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Written by King Kevo

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You remember Jimmy from Degrassi now it's “Drizzy”,

you can hear that being said before every Drake record. The new vibrant and multi-talented artist Drake is sweeping through the nation with his distinctive and refreshing sound. Not only does Drake Rap but he also sings on his records, showing an example of how he is bringing a change to the game of Hip-Hop and take us in a different direction. On February 13th 2009 Drake released his highly popular mixtape “So Far Gone” with 17 tracks listed on the mixtape. Over the months, two singles (“Best I ever had”, “Successful”) on that mixtape began to get major play on radio stations, TV stations, internet sites, clubs & lounges, and everywhere music can be played. The highly popular singles got so much play that the mixtape was re-released as an album but this time cut down to 7 tracks.

“So Far Gone” the EP starts with the first song “Houstatlantavegas” produced by Noah “40” Shebib. This song starts off very calm and mellow, I got the feeling that it was one of those type of tracks that you come home to after a long hard day at work and just zone out to the beat and get lost to the words of Drake. The track starts off slow then comes in with Drake singing about a woman caught up in the life of stripping for a living. I thought this was very creative, he's not just talking about the stripping aspect, but he is going into detail as to how caught up the woman is in the lights and dollars. The line that got me the most was when Drake said “Throw your 1's up in the air, cause the 1's you throw will get her out of: Houstatlantavegas, Houstatlantavegas.” It seemed like Drake has hope that the women that he see's in these strip clubs will eventually get out of their predicament, so throw your ones and hope that they take it, save it, and get out of their situation.
The next track was the very popular “Successful” also produced by Noah “40” Shebib featuring Trey Songz. This song was one of the tracks that introduced us the soulful and unique Drake. This is the type of track that you listen to when it is raining, or when you feel things are getting rough in your life. It started low and with what sounded like a male voice singing in the background, then drake comes in followed by Trey singing the Chorus. Drake just begins speaking on his future success with the rap game. Drake also goes into the negatives that can deter you from going towards your successful future that you are working so hard to get to. The line that got me the most was when Drake said “The young spitter that everybody in rap fear, a lot of ya'll still sounding like last year, The game needs change.” This line let me know that Drake has all the confidence in the world to make a large impression on the music industry.

The third track on the album was the main song in my opinion that put Drake on the map nationwide “Best I ever had.” This track is highly popular around the nation and internationally. You can hear several different remixes with different artist all over it, showing the approval of not only the fans but his peers. There was not one five year old that I knew who didn’t know the censored version to the chorus of this track. This song was produced by Boi-1da, and all you hear is that Piano, drums, and base Guitar.
With “Best I ever had” it is clearly obvious that Drake is speaking on a woman that he finds to be a very great woman that is still on his mind, because according to him she was the best he ever had. This song I believe has truth value to it because, I believe that most men during the course of their life think about the one woman who might have got away. The one woman that might have been the greatest woman they ever had the pleasure of being with in their life time. The line that got me was “And you don't even have to ask twice, you can have my heart or, we can share it like a last slice.” I thought that this line was funny because you know how us guys can get with the last piece of pizza, so for Drake to say they can share means it's a very big deal.
Fourth Track was titled “Uptown” produced by Boi-1da and Arthur McArthur, featuring Bun B and Lil Wayne. At first I thought that maybe this track was not for me because I heard the church piano in beginning of the song. But as Drake began his verse I got into the whole flow of the song and the direction in which the song was going in. Drake begins speaking about how he is ahead of his peers so much he is about to pass them twice and how he is doing everything his way. Now between Drake, Bun-B and Wayne I thought that Bun-B killed this track lyrically. Bun-B said “I wrote this on my iPhone so let me drop this ibomb, I palm the game like it's a stall and ball and take flight, From the free-throw line and slam it down like I'm the great mike.” I thought that overall Bun-B had a better and clever flow for the type of song that it was. The song was very slow and focused on letting their friends and their city know that they have made it, and plan to take it to another level.

This next song is the song that seems to be catching on with the high school kids, college heads, and the grown men and women of the working world. The track “I'm Goin' in” is produced by Needlz, and it is a certified banger. I felt that the combination of Wayne, Drake, and Jeezy was a perfect blend for this type of song. When I was listening to the song, I got the feeling that when they said “Goin in” it meant in any situation you have to dedicate yourself to being successful no matter what. The line that I liked the most was Drakes line “I'm just doing me and you can never understand it.” Some people can never truly understand why you do the things you do in order to be successful, and that’s what I got from that line.

The sixth track was called “The Calm” produced by Noah “40” shebib, this track was more of a low key sounding track. On this track it seemed like Drake was getting a little personal because I heard him mention his mother and his father on this song. Drake begins speaking on his new found fame and lifestyle and claims his spot as the future king, but he describes these movements as “The Calm.” To me it seemed like Drake was trying to not let the fame get to his head, but at the same time he understands that many around him will view him as different. Many of the people he use to be with will say that he is changing, but I believe change goes hand in hand with success. It’s ok to change once you've become successful as long as it for the better not the worst. A very thought provoking song that had me thinking about the pros and cons of success. The line that got me was at the end when he said “I swear I’m putting on, but they always wanna ask what type of act you putting on?”
The Last track on the album was called “Fear”, which I thought was a good end to the album, I got the feeling that this song is finishing off the album. The song was produced by Dj Khalil, and the song starts off with Drake saying that this is the song that he will vent on. Through this song I sensed that Drake was telling us he is going to be him and no one should be afraid of him and his style and way of doing things. The line that is very controversial on this song is when Drake said “I never cried when Pac died, but I probably will when Hov does.” I feel that drake was just voicing his feelings on the fact that Jay had more of an influence on his career and life than Pac did, and if that is the case then it is fine because Jay may of gave Drake the motivation to get into industry and really work on his creativity with his music.


For the album “So Far Gone” by Drake I give it a 3.5 out 5 points, the reason why is because I felt that Drake was not able to show his full potential because initially this was a mixtape and not an album so this EP was not made with and album mentality. I also felt that there were not enough tracks on his album being that it was his first. Drake's overall theme of this album was to let people know that he was coming for the crown and already his life was starting to change and it was a great feeling to him. These tracks were all a breath of fresh air to the game of Hip-Hop, and also a sharp and creative step into the future of the genera. Drake’s next album will be highly anticipated because it will really show us his full potential for greatness.

-5pointmagazine.com