As part of our new and occasional "Commentary on Canadian artists" of note, it felt appropriate to begin with a certain Torontonian who was granted the honour of a very rare full hour segment recorded in the CBC's Studio Q with Jian Ghomeshi. We are of course referring to local rap phenomenon, Drake.
Now as usual, I will lay my cards on the table from the get-go, and say that I don't really understand the "phenomenon" part of the Drake phenomenon, at all. In terms of lineage, image and a truckload of the content - it's all been done before, and better, in my opinion. Having said that, I will admit to not having spent agonising hours examining the artistic merit of the guy and his music, but that says a lot in and of itself.
How much artistic merit or intellectual insight is one expected to glean from lyrics which not only are truly reminiscent of black American rappers from the 'hood, but often seem like total clones of everything that's been said before? To wit:
"I want the money, money and the cars, cars and the clothes, the hoes.....I suppose, I just wanna be successful" - ["Successful" by Drake]
Yes, yes, I know, a thousand master's and a few hundred doctoral theses have been written on the significance and rise of black rap (and even white rap), and what such lyrics tell us (told us, today) about the struggle of growing up black in America - I get it. For those who lived that struggle in earlier times of our history, I understood both the need to break out of the 'hood, and actually turn their 'hood experience into cold, hard cash, and then to even brag about it.
Such feelings are not unique to black America (or Canada), nor are they restricted to underprivileged kids of colour. Look at the punk movement in the UK (for that is where real punk was born and nurtured), which was a similar rebellion about being underprivileged white kids with no future. God save the Queen, indeed. A three chord rebellion that came in at a little over two minutes in many classic cases, with a more clever way of stitching together the beautiful irony that railing against the establishment can often result in one joining it!
"Huh, you think it's funny? Turnin' rebellion into money...." - ["White Man in Hammersmith Palais" by The Clash]
Maybe it's a cultural thing, but I just find something truly more inspirational and intellectually interesting about the latter lyric (one example among many), and feel a total artistic emptiness in the former. The UK rebellion was equally anti-establishment (be that musical or governmental), but that didn't somehow translate into the procurement of "hoes" as a motive behind artistic success and the money that came with it. The goal was expression, and getting the underground truly out and onto the overground, and if one made some serious cash doing it, well, keep quiet about it and let the art speak for itself. I can remember the furor over Joe Strummer's "white mansion" in London, because he had a basement apartment in someone else's big white house, and even that was considered annoyingly ostentatious! RIP Mr. Strummer, you made (and still make) a huge dent in the musical memory of so many.
I was sorta hoping the interview on Q would help change my mind, not least as Drake is a Canadian, and a proud Torontonian, but maybe the only thing that kept me watching was that Jian Ghomeshi was not as sycophantic as I expected him to be, so that made it all more bearable somehow. Jian doesn't use his platform much to discover new talent, more and more he interviews exclusively those who have already made the big time, and the ensuing love affair in live interviews can occasionally be too sickly sweet for the discerning viewer.
There wasn't much insight gained that opened up a deeper or more intellectual side to Drake, and there was enough reinforcement of what we do know already to kinda seal the deal, as it were. On the one hand, he expressed deep appreciation of getting a Grammy award, as it had been a "lifelong" ambition ( can you say that at 25?!), then he said he was "not doing this to get awards", in reference to when he hosted the Canadian Junos, was nominated for six of them, and walked off the stage empty-handed. Do the American awards matter more then?
Rather surprisingly, Jian called him on it and asked him which it is, you want the awards or don't care about the awards? You only have to read some of the guy's lyrics to feel what it is about the awards that matters - it's the being there with a big posse amongst competitors and dissers, and winning, per se - that's what counts - not so much the silverware. That "whole rap thing that's been going on for thousands of weeks!" - anyone spot the Godfather reference, a la Diane Keaton and Al Pacino?!
He got a bit sensitive when questioned about criticism over his own OVO Festival held in T-O each year, and made it clear that it's not "some ego-driven thing" as in the end he doesn't make a penny from it. But coming from a mega-rich guy in his mid-20s, who seems to care about attention, media accolades and recognition, that statement could come across as rather disingenuous. Especially when it's backed up by a statement in almost the same sentence that reads:
"I put a lot of people in positions to do great things...." - very selfless, in a self-aggrandizing sort of way, but I am sure all those people are eternally grateful.
The entire package to me just reeks of legacy/image ambition over content, and a lot of the content and branding comes from established rap and hip-hop artists from the south (i.e. the country south). Yeah, he's Canadian, so much is made (by him) of a hiatus spent in Memphis - either learning his trade or assimilating some cred while being Americanized, depending on who's telling the story. But it all somehow comes across as very clever branding and marketing, using tried and trusted trademarks originally and less calculatedly utilized by (American) others:
- The fierce pride for a city and an area code. While this is understandable, it originated from hardcore rap and hip-hop artists who escaped from the 'hood while either trying to not forget their roots, or making sure others remembered them. But there is a huge difference between Cypress Hill or Watts or Queen's, and Forest Hill. Still, the message is to identify with a city and use it to marketing advantage.
- To that end, Drake even extended it to the classic rap/hip-hop mantra of tattooing his area code on his skin - that area code being 416. More or less the equivalent of say, 212, for New Yorkers, where the poor people don't live, often. It's not exactly a tattoo across one's navel saying "Thug Life", but then again 2Pac was the real deal. Drake even states rather incredulously that he puts lines into some songs specifically about T-O, and seems to want thanks for doing so, or at least some form of selfless/artistic credit.
- A very vocal claim that "I do everything I can for the city, and I don't expect anything in return". Very admirable indeed, even if big old bad old T-O is not quite crying out for the help, and many have moaned that it's got way more to do with Drake's own masterplan and individual agenda than it has T-O's.
- The whole thug thing in general - you gotta have been a drug dealer or a gang banger, and if like another real deal, Fiddy Cent, well, if you been shot a whole bunch of times that's just credibility currency the like of which no one has - and certainly not Drake. But he does talk about his father having been in jail, and repeats the urban myth that it was a jail cell buddy of his dad who turned Drake onto rap. Ironically, while giving credit to that guy, Drake can't remember his name apparently because he never knew it. A seemingly convenient yet evidently unverifiable little tidbit of street cred, I guess, for a former privileged Degrassi actor from Forest Hill.
- In many ways, this Drake "thing" needed American acceptance and approval before Canada warmed up to the guy, and even he admits that. There's a whole slew of 30-somethings from Toronna spouting off on Twitter about how great he is, today, yet when you go to their record collection it's all Springsteen and classic rock (maybe a KOL album as dressing). Huh? Howdya go from dat to groovin' wid yo bros and hoes?! But when big brother USA buys in, it's usually only a matter of time, especially for something as esoteric in mainstream Canada as rap/hip-hop. Now we have our very own bad boy rappa, only a decade or more later! Rejoice!
- The association with the big local basketball team, the Raptors. He even identifies himself as an ambassador for them, and wants to even be involved in the building's management and presentation. Hmm, can anyone remember any famous rap or hip-hop dude who has a passion for basketball and is often pictured in the expensive seats right on the sidelines? Does JayBey ring any bells, for example?!
- It's pretty clear that this young man has seen the wealth and the lifestyle of Jay-Z, Kanye et al. and decided he wants some of dat! But to hear such naked thirst for money in both his earlier desire to have $25M by the time he was 25 (been there-done that) and his new, current ambition to have $250M by the time he is 29 - well, that reeks of a rather unashamed greed way more to me than any form of artistic integrity or ambition. Had he said he wanted to be Bill Gates, and give it all away, that just might have come across better, but no. I don't think it's that healthy to be driven by the desire to have a quarter of a billion dollars by 29, when you are 25, but hey, that's just me.
- "I wanna invent something, I wanna start a company, you know".....again, this is just more copycatting and has been TM'ed to death already by all of the famous individuals he is channeling: Diddy, Jay-Z, Fiddy, Dre etc. Already a superstar with maybe hundreds of millions before 30, yet not content, and wanting to be something else that one has zero training or education for, but for which one can simply pay others to do for you and stick your name on it.
- The biggest indictment is that this supposedly mild-mannered kid from Forest Hill has begun to be involved (or indulge in?) the almost prerequisite spats in clubs with other hip-hop types, causing a stir and creating some unpleasant but rarely undesired media attention. I just laughed when I heard this Canadian boy's posse were involved in altercations with that other bad boy, Chris Brown and his crew. One person commenting on it on MTV suggested that Drake needed that, to up his rep a little, with the big boys. Fortunately though, it's hardly the war between East and West coasts that involved real bullets and killed famous people - it's just one kid who was charged with slapping around his girlfriend fighting with another kid, over that same (ex-)girlfriend, apparently. Far from classy and even farther from typically "Canadian".
- The single most disappointing thing overall is the lack of any apparent musical excitement or artistic ambition - he more or less expressed answers in that regard in terms of how he wants to win, wants to be #1 and wants to be mega-rich. This is almost artistic bankruptcy, from where I stand. I cannot find anything remotely intellectual or endearing in it.
I could go on, but why bother. As long as the people see worth in him and enjoy his music then good luck to the guy. And I suppose I should give him a break for only being 26 today, an age at which what one spouts is often meant to have little significance whatsoever. But when I hear a very rich kid in his mid-20s stating:
"I sacrificed so much, dedicated so much of my time, given up a lot of years for this" - well, how much sympathy or empathy is one supposed to have? I think anyone who made $25M by 25 and who fully intends to make $250M by 29 should zip it. Ya don't wanna come across as moaning about how much life you missed, makin' that quarter billion in yo twenties, do ya?! Or the other way of seeing it, and it might be the most telling thing I gleaned from listening to Drake during the entire interview, is that all that money doesn't seem to make him happy and there's still a huge hole inside. He should think about that some if it's indeed the case.
That might be the take home lesson for y'all, kids - having $25M in your bank account by 25 could just have the capacity to suck the very need to get out of bed each morning right out of you, suck the very life out of you, take away your purpose......and then what?
We will close it out with some lyrics from his big number "Started at the Bottom", full of swagger and clinging to familiar cliches of a formely down-and-out rapper, now proudly wearing their chains and swag even when at home; that relative "bottom" being Forest Hill or his having been a charmed young actor on Degrassi, notwithstanding. - Kevin Mc
"I'ma worry bout me give a f**k about you
Nigga, just a reminder to myself
I wear every single chain even when I'm in the house
Cause we
Started from the bottom now we here
Started from the bottom now my whole team f**kin here
Started from the bottom now we here
Started from the bottom now the whole team here nigga"
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