Although he does support the Toronto Raptors, he transcends Toronto, and begs teams from everywhere. In a similar way to hip hop, sports allegiance is rooted in where you’re from, and Drake’s allegiances are all over the place.
In 2012, Drake tweeted to his critics, “I have friends on different teams. And they weren’t the first to mention Drake’s sporting allegiances. Even they claim that his “allegiances are too far and wide” to create a comprehensive list, but it spans multiple sports, states, and even countries. In April 2014, SB Nation compiled a list of Drake’s sporting allegiances.
Being mixed, his blackness was questioned too, “I’m so light that people are like ‘you’re white.’” he told the Village Voice.ĭrake at Wimbledon 2015 (image by: ) There had never been a Canadian rapper that achieved Drake-level success before Drake, and Drake had no ties to historical hip-hop areas like New York, Chicago, California. When he made the decision to be a rapper, he entered into a musical culture rooted firmly in both blackness and repping your ends. At the time, he was living between an affluent part of Toronto with his white mother, where he describes his experience of attending a Jewish high school by saying “the kids that were cool… I wasn’t really on their wavelength, which made me sorta uncool,” and his father’s in Memphis, where he was described as being “the furthest thing from the hood.” Bear with me.ĭrake’s career started out in acting, on the teen show Degrassi. Reasons that are tied up in societies own complex relationship with race and identity, and further than that, our own. Sure, he’s got a goofy smile and seems sweet enough for us to let it slide, but I have a theory that the reasons we let Drake get away with his begginess run much deeper. It’s kind of a wonder we let him get away with it. You can imagine Drake in the studio, hearing the song for the first time, and nodding, wide-eyed, “Yes! This is funky!” Now, Drake has released a song called ‘One Dance’, where he’s crooning over the top of UK Funky House artists Crazy Cousinz production ‘Do You Mind’ by Kyla, a song so old in our British music scene that I was banging it when I was doing my GCSEs.
#Drake feel no ways vimeo series#
He dances like a dad, and inspired a series of cringe worthy memes that parody how his sensitive lyrics go “ against the alpha male stereotype that is still prevalent in hip hop.” He’s the same dude who rapped “we can stare up at the stars and put the Beatles on” on a song about f*ckin’ bad bitches. He’s a paradox that shouldn’t work: a Jewish black boy from the Toronto suburbs who went from being a sweet child star to one of the biggest rap stars of right now. It navigates the same heavenly pop bliss as "Hold On, We're Going Home," but this time Drake is going back to the 6 to spend some time alone.Drake is a beg.
“Feel No Ways” is a nuanced record tied ever so finely at the seams. “Maybe we should have just did things my way,” he quips, but what’s lost in this train of thought is that he's the one who opted out: “I had to let go of us to show myself what I could do.” Produced by Majid Jordan’s Jordan Ullman, the synths invoke the duo’s signature electronic R&B with clattering hi hats pressed against warm chords that seep into one another-these swelling beats wouldn't have felt out of place on Blood Orange's Cupid Deluxe. Originally teased on Vine, “Feel No Ways” is written in snapshots and captions, trying to make sense of new tensions. The body chemistry changes, with dopamine flowing listlessly in cold blood. The body language is different, cautious and more distant. “Feel No Ways” is about that very discernible shift in tone when a lover becomes an ex and the fondness stops. There are few instances where he’s been more blunt about it than on Views highlight “Feel No Ways," the record's most infectious pop moment. What makes them approachable is how wholeheartedly he believes in his own innocence.ĭrake is the supposed Nice Guy in the DMs of Instagram models wondering why he’s been friend-zoned in favor of womanizer types. What makes Drake's arguments intriguing is the language, the backhanded way he tries to guilt trip women into lusting after him, prodding into their lives by proclaiming himself a casualty of his lavish lifestyle. It wouldn’t be a Drake album without him returning to Toronto to discover that a woman has a life beyond her relationship to him. He’s always come off as entitled about sex, but that isn’t much different from most men.