Somewhere Between Psychotic and Iconic Drake's 'Nothing was the Same' Review

'Nothing Was the Same' Review -- Nothing Was the Same is Drake's 3rd studio album. Despite some definite skip-overs, I feel like this is his most complete hip-hop album yet. Surprisingly this is more rap-oriented than a typical Drake album, which may have been foreshadowed by pre-album cuts like Versace (Remix), Jodeci and All Me where he showed he's ready to rap again. Although his singing shows his versatility as an artist, it definitely hinders him from releasing a hip-hop classic. I'm a big Drake fan in terms of what he did for Toronto hip-hop culture and when it comes to his music I tend to be open-mindedly critical, which is definititely an oxymoron but you get it.

His first two albums were just OK albums to me. Thank Me Later was a solid debut and a good introduction; but unfortunately didn't have much innovation in terms of sound and rap. He definitely wanted to start off his career showing his versatility, but in the process cranked out some forgettable R&B tracks.  Take Care was again a rap album with too much R&B--I would even say it was a strategic album to usher Drake into the mainstream, which it did. Prime example if on it he had a track with Lil' Wayne and Andre 3000 and opted to throw them on an R&B track about saving a stripper instead of showing his chops as a rapper..lost opportunities.

Anyways, NWTS starts off with a bang with Tuscan Leather; a heavy rap intro to the album, which is definitely a promising thing to hear. As far as rap tracks, this is one of the highlights of the album and one of my favourite songs. Drake is trying to send a message with this track, but at the same time he has fun with the verses showcasing some decent wordplay. I'm glad he chose to start things off rapping.

The next track, Furthest Thing, is a very 'Drake' track musically; mellow, quick-tempo-singing hybrid rap. This is actually one of my favourite tracks on the albums as well. Drake raps about being in a middle phase. In the first verse, a very contemplative Drake provides introspection into his current mind state. Feeling like you're at a middle ground, but not exactly where you want to be at the end--I guess that being lost aspect of the first verse is what struck a cord with me.

Started from the Bottom was Drake's first single. I've never given this one much rotation. Nothing impressive in terms of rap formula, but he did a good job of creating an anthem for celebrating hard work and reward that appeals to the mainstream. In spite of the radio airplay this is still skip-worthy to me. I thought there was a chance he wouldn't do it, but R&B Drake came through in true fcuk-an-album-up fashion with Own It. Not a fan of this track beyond the production near the middle. Definitely sounds like he could've just put "(Interdude)" at the end of this. When he does rap it's just super thin despite how much he feels his own insights. Just not a fan of this one.

There's one track that really erks me, mainly because of the title choice. The Wu-Tang Clan is probably the greatest and most important rap group of all time. Known for their cut-throat, raw and rugged lyrics. Even if it's intended to be arbitrary, having a track entitled Wu-Tang Forever carries something with it. You have to come with that Triumph-type rap or maybe something more relative than an off-put piano chord in the background. The name and reputation of the Wu warrants at the very least your coldest, boombappiest, machinegunniest flow and definitely not rubbish about a girl saying she's all yourz with a RZA sample? Meh. The track is decent, but it's really hard for me to get over the title choice--it has nothing to do with the music, but at the same time it has everything to do with the essence of the song.

Worst Behavior is probably the most ignorant rap track Drake has ever made. I feel like he dipped into the Waka realm as far as he could for this one. This beat actually bangs though and grew on me. I enjoy listening to these screw-face type tracks once and a while, more so when there's some actual rapping. Hmm, you know Kendrick could ride a beat like this and do a hook like this and never compromise his flow as a rapper. 300lbs-sounding Drake on the other hand doesn't actually rap until the last verse. Not even mad at that one verse though after he's done borrowing Ma$e's flow to set the tempo--he probably knew he had to squeeze a solid verse in to stop this from being a complete write-off. The beat is just so dumb ignorant though I mess with half this track, but tenfold in the whip.

The Jhene Aiko feature on From Time is as solid as it gets from her. I would say Drake is equally solid and Jhene's complementary, but show-stealing, feature segues smoothly into a slow section of the album that surprisingly I'm not mad at. Just Hold On, We're Going Home was Drake's 2nd single. Actually a solid choice. If Drake is to do complete R&B tracks this is the direction he should take--something innovative to his sound. I don't think he has the range to hit conventional R&B tracks out of the park. But yeah this is a big track, Majid Jordan needs to sound like more of a feature and less of a sample in the beginning and Drake should maybe write an actual second verse--but regardless of these things I still rate this track. Continuing with R&B Drizzy is Connect. This is definitely one of the better R&B tracks of his career and the baseball analogies were dope. This song is delivered in signature Drake, genre-splitting sound and filled with a lot of personality. Swangin'.

If I never heard Drake's Versace Remix, I would mess with The Language track harder or give it more attention. The 'Versace flow' is hard, but The Language is definitely a more toned down vessel. He had the opportunity to at least switch it up, but chose to keep this flow throughout the track and recycle thoroughly. Another track carried by this flow is 305 in My City which has Future's less (or more) retarded cousin, Detail yelling the hook. Man, I thought it was Drake slurring out the chorus and it just left so much of a bad taste in my mouth that I couldn't take in the track properly. But when I saw it was a feature it helped me to better separate the two artists, or rather, separate Future's cousin on bath salts from the artist. But ultimately this gets dashed into the skip pile. Womp.

Too Much is another one of my favourites. Introspective Drake speaks on his life and relationships during the fame. The piano and vocals by Sampha layer this track with emotion and sets up the frustration in the verses nicely. Pound Cake has possibly the most disappointing Jay-Z feature I've ever heard. It's just not a re-playable Hov verse especially with all that cake cake cake carat cake mess he spits. Just felt forced to me. Not as natural as Light Up felt, but can't win all the features you acquire--sometimes rappers don't feel inclined to give you their best stuff. Drake then checks in with Paris in Paris Morton Music 2 to end the album. Love the beat of this, Boi-1da sorta annoys me with the scratching in Pound Cake but the PMM2 beat is cold af.

Overall I think this is Drake's most complete album of the 3. I don't consider it a classic by any means, but just his closest thing to a complete hip-hop album. I think the key was that this time around when he did crank out an R&B track, he made them count. Drake's attempt at normal, tired R&B hurt his previous albums as a whole. I hope he keeps going in this direction until he finally keep the singing tracks to 2 or 3 thoughtful ones and can maybe crank out a hip-hop classic with that formula? After that he can have an entire Marvin Gay attempt of an album for all I care. Drake needs to keep on progressing hip-hop culture and assist the more competent of his peers in defining their era.

I'm out like on-call stripper rescue teams...