WARNING: READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED, EXPLICIT CONTENT
This is obviously a huge change of pace compared to previous posts on this blog, but I would like to alter some of the content due to the lack of activity in the NFL off season. Music is another one of my passions, and I have always wanted to create an in depth album review on a particular project that has caught my attention…so I decided to review “Scorpion” Please be forewarned that Drake is indeed my favorite artist, so if you are not a Drake fan, this review may not be for you. Drake has been my favorite artist since the release of his debut project “So Far Gone” so some opinions may be a bit biased, but I am by no means a “stan”…well at least I won’t admit it. Weather you like it or not is up to you, this is something I have wanted to do for quite some time, and I will take full advantage of the opportunity presented. Despite my personal opinion of Drake, I am not one of those who claims a body of work is a “classic” after 3 days, I wanted to wait a while before I reviewed this project so I could fully digest the music in it’s entirety (All 25 songs). This project is a double album, containing an “A” side which heavily contains elements of “Rap music” while the “B” side shifts the category to “R&B/Pop” type of vibes. With this being said, there will be two separate reviews to this project. This post will cover the “A” Side (My favorite side…*Spoiler alert) Additionally, first week sales and numbers are out for this album. The boy himself amassed over 1 BILLION STREAMS FIRST WEEK…a record that NO ONE HAS EVER BROKEN BEFORE! Of course the numbers are a bit inflated due to the massive success of previous singles such as “God’s Plans” & “I’m Upset” Scorpion sold 750,000 copies first week, in terms of raw sales.
Despite the first week success, the roll out to this album was completely ruined. The very well documented feud between Drake and Pusha T played a role in in improper promotional campaign. Well, let me rephrase that, the publicity did not make Drake look too good. Long story short, the two MC’S have been taking subliminal shots at each other since about 2013, but their dirty laundry has recently been aired out to a full on beef including two full diss tracks towards each other. Drake responded to Pusha T on a track titled “Duppy Freestyle” , where he claims that Pusha T is a nobody and that he is beefing with him in order to sell records, and some say Drizzy took it a too far as he used Pusha T’s soon to be wife as a reference in a bar that says “Keep playing with my name and I’ll make it ring on you like Virgina Williams”…Pusha obviously was not a fan of the bar, or even the song itself for obvious reasons, so he clapped back with the infamous “Story of Addion” where Pusha T exposed Drake for having a child with an ex European porn star…at the time no one knew, so the new was surprising to the public…but who told Pusha about Drake’s secret son? This is just the intro so let me not get ahead of myself. We will diagnose that situation later. Drake is not used to having the fans on someone eles side, so for the first time in his career, we saw a chink in the knights armor. After days of relentless memes and “L’s” in Drake’s comment section, the social media world anticipated another Drake diss track, like he did back in his feud with rapper Meek Mill in 2015. Despite the demand for a response Drake remained silence and revealed via Instagram DM’s with DJ Akademiks, that “Everything will make sense on June 29th…” It is also pretty obvious that many things were changed on this album after the altercation with Pusha T (and maybe even another rapper). So without further ado, let’s get to this music.
Track 1: “Survival”
Drizzy kicks off this album ending the silence with the opening bars of “All of this disorder, no adressin’ The crown is broken into pieces, but there’s still more in my possession” “My Mount Roshmore is me with four different expressions, who is giving out this much return on investment? After my run man, how is that even a question?” Stating that despite what people think, he is ready to explain the situation, and he is still the best in the game. He also explains that he was going to clap back to Pusha T’s diss but “I fell back a hundred times when I don’t get the credit, Seen this movie a hundred times I know where it’s headed, realize that somebody gotta die when no one will dead it, niggas gambling with they life for some content, that’s the type of lottery that could get your top picked” “I was about to man I thought about it…It’s unsettling to talk about” with these lines Drake reveals that he indeed did have a response in line after many speculated he did, but he decided not to release it because there are many more layers to the situation that the public was not yet aware of at the time, and he additionally did not want to do Pusha T in. Drizzy also briefly references he previous beefs with Meek Mill and Diddy on this track. This was a great intro for the album and leaves us anticipating more elaboration on the situation.
Notable Lyrics/Quotables: “And I see in the dark, wasn’t this cold at the start, there’s a whole in my heart./ Now I gotta deal with all of this drama and deal with myself, I ain’t even cut the tie, it severed itself, this the intro man let me not get ahead of myself”
Track 2: “Nonstop”
“I just flipped the switch”, Drake certainly did what he rapped as the album shifts direction to the song “Nonstop” which may be the best song on the A side. The song itself is very catch and can be seen as a “Club banger”. I recently went to a house party where this song was played three times. Drake confidently swag raps his way through this song with lines like “How I go from 6 to 23 like I’m Lebron” in reference to being the most hated to the greatest. Catchy lines such as “Bills so big call them Williams for real” and “This a Rollie not a stopwatch shit don’t ever stop! This that shit that got the block hit, shit git super hot” make this a singalong song for radio. Drake also responds to Kanye West with “Yeah I’m lightskin but I’m still a dark nigga” after West subliminally called him “lightskin” on his most recent “Ye” album.
Notable Lyrics/Quotables: ” I like all the profits man I hardly do percents (I don’t do that shit) Niggas that I knew from when I started in this shit, They see what I got goin’ on and man it’s to be content, Fuck what they got goin’ I gotta represent”
Track 3: “Elevate”
Drake goes back to his classic formula in this track by with a melodic mixture of singing and rapping over the beat. “Elevate, Elevate, only obligation is to tell it straight” “There’s no way that this can be real man it can’t be”, Drake reflects on his career and realizes that he is still in the top spot. In this song Drake thanks god for “Working harder than Satan, he’s playing favorites” It is interesting a hear from a humble Drake. The catchy hook is what really makes the song.
Notable Lyrics/Quotables: “I don’t know patience, I got a chance and my niggas got it too like it’s contagious, I see the future when I get wavy”.
Track 4: “Emotionless”
This is the most introspective song on the album. “Emotionless” serves as an accurate representation of not only where Drake is as an artist at this point in time, but also where he is as a human being. Drake gets very personal revealing that people he used to look up to in the industry have changed after they have met, and they fear that he may pass them (*Shade at Kanye West) This song is also significant because it is the first time address his alleged son. I love songs where Drake gets in depth with his personal life, and this is how he differentiates himself from the pack. Drake is a very honest rapper, and talks about subjects that many other artists would never imagine speaking on.
Notable Lyrics/Quotables: “Look at the way we live, I wasn’t hiding my kid from the world, I was hiding the world from my kid, From empty souls who wake up and just look to debate, Until you starin’ at your seed you can never relate, Breaking news in my life I don’t run to the blogs, The only ones I wanna tell are the ones I can call, They always ask “Why let the story run if it’s false?” You know a wise man once said nothing at all.
TRACK 5: “God’s Plan”
“God’s Plan” serves as the lead single for Scorpion being that it was released way back in January 2018. This song was inescapable, I swear I heard it everywhere I went for two months straight. The song went on to receive worldwide success, debuting at #1 on billboard charts across the entire world. The music video was shot a month after release, where Drake can be seen handing out “Big racks” to the needy in Miami Florida. As of 7/9/2018, the music video has reached 695,331,107 views on YouTube. “The budget for this video was $996,631.90…but we gave it all away.
Notable Lyrics/Quotables: “She say do you love me, I told her only partly, I only love my bed and my mom, girl I’m sorry”
Track 6: “I’m Upset”
Quite frankly, I am upset this song even made the album. Drake dropped this song right after the “Duppy Freestyle” Pusha T diss, but it was not quite up to par with counterpart. I find it a bit ironic that Drake says “Can’t go 50/50 with no hoe”, but is now has a former porn star as his baby momma. The beat is quite gloomy and dark, and I do not feel like Drake’s flow and cadance mixes well with the beat. Although many others really enjoy listening to this song, it is not my favorite.
Notable Lyrics/Quotables: “I’m upset, Hunnid thousand on my head, it’s disrespect, So offended that I had to double check, You trynna check? This is real life niggas think we playin’ chess.
Track 7: “8 out of 10”
This seems to be a response track towards Pusha T, but not in the manner we expected. Drake takes a less aggressive approach, saying that he could have dissed Push if he wanted to, but he knows that everyone is pressing play, so does not want to end mans life. “The only deadbeats are the beats I’ve been rapping to” Drake spits in response to Pusha T calling him a deadbeat dad. Although Drizzy does rap that he does miss making them pay he states that he has settled into his role as the “Good guy” instead of being angry and bitter at the situation like Pusha T.
Notable Lyrics/Quotables: “Never a matter of could I or should I, kiss my son on the forehead, then kiss your ass goodbye, as luck would have it I’ve settled into my role as the good guy, I guess luck is on your side, All sevens, no sixes rest easy, get some shut eye”
Track 8: “Mob Ties”
Unlike the previous song, Drake raps that he is sick and tired of all the fakes and goofies in the game “It’s too late for all that lovey-dovey shit, I’m your brother shit” . Stating dominance, he says he fucks with the mob and he ties, and it is not in anyone’s best interest to come at him. It seems like he is talking to the rapper that revealed the information of him having a son to Pusha T…
Notable Lyrics/Quotables: Nah, sick of these niggas, Hire some help, Get rid of these niggas, Fuck what it was, It is what it is, Whatever you did, It is what it is”
Track 9: “Can’t Take A Joke”
Personally, this is my favorite song from the A side. I did not expect Drake to rap the way he dis after hearing the bass of the beat, but his melodic delivery carries him through the song quite nicely. Drake keeps the same energy as the previous Drake, claiming that he is not the one to play with, and that he tries to laugh at the people doing him, but the people around him can’t take a joke.
Notable Lyrics/Quotables: “Everything will be ok, man, just stay up out my way, Skit around ends with the bros and I’m knitted to the toes, If I touch studio then we got one, I be trynna laugh with the bros about the ops that we know, cause it’s not one, Think it’s cause we live by the code, reputation to uphold, making the one they gotta take the spot from.
Track 10: “Sandra’s Rose”
“Niggas want a classic that’s just 10 of these”. Drake has a plethora of songs like “Sandra’s Rose” where he revisits his upbringing and tells the story of how he came up. This song is actually dedicated to his mother Sandra. “Sandra knows I took us out of a living hell, I’m the chosen one flowers pick themselves”, he raps. This is also the first time Drizzy and DJ Premier have collaborated on a track. There are many fun quotables in this song like “Two girls that I rope like Indiana Jones, I make them hoes walk together like I’m Amber Rose” and “Head on a swivel I could never dribble, life’s too short I gotta get it ‘fore they blow the whistle” If you are looking for “bars” this is the song for you.
Notable Lyrics/Quotables: “I take this shit too serious you niggas my comic relief, I’m standing ahead of where you niggas climbing to reach, I find it funny how I keep on talkin’ and commas increase, I even got my very own initials inscribed in my sheets, Subtle reminders are key, JEEZ!”
Track 11: “Talk Up” (feat. Jay-Z)
The first feature on this album comes as a bit of a surprise, even though it is not the biggest feature on the project (Stay tuned for *B Side review) For quite some time, Drake and Jay Z have been bickering back and forth subliminally in their records about each other, so when I saw the track list for the first time, I was shocked to see Jay on the project. I guess they have put whatever issues they may have had side…maybe they both have the same rapper as a common enemy? Drake sends shots not only at Kanye in this song, but the whole G.O.O.D music group as a whole saying “They had is set up for real, but they didn’t come with the slaps, When I heard the shit I was skipping through that, If I get to tripping there’s no coming back, I don’t understand, these niggas gotta adapt.” To provide more context to these bars, G.O.O.D music artists including Kanye West, Pusha T went on a highly coveted campaign to release short 7 song albums, which apparently Drake thought was trash. All though Jay Z is featured on this track, his verse sounds like it was mailed in, there is no real cohesion or chemistry between the two on the track. Jay Z dropped a powerful gem at the end of the song saying “Y’all killed X, but let George Zimmerman live…streets is done” For those who do not know, 20 year old Florida artist XXXTenaction (Often refereed to as just “X”) was fatally shot and killed after being robbed in the streets of his own city. Rest In Peace to the young man, and condolences still go out to his loved ones and family.
Notable Lyrics/Quotables: “My mentions are jokes, but they never give me the facts, This isn’t that, Can’t be ignoring the stats, Based off of that, They gotta run me the MAX!”
Track 12: “Is There More?”
“Is there More” can be viewed as the albums interlude from the A side to the B Side. The beat is mysterious and gloomy, “The boy is back in the booth ready to tap in the truth, to tap in the truth, too many Walt Disney characters mouses and goofs” Again, Drake reiterates the fact that he feels back stabbed by a certain someone but during the initial release we did not know quite who he was taking about. Drizzy also reveals that after this album he is out of his Young Money/Cash Money record deal. On an older song titled “Family Feud” with Lil Wayne, Drake expressed interest in obtaining an ownership deal with Apple Music, so there is speculation that this may be the next move for Drake. After the song is over we hear a refreshing sample from Allaiayah, before the album progresses into it’s second form of the B side leading us to believe…Is there really more?
Notable Lyrics/Quotables: “I mean you know I love a challenge, but challenge by who? My peers are a talented group, But even if you rounded the numbers and rounded the troops, There’s nothin’ else they could really do, It’s too bad reality checks don’t cover the balances due, whenever it’s time to recoup”
#ValenciaSM18
Sources: ALL IMAGES: Google images
Streaming/Sales numbers: DJ Akademiks/Champagne Papi Instagram
407 Eagles 