- Feature :: MANIFESTO

There hasn't been so much anticipation for a debut album in
hip-hop like there is for Drake's 'Thank Me Later' in quite
some time. There's as many people looking to see if this
album will be a smash success or a tremendous flop once
it drops on June 15th. Fate hasn't been too kind to stars
built up too quickly by the hype machine that runs the
popular side of hip-hop these days(paging Cassidy, Loon).
And it's something Drake should bear in mind for a few
reasons.

First off, he's a talented dude. It took me a while to fully
understand his skill set, but I see it as this: a good deal
of clever wordplay, a willingness for honesty combined
with a pinch of arrogance and decent singing chops. Put
all that together with his looks and you see why there
are some women doing the moist towlette dance when his
songs come on. But Drake has been prone to some setbacks
due to laziness. I mean, the man went on a radio station
and claimed to freestyle but was READING lyrics from a
BlackBerry. Not a good look especially when there's video
evidence. Plus, if you're going to be an earnest lyricist
who wants to grow, you can't get ethered on your own
track by a veteran so badly like Eminem did to him on
'Forever'. It's like he was LL Cool J and Em played the
role of Canibus back when '4,3,2,1' came out. The key
thing for Drake to do is grind, grind, grind. Even if you're
getting rave reviews, keep grinding away. Lil Wayne's in
the bin, so it's on him to keep Young Money fresh 'cause
truth be told, Nicki Minaj is watching her 15 minutes walk
on out the door. And who else on that roster is going to
move the crowd? Also, he's gotta improve his voice. The
near monotone can wear on the ears from time to time.

The second thing is, Drake is going to debut in a year that
is chock full of quality releases in music. A short list of that
includes Sade and Little Brother's last group album. If his
album falls short of the mark on a whole, history will make
that the low point to which all of the other albums will get
judged almost immediately a la Blender Magazine. It won't
only affect him, but it'll also give some people who like to
down Canadian hip-hop more ammunition. Because what
is being downplayed a lot is that Drake represents the new
vanguard of hip-hop in Canada now, more so than Kardinall
Offishall the veteran to a degree even though Kardi's been
on Akon's label for a minute. If he slips, expect a lot of pot
shots.

Last but not least, Drake's success relies on him staying humble. A
few cats look at him and immediately say, 'he's a rich boy.' Or 'this
dude is tryin' to be rap's Al B.Sure.' Granted, he's got a substantially
better background than others(he was raised in a wealthy part of
Toronto and his uncle played with Prince), he's a former child actor
but all of that doesn't mean a hill of beans in hip-hop. It's about
substance and character. You can't have your debut on the way and
have Lyor 'Tall Isreali' Cohen speaking on your decision-making being
suspect, no matter how coded the words. You start losing your grip
on things when you start believing what everyone tells you. I'm sure
it weighs on his mind, 'Fear' being the most obvious sign of that.
June 15th and it's aftermath will tell us is Drake is already too far
gone for hip hop at large to give a damn.