Album Review: Drake - Thank Me Later

If there was anybody more fed up with Drake’s excessive dependency on his mixtapes and not dropping an album, I’d like to meet them, I’m sure after about 30 minutes I’d still be the most fed up. It’s not that I don’t think Drake is one of the best new artists in hip hop right now, it’s that sometimes you have to show that you can do the basics too. Like most people in this country we didn’t really know who this guy Drake was until, So Far Gone was released. And shortly thereafter, Drake was a household name with one of the best mixtapes to ever have been released. And so our eyes were watching the wavelengths wondering what this album would actually turn out to be. After, several singles from So Far Gone, if he could outdo himself on the album it would be a certified perfect album. However, I say with full conviction that, Thank Me Later is not better than So Far Gone. It is quintessentially what you would get if there was ever a So Far Gone. So to me I nicknamed it, So Far Gone 2.

It exceeded my expectations because from everyone who listened to the leak they either loved it or hated it. And I was expecting to hear something softer than a 24-pack of Charmin, but actually I enjoyed the listen. He didn’t surprise me with his lyrics, because I was expecting him to lyrically bring something. He didn’t surprise me with his originality and creativity, because that’s his main contribution to the game. The beats were again subpar as they usually are, but maybe he just wants you to focus on him instead of the tight beat. #drakeshrug

I compared Drake’s freshman album to The College Dropout in terms of expectations. The album is better than The College Dropout, but it didn’t solve any problems that The College Dropout possessed, and it probably won’t be remembered like the College Dropout. The main problem with College Dropout was that every person who featured on the College Dropout did a better job than Kanye did. Thank Me Later? Uh… yeah, everyone of his features was better than him. The second problem with College Dropout was that when you are trying to make a splash in hip hop sometimes artists have a tendency to use too many punch lines that come off corny. Thank Me Later? Uh… yeah, filled with too many. Lastly, College Dropout had a gimmick and the timing that will stay with the everyone who heard this album when it came out. And it still relates to every college student in America today. Thank Me Later? Not really, this album can be forgotten, if Drake comes with something better in the future.

Actually, just like DJ Clue’s Springtime Stickup 96 mixtape has never been forgotten, So Far Gone will never be forgotten. And that’s another criticism of the album I have, two of his mixtapes are better than the actual album. We have to concede that point, the freedom on your mixtape is compromised when you have to actually cut an album. Also, there were no expectations of So Far Gone, he clearly exceeded expectations, whereas Thank Me Later was par for the course. I would not have expected anything less.

I found it hard to classify the album, whether it was R&B or Rap, so I left it as hip hop and the best thing to compare it to would be the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. And yes, I believe this album will be highly successful come Grammy time. This album also was classified as a Young Money Entertainment album, but it is very clear that this is not a Young Money album. It’s Drake. You are seeing who Drake is when you remove Lil’ Twist and Mack Maine, and it looks like he has a bright future. (Quiet as it’s kept, J. Cole just gained a little ground on the kid.)

Ladies and Gentlemen as we ride out on this review, let me tell you. I think that Drake is still the hottest name in the game. He has at least 3 more singles on this album, that we may not like the first time we hear them on the radio, but give us a few a spins in the club and we’ll be cutting a rug. Could it be better? I don’t think so, but that’s only a testament to how good So Far Gone was. So to close, for a redshirt freshman Drake is doing pretty okay for himself.

My Women’s Summer Fashion Hate List

The long and much awaited list is here. In this post I describe what I hate about the current summer fashion. I may be alone, but trust me, these items irk me more than anything in the world.

1. Ripped or torn clothing – At some point, somebody thought it would be a great idea to rip their tights up and go to the club. I don’t know if this is some type of Rihanna movement or a response to the Telephone video with Gags and Beyonce. Either way, please stop it.

2. Old Navy flip flops – Of all the brands of flip flops in this world, having a bad or ugly pair of flip flops on these days is a crime and sin. Click here and get involved: www.havaianas.com/

3. One-piece bathing suits – I’m going to catch some flack for this, but I think it’s no way I’m going to budge on this one. I think that after the age of 16, women should put away their one-piece bathing suits until they’re 56. It’s just so yuck.

4. Block/straw heels – This has been on the list for a long time. Don’t cheat on your heels, if you are going to wear them, then wear them.

5. Scarf dresses – You look like a couch. Plus when the sun hits your dress you are shining and it’s blinding me. No man likes this. It may seem comfortable for you, but we are like, why does this chick look like nautical themed pashmina afghan.

6. Shaving half your hair off and Roadrunner haircuts – First off, Cassie can do whatever she wants to do, she’s beautiful. Some of you women on the other hand need to stop it. And please stop with the roadrunner haircuts, you look like a fool.

7. Stupid looking heels, multi-color-faceted heels – I’m a sucker for class. But if your heels have like 14 different colors in them, I’m wondering why you still shop at Bare Feet Shoes.

8. Spandex shorts – This needs to stop before it gets started. I know that women love them some spandex leggings and shorts is only a natural progression, but no. NO. I’m sorry this is just tacky, you look like you belong in an 80’s video called “The Firm.”

9. Neon colored tights – I don’t know why they sold anyone a pair of neon colored tights. I know who’s to blame too. It’s American Apparel and their unisex clothing. Nothing kills me more than the gold metallic leggings in the club. But hot pink leggings walking down the street are bad too. Nicky Minaj can do whatever she wants to do, she’s excused.

10. Maxi dresses – These are a cop out. And men hate them almost as much as we hate pencil skirts. This is just utter laziness and trying to cover up something that you can’t cover up. If you’re fat, that’s just what the hell you are fat. Your stomach is looking like a keg whether you have a dress flowing over the whole thing. You legs are still fat and rubbing together whether you have a dress flowing over them. I have seen one maxi dress that I liked… ever. And it was linen. In short, I hate Maxi dresses and I wish they would burn in hell.

This is my women’s summer fashion hate list. I am not asking for anyone to argue with me about what I don’t like to see. I’ll be back in a few months to once again do my annual roasting of pencil skirts, because it is my goal in life to expose those frauds for the scoundrels they are.

Defining a Flop for Drake’s “Thank Me Later”

Drake is the biggest name in Hip Hop. So how will we know if his album is a truly a success? We must come up with some expectations of this album before it drops and people run to make weak excuses for why people bought it or didn’t buy it. First, I’d like to say that I’m a fan of Drake. I think people think that I hate him because I don’t want to crown him as the next Jay-Z. I just think you have to put in a few more dues to get to that level. I compare Drake to Tony Romo, he’s really good, but let’s not break out our anointing oil just yet. For the ladies, Drake to Paula Patton, she’s really pretty, but stop saying she looks better than Halle Berry in her prime. My point is stop being ridiculous, stop hyping up something that’s perfectly fine as it already is.

What do I expect from Drake? I expect him to continue to rap and sing on every song he has. I don’t expect the Drake from “Ransom,” I expect the Drake from “Over.” I’d like to see Drake be around for a long time. I think he’s a lot more talented than most rappers who have long careers in Hip Hop. However, he’s been hyped too much. We’ve waited too long for this album, and so our expectations have to be higher. He’s pushed it back so many times, and bragged that he got so much without a deal or an album, that now that he’s putting out an album. “What you gon’ do next?” is the only appropriate question.

I’ll just come out and say it, Drake needs to sell more albums in his first week than, “Tha Carter III.” Period, end of story. If he can’t do that, then he failed, he did not meet his expectations. Let me be clear, The Carter III album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 1,005,545 copies in its first week. If he doesn’t sell more than Tha Carter III, that’s not to say that he is not a success, it just means he didn’t meet expectations.

But those aren’t really realistic expectations, but that’s what the public has set forth. Here are some realistic expectations for Drake; The College Dropout, Kanye West’s first album debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling 441,000 copies in its first week. Maybe a better expectation, Get Rich or Die trying, 50 Cent’s first album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling 872,000 copies in its first week. (#seewhatididthere)

I shouldn’t have to break it down the difference between Kanye and 50 Cent. Neither should I have to explain to you that backing down from your expectations now will be seen as cowardice behavior. But yeah, I put it out there and I’m sticking to it.

One last minor thought:

Drake causes us all to rethink the music industry and what it has become. As many of you know, his album was leaked on Tuesday and the internet has distributed it. I thought he signed a distribution deal with Universal. That definitely messed with their money. That’s neither here nor there, and my brief comments will be that as a member of the music industry, which Drake is… you can never condone piracy. You may still make your money on tour, but you need to be concerned with all the little people who make you great.

"RT @DrakkardNoir: I gave away free music for years so we're good over here...just allow it to be the soundtrack to your summer and ENJOY! JUNE 15th!”

Why are our kids having so much sex?

I think somewhere along the way I heard a kid on the subway singing, “I’m about to pull over and give you the business… the business..” Or maybe it was when the chick on the bus was singing, “I’m calling you daddy… daddy… daddy…” I mean has anyone noticed that there are just too many songs on the radio with children-like voices singing about sex? Or maybe it’s because that pedophile Usher has a song on the radio right now asking you to go find him some “Little Freaks.” And he’s sending a chick who sounds like a little girl to get them, who by the way, every girl under the age of 18 idolizes. I don’t know, I can’t figure out why kids are having so much sex, but can we please talk about it?

I think that our children are being raised by TV, Movies, Radio and Internet, and leave anything up to the entertainment industry and they will have you on a sex tape in no time. Children are making sex tapes, they are having threesomes, they are having sex parties, and they are sending naked pictures of themselves to each other. I think that as we mature we tend to shy away from mainstream music that just produces trash, but when we were younger we wanted to hear the most explicit lyrics we could find. I mean, I was listening to Lil’ Kim’s “Big Momma Thing” the other day and I think my jaw dropped off the first 8 bars. But I also think that because every part of what we were being exposed to didn’t perpetuate the same Lil’ Kim image we didn’t catch on like that. But our children these days aren’t so lucky. Truth be told, there’s a girl out there who thinks Pregnant at 16 is her favorite TV show.

I know that each generation pushes the limit a little further, but basic anatomy will only allow for that to go so far. But I think that what’s happening is leading to some dangerous things in our society. A raise in teen pregnancy, teen STDs, and teen sexual assault and rape cases. This is because there is a gap of education and when the kids are having sex. A 10 year old tries to tell me that he can’t get a chick pregnant because he’s not making sperm yet. He thought he sounded smart… Until I informed him that he could still catch HIV from some infested little hoodrat who got it from her mother… that she never met and hasn’t been tested for. And he could get her pregnant! Children idolize Chris Brown and Rihanna and they are beginning to think that domestic violence is cool, if it goes both ways. They think threesomes are something that someone should have.

Here’s a concept that a 12 year old boy can’t comprehend: she might have said yes, but changed her mind. It’s still rape!!!

So I propose three things to fight this epidemic. 1) Start talking to the youth about sex, they may not feel comfortable talking to their parents, but they may talk to a young adult. 2) Start looking for a meaningful mode of sexual education that we can implement in our schools and community centers. 3) Start talking to the adults who interact with these kids all the time about not being scared or thinking they are corrupting these kids by talking to them about sex. Our kids are having sex, it’s a mute point of how we got here, it’s about what we are going to do now.

Featured Post: Facing Myself

***If you haven’t checked out Bangs & a Bun you have been remised. I happened to stroll across this blog and I fell in love right away. Definitely a blogger to keep an eye on and a refreshing differing voice in a world of blogging going mainstream overnight. Anyway, this is from her blog and I thought it was great and wanted to post it here. Enjoy.***

I was the ugly, funny kid at school. No one of the opposite sex even remotely looked my way, unless it was to tell me what a disaster my face was. But they sure did laugh at my jokes. In a way, being the ugly kid worked out – I didn’t have the distraction of boys (unless you count all those unrequited crushes I had), I was still popular enough (on account of my humour) and I knuckled down on my school work. But being called ugly so much throughout my teens hurt me more than I ever let on.

I hated the way I looked. So much so, there came a time where I couldn’t even look in a mirror. I had a friend (probably more of a frenemy really), who was the pretty, popular girl. She only hung out with me ’cause it made her look prettier. There were always these back handed comments, designed to keep me in my lesser place and make sure I never forgot who was the ugly one in this friendship. One day, she was talking about modelling (she was pretty convinced at the time that agents would be knocking her door down). We sat in a big group as she harped on about who the good models are. ‘You should try modelling,’ she said to me. I perked up, hardly believing what I was hearing. ‘Really?!’ I said. ‘Yeah, they’re looking for weird looking people these days.’ It cut like a knife, I tell ya. The fact that I can still remember that moment, nearly 15 years on, makes me laugh.

When I was 16, I went to Sixth Form College and I remember exactly where I was the first time my new friend, Becci, told me I was pretty. It was the first time anyone outside my family had said that to me. And she didn’t appear to be being sarcastic. I was blown away. Slowly but surely, as I was in this new environment and meeting different people, I began to get comfortable with myself. I could look in mirrors. People would compliment me and I was even asked out on dates.

Before long, I actually rather liked the way I looked. I made peace with my freckles and my big nose. I accepted the fact that I didn’t have big, pillowy lips and my eyes were kinda weird. A few weeks ago, after seeing the photoshoot I did with Anthony Farrimond, photographer Mark Howe got in touch with me saying he’d like to do a shoot with me. Tell my 15 year old self that would ever happen to me and she would have laughed in your face.

The photograph above is one of the shots he took of me. Right after he took it he said ‘I hope you don’t mind me saying, but what I like about you is that you’re eccentric looking.’ I knew exactly what he meant. When he sent that finished shot through to me, I looked at it and said ‘that’s beautiful.’ And not because it’s me in the picture. It’s so much more than that to me. It’s a symbol of how far I’ve come, to be comfortable enough to have someone look at me through a camera lens, take my picture and admire it. There was a time when I thought I’d never like the way I look. Now, I love it.

This post is for every girl who’s ever felt like an ugly duckling. I can relate. I was a duckling myself. But it gets better. One day, you just have to let yourself be the swan.

Black Men Need To Wake Up

The following is from my Twitter Thought last night at midnight, many of you missed so I decided to make it a post. Enjoy!

Black men have a responsibility to mentor and develop the lives of young black boys. When we fail to do so we fail to be Black.

It's damn hard to be a Black man in America, but we didn't get here without hard work and a few good words from people ahead of us.

Each time you see a young black boy out of line and you don't do anything, if only but say a prayer that he figures it out. You fail.

Each time you do not set the example or pace, you fail. We must hold each of us accountable. We have to be honest with ourselves too.

Tonight ask yourself, what have you done for the next generation. When we as Black men stop asking this question. We fail.

It's said, "Born from the city of crack, I was born to be a rock star." Stop saying that shit. You have failed. We must raise the bar.

I for one, refuse to let d-boys define success in my neighborhood. Will you do the same? We can't do this is in mansions in the suburbs.

We can't do this at the club, or lavish vacations overseas. We have to do this in our communities. We must save ourselves.

Obama can't fix our community. Our community has to fix our community. And as Black men, our responsibility is three-fold.

We must protect our children, our women, and our family. Cops are not the only ones who "Protect and serve." So i'm asking what Dap asked.

When will you, [Black men], wake up.

Gender Profiling to Protect Against Domestic Violence

Recently I’ve been taken back by the amount of domestic violence in the news. I’ve also been inundated with the AZ immigration law. I’m not here to talk about that new law in Arizona. But when in the course of one week, Corey Dillon, former RB for the New England Patriots, is arrested for domestic assault; A UVA lacrosse player kills his girlfriend by shaking the bejesus out of her while her head banged against a wall; and a woman is shot in DC for refusing to give her number to a guy… we have a problem. We have a problem because society is spiraling out of control. We’re not getting any better we’re getting worse.

So I’m proposing a new law. I think that police officers should be able to arrest men who look suspicious of being crazy and deranged. At this point, the law needs to be proactive because the outcome is too dire.

Okay, I’m joking, but… what we can take away is this…

We can all keep our ears, eyes, and mouths open to this epidemic in our world. If you see a verbally abusive couple, say something. If you have a friend who maybe in a bad situation, say something. If you have a friend who is verbally abusive, tell him or her to #cutthatshitout. I’ve found that sometimes an abusive person doesn’t even see their faults. What we do as friends sometimes is we sit around and talk amongst ourselves about our friends or people we know instead of saying something. People don’t want to get in their friend’s business but in order to make sure your friend still has business, (Read: Is alive), maybe you need to do some profiling.

PS – Keep in mind that Larry Johnson, RB for the Washington Redskins, is now in DC. He’s got a bad reputation for putting his hands on women. Remind these club promoters of this as they use his name to promote a night at their club. If he’s hosting, I won’t be a patron.