#DRAKE THANK ME LATER ALBUM SALES SERIES#

#DRAKE THANK ME LATER ALBUM SALES SERIES#

And, suddenly, all that 'I' turns into a lot of 'we.In 2001, the One Dance hitmaker was propelled into early celebrity status when he scored a role on Canadian teen drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation after amusing the son of an entertainment agent in his class. Like Kanye West before him, Drake vies for superstardom while embracing his non-drug-dealing, non-violent, non-dire history- one that connects with most rap fans in a completely reasonable way.

He grew up in an affluent Toronto suburb and was graced with everything but a functional pair of parents, who split when he was three. And just as Drake's dramatically exposed selfishness is unique to hip-hop, so are his adversities. But even when this Romeo starts tossing dollar bills at a strip club on 'Miss Me', his ogling is somehow lonely and level: 'I don't judge her but I could never love her/ 'Cause to her I'm just a rapper and soon she'll have met another.'Īs much as rap is built on artful navel-gazing, it's also founded in struggle. That song ends with Drake shamelessly trying to get in a new acquaintance's pants- 'take those fuckin' heels off, it's worth it, girl,' he suggests. Meanwhile, Drake's fellow Young Money upstart Nicki Minaj adds to the gender ambiguities, out-manning her host on the diabolical 'Up All Night', and the album's steamiest pairing has him teaming with The-Dream for the uber-slow jam 'Shut It Down'. Blige spiritually co-signs the sentiment by adding some subtle harmonies as the song draws to a close. ditches the 'superficial gold-digging bitches' he once praised on songs like 'Whatever You Like', instead opting for a single lady with her own BMW and Jaguar in the garage. His relatively progressive and gentlemanly style is contagious, too on the soon-to-be smash 'Fancy', T.I.

'I was only trying to get ahead/ But the spotlight makes you nervous,' he says, sounding more committed than a host of melisma-drunk heartthrobs. The brilliant and spare 'Karaoke' finds him singing about a girl who can't deal with his newly jet-setting ways. Whereas the unofficial mainstream hip-hop LP rulebook previously demanded a couple 'ladies' night' tracks that were often pandering, insulting, or both, Drake lives for such softness. But instead of lashing out against his would-be wifeys à la 808s and Heartbreak or falling into token misogyny, his relationship with women is more complicated. Simply, Drake is in love with his own lovelessness. Even though he's a rich and handsome 23 year old spreading his music around the world in a five-star fashion, Drake really wants to be in the bottom bunk, hooking up with a girl next to the laundry basket at Totally Normal University, as he raps, 'I wish I wasn't famous/ I wish I was still in school/ So I could have you in my dorm room/ I would put it on you crazy.' Elsewhere, the irony is not lost on him, but he's not taking anything back: 'I know that niggas would kill for this lifestyle/ I'm lookin' forward to the memories of right now.' Sounds like a sweet existence.īut there's a problem. Of course, there's the classic about sipping a few too many glasses of Ace of Spades and asking Nicki Minaj to marry him. Or that time he flashed from a Toronto has-been to a top-flight hit maker off the strength of a self-released mixtape. Like the one about how Lil Wayne befriended and signed him at the height of Weezy's powers. But this is OK because Drake's stories are better than yours. Drake is the guy you get drinks with who talks about himself for a few hours- if you're lucky, he might ask you for advice on one or two things.

Drake thank me later album sales