Rebuttal: Reader Comments on the ‘Thank Me Later’ Review

theHUE: Album Review | Drake – Thank Me Later Post

Comments from RJ Panganiban:

Now we are all 80’s babies so we all come from the same pick of the crop. The difference is ya’ll were late 80’s and we were early, and the gap plays a major role as to what is dope. Now I understand Drake is the epitome of dopeness because he is about the same age as you guys, shit I love rappers who are my age, but let’s take a trip back as to what us oldies consider dopeness. Now us oldies grew up listening to Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, Snoop’s Doggystyle, and Biggies Ready to Die, when you just started elementary school. I personally bought all of these albums the day they came out when they were only available on tape. We were bumpin that real shit that wasn’t commercial and more negative at the time. When you had to have an adult come in with you to purchase these cd’s that had the parental advisory sticker on them. I’m guessing you guys just missed that boat since half of yall were still learning how to read, when hip hop was controversial and was actually considered bad. We come from an era that had you doing what you weren’t supposed to do. Hangin out late with no curfrew and kickin it at various parks was the thang to do with us. Your clothes, haircut, and overall style had you as a negative factor when mimicking dope hip hop at the time. Just listen to Wu Tang’s Wu Wear track and they will mention every dope brand that we oldies all rocked at the time. A time when you couldn’t buy Chuck Taylors at Foot Locker. So we oldies started the dope trend. I wasn’t into no New Edition or Bel Biv Devoe at the time (Do we look like BBD, you hoockie groupie – Kurupt) People older than me were but I wasn’t. This is how some of us came up, now let’s take a look into the present.

Now Aubrey Graham started on that show Degrassi. Were yall feelin him then? Was he the hottest shit around then? I can honestly say Snoop’s acting in the Murder Was the Case movie was a lot doper than Degrassi. MC Eights Roll in Menace to Society was real. 2pac on a Different World was a lot doper than Aubrey’s acting in Degrassi. Even Will Smith had that credibility as a hip hop artist during the Fresh Prince. We were feelin them on all levels unlike Aubrey who was still up and coming. Now Aubrey was always into hip hop which was evident, but his past videos that show him getting angry at his mom for not bringing him the proper sandwich, very hurting on all levels. Now his transition from Canadian actor to rapper begins.

Here we have this new artist named Drake with a single out called Replacement Girl featuring Trey songz. How come he wasn’t the epitome then? How come everything prior to So Far Gone wasn’t so dope to you guys? This is similar to when 50 Cent came out on Aftermath/Shady records. When no one really knew who he was until Get Rich or Die trying blew up. He had the single with Destinys Child and the street single How To Rob that got everybody’s attention. People my age who fall into that same category as these Drake fans are the one’s who were yelling G unit after the fact, which seemed pretty poser since G Unit’s was out for a minute and it’s just after 50 got signed with Eminem that the masses started to bandwagon G unit. The difference between 50 and Drake is 50 is a boss. 50 was determined to get rich or die trying, and he accomplished this. What better way to get into the music scene than signing with Eminem and Dr. Dre, the 2 most iconic rap figures in the game. Getting those co-signs confirmed 50 as a credible artist. Dr. Dre and Eminem are more credible hip hop artists than Baby and Lil Wayne. Now here we have Best I Ever Had, the best song ever created by man at the time. Now little did you know that Best I Ever Had was originally a Lil Wayne song. Drake took Wayne’s version and just re-did it. This was when Drake wasn’t officially signed to Young Money and was searching for a label, even though he said Young Money at the end of the song. Hence the track originally being on a mixtape. I personally liked Young Money more when Currency was on the label. Grown Man Shit by Lil Wayne Featuring Currency appealed to me because these rappers are my age( when I was 23 at the time) and they were rapping about shit my peoples could relate to. Growing up as a person and handling that grown man shit with the ladies. Now Drake’s a superstar and the center to your dopeness, especially since he is around your age. But rappers my age I think have way more swag and flavor than Drake. I would rather listen to some Juelz Santana, Lil Wayne, T.I., who were early 80’s babys. We can all relate to their message, money cash hoes clothes all a nigga knows. I did throw some deez on that bitch and wasn’t just saying it just to say it. I smoke blunts on a regular while yall are stuck on zig zagz. I was never a fan of back pack rappers because they seemed to never get any money or girls or even know how to be fresh beyond the nike level. “Pupils, peoples, whatever your backpackin cypherin name is – Eminem disisng Dilated Peoples. It shouldn’t be 8 mile forever.

Rappers my age lived a real rock star lifestyle when they were your age. From their youtube and blog videos you can see these rappers were real, half the time off some hard drug living it up. Now they’ve grown up and don’t do it as hard but me being a spectator I can tell you these rappers lived it up. Doing it harder at their early 20’s then these current early 20 year olds. Why do you think they end up in jail? Even popularizing syrup which was unheard of to the masses. Getting in trouble for dumb stuff that some of us in the real world too get in trouble with. Gucci Mane may not be the dopest lyricist but he definitely gets wasted and reps what he reps to the fullest. Drake’s hardest track right now I think is the remix with Young Jeezy (Lose My Mind), but even his lyrics on the track are kinda corny (do I like these hoes, mmm kinda sorta). I can provide more examples but it all boils down to the level of dopeness. I would rather bump some Mack 10 in my ride than Drake any day. When the epitome of dopeness gets played by Rihanna, no play from his crush Nicki Minaj, gets called a pu#$y from Lil Kim, gets hate from Ray J, freestyles off a blackberry, and even gets negative words from Beanie Sigel (I will knock Drake’s bitch ass out), I’d have to say Drake is good, but isn’t the Best I Ever Had.

Slip into the cut to read my response.

In Response: First and foremost, RJ, thanks for giving us your very opinionated argument on Drake and his music. These are the kinds of things that need to be discussed in hip hop, and heads like me truly thrive on roundtable debates like this. It looks like my ‘hoary old ass’ comment has really struck a fiery chord in the heart of the OG’s, so we need to hold off on the condescension and really sort this out accordingly.

First of all, as I stated in my post, I am a tried and true lover of this genre we call hip hop, and now it looks like it’s time to elaborate on that.  My review on Drake’s debut album was simply that, a review of only Drake’s album, period.  It was not a dissection of his personal life or the crew he’s associated with or his image in the limelight.

You’re right, we are all 80′s babies, so let’s not shun the fact that we’re not that far off from growing up on the same catalogues of rap music.  All the music that you mentioned are what I held near and dear to my heart in my childhood, even if I was still in grade 4 or 5 and a couple years late.  Courtesy of my teenage cousins at the time, some of the very first rap I ever listened to were albums like Warren G’s, ‘Regulate…G Funk Era’, Snoop’s ‘Doggystyle’ , and Wu-Tang’s, ‘Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers‘, but even then all fans who consider themselves real fans should be super familiar with these titles anyway.

I feel like you’re pinning us to be some kids who are riding Drake’s dick and have an iPod filled with Souljah Boy or…(I don’t even know who else ’cause we just don’t pay attention to garbage).  I grew up on Westcoast Gangsta Rap, The first song I ever memorized in my life was Westside Connection, “Bow Down”.  We’re up on it, from NWA to Quik to De La to Ghostface to Rakim to MF Doom to Geto Boys to the people they sampled from like Roger Troutman, Bootsy Collins, and the Isleys, this list goes on and on, all over the map. “Hanging out late with no curfew”…ya I didn’t miss your Dove Shack reference.  Oh and copping Chucks before Foot Locker ever had them, I recall that too.  We used to buy them from Camouflage on Granville St., navy with the fat royal blue, baby blue or OG white laces.

“Now Aubrey Graham started on that show Degrassi”. I’m feelin’ you on this one.  When I first heard his shit and found out he was that dude from that show, I absolutely felt like hating.  But I don’t see anywhere in my post where I reviewed dude’s acting career.  This part of your argument kind of strays from anything I was discussing in my post.  I have no comments on anything Drake does besides the actual music he puts out. You can’t really judge a rapper, let alone a person, on the different lanes that they choose to pursue in their childhood.  If you’re going to do that then you’re also throwing ‘Pac and Prodigy under the bus for studying ballet in grade school.  Let’s try to make this a relevant argument, why are we judging dude on the arguments he has with his mom on a video shot in his own home during some random day in high school…all this stuff you mention is trivial.  I didn’t write the piece to defend Drake, the man, I wrote it to defend his music.

“Rappers my age lived a real rock star lifestyle when they were your age..half the time off some hard drug..end up in jail..Getting in trouble for dumb stuff“. Again, I’m not sure where this is going, yea sure..ODB, Pimp C, Eminem – are real fuckin’ G’s.  But not because of what you stated above.  Don’t get me wrong I love to see rappers in their real environment living up to what they put on wax, but the shit you just stated above doesn’t factor in whatsoever in making them rap superstars, if this is your definition of real then I guess Linsday Lohan is the realest muthaf%@#a ever.

“We can all relate to their message, money cash hoes clothes all a nigga knows”. Can we? Does that content not desensitize you once in a while? I don’t know about you but I think diversity in hip hop is necessary. As a perfect example, I remember reading in a Q-Tip interview last year that, Q-Tip (a quintessential backpack rapper) credits N.W.A’s album, ‘Straight Outta Compton’ as his inspiration for crafting A Tribe Called Quest’s record, ‘Low End Theory’. Ironically, Dr. Dre admits that ‘Low End Theory’ was actually his inspiration for creating ‘The Chronic’, shortly after. Whether you know it or not, gangsta rappers listen to backpack rappers and vice versa. It’s not a question of how hard a rapper is, it’s about how good the actual music is. You don’t care for Wayne or Baby, well how about Jay? Em? Jeezy? Bun B? Still not credible enough?

For the record, I never held Drake as the “epitome of dopeness”, as absolutely corny as that sounds, nor did I say, as you put it, the ‘Best I Ever Had’ – no homo.  All I said was that the album was pretty damn good but also there was a lot of shit that bugged me about it too.  He’s not in my top 5 or even my top 25 list of greatest rappers of all time.  If you read the review, I give you a realistic and calculated opinion of the album.  Even after your long-winded response, I can’t help but think that you still haven’t given at least So Far Gone and Thank Me Later a purely honest listen.  As I stated in the 4th paragraph, I thought he might’ve lost his way doing all those radio-friendly songs with trash acts like Young Money, Birdman and them.  I’m guessing that that’s all you’re judging him on.  But that’s fine, there’s hundreds of artists I judge on a daily basis on the radio that I wouldn’t give the time of day, that’s what being a fan of music is all about.  You connect deeply to an artist, then you only attach yourself to artists whom you believe fits the bill of pure hip hop, and then all of a sudden you take shame in listening to anything that hits mainstream radio.  Even if it’s good music. If you didn’t discover it on your own before all the artist’s commercial success, then you don’t like it.