Drake by Jon Sterngass

Author:Jon Sterngass
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: CHBiographies
ISBN: 9781438195483
Publisher: Infobase Publishing
Published: 2019-06-20T21:42:29+00:00

The Mixtapes

In 2015, Drake released two mixtapes—If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late and a collaboration with hip-hop star Future entitled What a Time to Be Alive. If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late was released on iTunes with no official announcement in February. Yet even with no promotion, the album debuted at number one on the album charts and was streamed more than 17 million times in its first week on Spotify, setting a new record. At one time, all 17 of the mixtape’s songs appeared on Billboard’s 50-song Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart simultaneously.

If You’re Reading This It’s Too late represented a return to Drake’s more pessimistic worldview. Drake’s first person raps once again examined the emptiness and isolation at the heart of fame and material success. For most of the album, Drake seemed to wander, dejected and confused, around his hometown of Toronto. On “Used To,” he longed for simpler times before he was a mega-star and lamented, “Only see the truth when I’m staring in the mirror.” On “Energy,” he rapped, “I got enemies, got a lotta enemies, got a lotta people trying to drain me of my energy.”

Occasionally, some of the old bravado did shine through on parts of “Energy” and “No Tellin,” where he sneers, “Please do not speak to me like I’m that Drake from four years ago, I’m at a higher place.”

Drake wasn’t altogether happy with If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late. “By the standard I hold myself and '40' to, it’s a bit broken,” he said. “There’s corners cut, in the sense of fluidity and song transition.” Nonetheless, the album sold more than 600,000 copies in its first week.

On a creative roll, Drake produced yet another mixtape, What a Time to be Alive, only seven months later in September 2015. This mixtape was recorded with Future in Atlanta in less than a week. Although it seemed like a project that was tossed off on a moment’s notice, the album also debuted at number one on the album charts. It seemed that there was a limitless market among pop music fans for anything Drake produced.

By 2015, Drake had a definite vision supporting his career. “With music, especially, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m a vessel to deliver emotion to people,” he said. “I want to provide the background music to your life as you live it. I’m there for you in heartbreak and tragedy and joy.”

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