Another Year In America September 24, 2009

[koganbot]

Remember the Steve Forbert Game (and here)? Well, we have a winner! Let me introduce Drake, the Steve Forbert of nice-guy hip-hop superstars. I really have no idea why this guy became famous, but I can see how if this style is really your thing, Drake could be your guy - all the other guys being taken.

(He's got three tracks suddenly charting because the So Far Gone mixtape has been officially rereleased with samples cleared, hence old Drake songs are suddenly new again.)

Jay-Z f. Alicia Keys "Empire State Of Mind": The sampled song, the Moments' "Love On A Two-Way Street," is a candidate for my all-time list, combines cinematic majesty and heartbreaking intimacy. "Empire" samples the majesty, and I can imagine the Jay-Z of old making it larger with chutzpah or edgy with menace. Instead, he just kind of shows up, walks his way through, doesn't lift it anywhere. Tired. BORDERLINE NONTICK.

Drake f. Kanye West, Lil Wayne, & Eminem "Forever": Track forgoes charm for dogged insistence, Kanye's cadence being almost an echo of Drake's (though historically that role is reversed) and Wayne sounding waterlogged and slow (finally a track that's totally wrong for him). Eminem gets squashed into the song's insistence, and frankly I doubt that he'd sound less tired unsquashed, just less in line with the song. Track would have been better without the guests. BORDERLINE TICK.

Drake f. Trey Songz & Lil Wayne "Successful": Nice little music pad he's got here: not quite cushy, since it's a man's room, but he lives in it nicely. TICK.

Muse "Uprising": A haunted house inhabited by friendly ghosts and freelance Cossacks. Singer rides his boogie to the rescue, like Mighty Mouse, and the Cossacks raise their eyebrows in "fright." I have no idea if this song is serious - "they will not control us/We will be victorious" - but it's a pisser. TICK.

Drake f. Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy "Going In For Life": More bachelor pad music, but the man isn't relaxing into his flow; he's busy thinking too hard about how he needs to outwit the Feds. TICK.

Comments

[petronia.livejournal.com]

He used to be on Degrassi so he's actually able to act convincingly in his video? ...OK I got nuffin. XD;

Never heard of the Steve Forbert game but based on those lists what I find interesting is that the statements are only comprehensible if one knows the genre/category well. So at least in my experience, the Steve Forbert of a genre is rarely one's introduction to a genre (thank goodness?).

[koganbot]

Well, my nominee was for Dick Cheney as the Steve Forbert of people I hate, which is only comprehensible if you share my view of the previous administration.