circle got so small that it's a period."
"Started from the bottom, now we're here."
One Word
Prolific
|More Than One Word|
When I told a friend I was doing this 100-song thing, she said something like, "So what? It's going to be like 10 Drake songs, 5 Bon Iver songs, a few Radiohead songs, and some random songs no one has ever heard of that you think are better than they actually are?"
Ouch.
Drake's ascendancy to the top of the charts coincided with most of my time in Qatar. I was "extremely online" the entire time I was in Qatar because I had the luxury of being awake while most people slept, catching up on everything that had happened the day before. Undoubtedly, Drake has talent and had hits, but the man also knew how to rile the internet up through memes, gags, or just something to keep the Twittersphere a titter with his antics.
I spent too much time deciding which Drake song would take this spot this afternoon. Why only one Drake song? Why not all of them? Well, despite his influence on my musical habits during the 2010s, I don't know that any of these songs are more important than the remaining ~20 songs or if they're worth cutting off 20 songs from a variety of genres, eras, and artists so that I can write about 20 Drake songs. Do you want to hear me talk about Hotline Bling for more than two sentences? Do you think the song or the meme is more memorable?
For most of January and February, I thought I was going to write about Marvin's Room and the rise of sad-boy energy rap (and tangentially country music like Sam Hunt's Drinkin Too Much), but then I realized I wanted to talk about the Nicki Minaj verse on Up All Night.
At some point, I thought about how Started From the Bottom, Worst Behavior, HYFR, and God's Plan had moments of cultural import. I remember the year I named my fantasy football team in a points-per-reception league," 0-125 p+oints Real Quick", as an homage to 0-100/The Catch-Up.
Can you believe that A$AP and Drake made a mini-movie for Hold On, We're Going Home with no rapping? There are no words in that song besides the chorus—just one long chorus on a great beat.
Don't even get me started on his work with Future on Jumpman (NOBU NOBU NOBU) or Diamonds Dancin. All this is mentioned before I even talk about his work featuring on someone else's track! I've already mentioned him doing just that on Fuckin Problems, but that's just a taste!
Tuesday (He's got the club going up! ON A TUESDAY!)
100 (The Game’s finest work?)
Who Do You Love (YG -- Piano hard AF on this one)
Blessings (Big Sean! "I'm here for a good time, not a long time!)
Bedrock and Trophies(Wayne, Nicki, et al. l)
Work (Shoutout, Riri!)
As you can see, or I hope I've shown, Drake had hits! Drake had great features. According to Spotify totals, you could be tricked into believing he is still reaching the cultural highs he was during the 2010s, but I don't think so. I genuinely believe that Pusha T sapped his energy. Pierced the veil of invincibility. And
Drake rose to the top. He tried punching down. He got absolutely bodied, and while he'll never admit defeat, find me a collection of songs that are this good in what he's done since that Pusha T beef. You can't do it.
Is this cheating? Maybe. But it's my list! When it comes to which one I'll actually put on the playlist... We'll see. I think I know which one I want to hear right now, which is not necessarily the same one I want to hear tomorrow.
Drake is destined to be a guy with a catalog deep enough that I can find the right song for the right moment and not one I am comfortable putting in and locking the list in stone. He is why lists are editable, even if he has lost his fastball.
What's your favorite Drake song? Did I leave it off the list? It seems unlikely, but again, anything is possible!
If you've gotten this far and are still in the mood for more Drake discourse, let me quickly update you on what's happening in rap beef. Over the past few weeks, Kendrick, J. Cole, and Drake have been jawing at one another (with J Cole dropping out of the beef because he's not made for this moment). Something happened on one track where Drake said they collectively were the kings of rap, which Kendrick took issue with, which J Cole took issue with, and yadda yadda yadda, these men are rap fighting.
As mentioned above, when you come for the king you better not miss, so Drake releasing something with AI Tupac recently didn't help. This morning, around 10:30 CST, Kendrick dropped a 6-minute Drake diss track. In it, he lambasts Drake for his issues with women, his absentee fathering of the aforementioned hidden child, and his legion of ghostwriters and hints at knowing more of Drake's secrets that Drake would not want out in the world, 'Don't tell no lie about me and I won't tell the truth about you." Yikes.
If you have six minutes and enjoy Drake getting dragged lyrically, then this is for you: Euphoria
It is interesting to note that even amid the diss, Kendrick tells us that his favorite Drake song is Back-to-Back. Even haters can find a favorite Drake track.
Thanks for tuning in. Until next time.
