Loading summary
Transcript9 lines
- [00:01]
A
You know that thing where you get an amazing pair of shoes at a really great price and want to tell everyone about it? Yeah. So do we here at Designer Shoe Warehouse. We'll give you something to brag about, like the latest styles from brands you love or the trends everyone's obsessing over or shoes that make you feel like, well, you. So go ahead, show off a little. Buying shoes that get you at prices that get your budget. Head to your DSW store or dsw.com today. DSW. Let us surprise you.
- [00:36]
B
Hey, hey, hey everybody. Welcome Back to episode 59 of Something Wrong with the Podcast. It's your boy, Julian. And today is obviously going to be my review of Iceman. And I'm saying Iceman because to be quite honest, I'm not here to put too much effort and time into discussing Habibty or Maid of Honor for reasons which I will get into. But I'm really here to focus on Iceman because I think the branding of this album in itself and also the quality of that album versus the others and the type of Drake that we want as fans and expected from Drake is really covered on that album. I think it's. It's by far the best project. So let's get into before the actual music itself. Let's lead into the days leading up. I did stay up for the live stream which I did love and I did want to read a tweet that I sent at the end of the live stream. I said it was beautifully produced. The cinematography, the stark visuals, the sight changes were starved for authenticity in a bath of AI slop. He meaning Drake over delivered with fresh visuals for every song on a new on the stream, fully welcoming us into the world of Iceman. Drake ceremoniously ended the stream by placing three hard drives on the table. Three albums. His work ethic is special. Well done. The three hard drives obviously representing Habib D, Maid of Honor and Iceman. I said this on one of my more recent episodes, the Iceman rollout episode, which is my last one. Caring matters. Caring about your music matters, investing in your music matters, investing in your artistry matters. Especially in the age of corner cutting, in the age of replacing labor, manual labor with AI generation labor. In the case of doing things last minute and voting them in because you can do, you can get things done for a quarter of the effort and get results that are in some cases good enough. I am thankful for Drake and his team that they did not lean into any of these devices. I was, I was reading, I saw some reels or reading some articles as well about the amount of effort, time and money it took to get the projectors on the CN Tower itself we're talking about. I believe they said there were only four projectors in North America that could project the quality and scale of the images on the CN Tower however they needed. I believe it was like upwards of 15 total, so. So they actually had to get the rest flown in from Germany to finish the rest of those projections. The estimated cost of just the CN projections alone was 15 million. Stuff like this, look, the prices across the border are insane and I'm no expert on what the value is of projections and what that would be. It's such a niche specialty order and obviously Drake is the kind of person that can pull any strings in Toronto and shout out to the government. The mayor of Toronto went on a news network and said she was honored to let Drake use her office and record one of the records in there and wear the symbolic necklace as well. I think it's incredible that they are giving him the freedom to create and use the city as much as a tool as it is as a nod to the place in which he still calls home. Anyway, carrying on the projections themselves, they were beautifully done. There was an interview with the guy that this is really a kid, a young kid that was able to put this entire project together and you could tell that, you know, they were working around the clock, they were coding these things in real time. These aren't projects that can be hidden and revealed at any given time. These are things that need to be tested and walk through live. So the risk factor in that as well, you have to consider like Drake is hinging things on projects that, you know, could be, God forbid, like weather dependent things. It's a projector. Who knows if in transit all of these things, you know, landed safely. What are the quality of the bulbs? What if there's a power outage? What if there's a short in. There's so many unknowns and factors that could go wrong and for them to. Yes, the, the release taping the live stream was pre taped obviously because I'm not even putting that in air quotes as a, as a slight. I'm saying that more in the fact that they shot it to make a movie. This is, I would argue this is. It's not argue. I think it's very clear that this was done at the scale of a, of a, like a feature film production level. The giving each track, visuals, hiring, you know, bringing in friends, recruiting, likeness and faces. The Shane Gillis in the car in the backseat of with his son. I think what's so cool is when Drake is able to go get a cast of people that have been supporting him throughout his career but certainly were more vocal in the last few years post beef and letting them be a part of this experience as well and getting people, bringing people from, you know, big cities to Toronto and giving them that hospitality and experience that they would not have had otherwise. The having your son and your son's friend driving the car. I mean I think it's so cool when artists are in positions to put their kids in those positions and like memorialize those moments. Be like damn, remember Adonis when you were 7 or 8, however old he is now. And you know, this is where I was in my career and this is who you are because Adonis, I mean who's to say he's even sentient yet I'm genuinely trying to remember when I have my first memories. I don't like Adonis still might be at that age where you know, obviously he's conscious of making decisions but memory hasn't served or kicked in to that level where he will as an adult and he'll have these things to look back on and understand. And yes he was in visuals on for all the Dogs as well, even younger which is pretty cool. The, the watch party that Drake held in Toronto looked great. I knew quite a few people there. The view they had of the, the fireworks. I do love that the whole pre taping of the event its so cool. And it all culminated with the fireworks display at the end there which was really cinematic, a beautiful send off and I think it was, the timing of it was great. Once that stream ended we had, we still had an hour before the actual album came out which strategically I'm a big fan of. And whether that, whether that be because of Sydney ordinances or what have you, it did seem like Toronto is going to give Drake a pass on anything for that evening. But for whatever reason I do love that we had that gap as a, as a hip hop community and as fans of music and as fans of, of cinema. I mean this was a film to really process what we just watched go to. Then you could see that the chatter going from the livestream chat into Twitter and then back onto the timeline. It kept the fodder alive and that anticipation that our window where now we know there's three albums. Well shit, what, what are the sounds of these albums going to be? What are the themes of these albums going to be? Who is he referring to? When he says, habibty, who is this maid of honor? We didn't have any covers of the visuals of the. Of the. The artwork itself. It left a lot of room for a really fun hour of speculation that. Which I threw myself fully into as well. I was. I was just. I had my dual screens up in my office. I had the live stream on the left and on my laptop that's sitting in front of me now. I had the Twitter feed just refreshing in real time. And it just felt great to be thrown back into the fandom of music. And, you know, there's no artist that I. Drake is one of the few artists that I'm extremely excited for anytime he puts out music. And obviously the stakes of this entire album were much higher than the rest, but it. He met the mark every step along the way. And I will admit in the past, referring to these other live streams one through three, I was a bit contentious of like, the. Well, a. The reasoning behind them. And then also, I guess, yeah, the reasoning in terms of, like, what purpose did they serve? To which I guess we did get some closure and, like, understand, you know, if you were to rewatch the live streams, you'd be like, okay, the backpack that he gets is the backpack that has the hard drives and certain things happen throughout. But to be honest, I just wasn't a fan of, like, Drake just kind of wandering around Toronto with these endless loops of beats playing and not that much of a story or narrative building other than what we were supposed to gather via clues visually. I will say I would love for Drake and their team to put the final fourth. The fourth and final live stream back on YouTube. I'm obviously aware that they clipped all of those segments into music videos and put them out on YouTube as individual assets. I get it, like, smart for the channel in terms of, like, flooding it and keeping it engaged in like, a highly, you know, active. I get all that, like, for the YouTube reasons in itself, but I. I really, really admire the live stream as a piece of art in itself. And I think that that should be re. Uploaded or lives somewhere where people can enjoy that as whole. I mean, to be honest, like, you know, call this hyperbolic, if you will. That in itself could have been like a theatrical release if Drake wanted to do some like, Iceman movie theater takeover thing. And I mean, it was like an hour or so long that's, you know, feature a film length, put that up in the theater, let that run with that sound and those. That. Those. That quality of visuals, I think it would have Played well in a theater setting as well. So yes, if you can tell, I am obviously gassing it up up to this point. Now, let's get into the music because this is where anybody that is as big as a fan of Drake as I am, this is where I will. I will give praise and be critical at the same time. Both warranted, obviously. I think the. Let's start with Iceman. And I'm really, again, just going to focus mostly on Iceman. I think Iceman could be. Well, let's talk through the three albums.
- [11:01]
C
There's never been a better time to get outside and experience the benefits of nature, discover nearby trails and explore the outdoors with all trails. Download the free app today and find your outside selves.
- [11:17]
B
Right, so Habib D being the RB album, Iceman being the rape rap. The rape. Jesus Christ, sorry, the rap Drake album. And Maid of Honor being the dancehall project itself. Right? So we're getting three versions of Drake. Historically, the running narrative on Twitter and even Drake has alluded to and brought up in certain interviews is like, I can never please my whole audience because I serve every. Every fan group. Which is true. Therefore, I can never, you know, please everybody and put out the perfect album. So in this case, what does Drake do? He gives us three albums, one for each of those things that people love from him. But me, I. I historically, honestly have loved the R and B Drake. I do think Khabib D was below the quality of R and B Drake that we've gotten in the past. So for me, Iceman rose above the rest. And this is like my favorite records on this project are the no Hook, just Drake rapping for the sake of rapping on a very chill beat. Allah like Middle of the Ocean on Her Loss. That is probably my favorite record from that collaborative album. Not probably. It is my favorite record from that. No disrespect to 21 Savage because he has no vocals on that and he did a great job throughout that project. I love on Iceman in particular, the made made all the made them all the Made Them series. So we have made them cry, made them pay, made them remember and made them know those. I love that the. The packaging within the project itself, they're beautifully sequenced. The made Make Them Cry being the intro, the intro to Iceman. And then about a third of the way down we have Make Them Pay and then make them Remember or kind of eaten up in the middle there. And then at the end, the final. The songs people look to the most from Drake and Outro record called Made Them Not Make Them Know is the final song of Iceman. And I do love this because I think this is really like, an insight to Iceman. The conceptually what Iceman is. Because if you just break down, okay, ice cold, it's. It's cold. It's. Ice is meant to preserve goods. It's meant to also heal and regenerate injuries. If you're talking in the case of people as well, if you overexert yourself, you reach for ice. If you pull something, you reach for ice. If you have a drink and you want to refresh, you quench your thirst, you want a refreshing beverage, you put ice in it. I think the term itself is. It should be looked at in these many different ways, because I think it's also meant to serve all those different purposes. So let's go through Make Them Cry. I do just have. Here. I put. I took down a couple lyrics from each of these songs. The Make Them Cry, make them ba. That I think, like, thematically speak to what each of them is about. So let's start with Make Them Cry. Very direct in the sense that Drake is really pushing for an emotional response here, right? So these are the couple lyrics that I wrote down here. Drake says, quote, what died back in 2004 was a big piece. So it's like, this shit is me, but it isn't me. Y' all keep asking me what it did to me. That's what it did to me. When I dig deep, they say, dig deeper. Tell us how it feel to meet the Grim Reaper. I think this is, like the, you know, most vulnerable within regards to the beef that you'll get from Drake. And it's quite. It's quite literal as well, you know, Y' all keep asking what it did to me. This is what it did to me hurt. It made him emotional. It. He lost a big piece of who he is, and this is him picking up those pieces together and discovering, you know, putting that ice on himself and healing up and being, okay. Like, I had this injury. Now I'm. Well, I'm rested again. I'm back. But who am I now that I'm back? You know, I'm. I'm an someone that plays basketball. I had a injury last year where I fractured a bone in my collarbone. And it's like, yes, like, the game remains the same. I'm still going to play this game, but the way in which I play it will forever be different because of this injury. Maybe I'm less of a brute driving for a layup, and I Have more of a. Maybe I'm taking more sidesteps or. Or fate. Maybe this is altering the way. Instead of me leaning in towards the basket, I'm doing more fadeaway jumpers now. Right. So I'm still playing the same game with the same rules, but the way in which I've played it up to this point is now going to change. I think that's what's happening to Drake here. The way he's approached rap, the way he's approached his career now has to change because of the injury that he sustained a couple years ago when going against Kendrick. It doesn't mean that the game itself has changed. This is Drake acknowledging that he himself has to adapt moving forward. Right. Okay, let's continue. There's another line sequence that I put down here. He goes, niggas want to talk about a battle. I'm battling patience, nigga. I battle frustration. I'm about 40, dog. I'm battling aging. To be honest, if we can get rid of the aging line, I think, like, there's many jokes that could be made about Drake never wanting to age and all that. I'm not. I don't care to talk about that. I think the thing that's extremely important here, he says, they want to talk about. Niggas want to talk about battle. I'm battling patience. What was Drake's initial reaction in the fallout of the battle when Not Like Us was at its peak in making its rounds? Drake, he couldn't. He couldn't disappear. I think this was a criticism that I have had and many others in the year, and some change following the beef was Drake just needs to take time away. He needs to take these wounds, heal up, disappear. Take some time for yourself. That has proven to be very difficult for Drake to do. He came out with some sexy songs for you. He was doing all these features, none of which had really landed Sexy Song for your Did. Did. Well, obviously, I'm not shitting on that album. There was two or three really great records from that that became singles. But Drake couldn't remove himself from the. The. The. The scene. He's so used to being seen. He's so used to being adored that him, you know, metaphorically being sidelined by the media, the hip hop media and fans at large was something that he had to. Which was something that was extremely and painfully difficult for him to do. Correct. He said, I battle frustration that that leaves him in turn frustrated. Right. He's mad that the. Maybe I don't. Maybe this, you know, maybe it's. It's not as easy as, you know, the. The frustration isn't, why don't people like me the way I am? I think the frustration in this, in this instance comes from within. I think he's frustrated with himself. I don't think in this case, Drake is projecting. So this is kind of the tone of Make Them Cry. It is a quite vulnerable record. I love this record. I to be. I mean, I'll just jump out. I love all four, four or five of these records. All the. Make them that series. I love all of them. And it's the meat of the album. There's some slaps in between, which I really enjoyed. But these are my favorite records on this project, so let's continue to Make Them Pay, which shows up a few songs later. And this is the line that he directs at J. Cole. He goes, you run and talk to Hoe for a second opinion. Mia stood 10 toes, accepted the mission Because I'd much rather die. I'd much rather death than submission. I think it's a shot at. Obviously, it's a shot at Cole, but I also think this is, you know, a jab of sorts also at hov. It's like Drake doesn't turn to the goats or the legends of hip hop to decide what his next move is in. In short, like, he doesn't respect the opinions of those people to have it influence the decisions he makes for himself on regarding his life and his career, which whereas Cole still has, still seems to be holding that hierarchy and respecting the elder generation in turning to them in moments of conflict to help them, to help. To have them help guide him on his decisions that he makes next. Right. Drake does not feel that way. He doesn't. Maybe it's not lack of respect for HOV may not be the right way. Could be too intensive a thing to say. But I think Drake, at this point, at least in this instance, use him as an equal as. And thinks that Jehovah in turn, would have nothing to offer him. Especially, you know, with the super bowl and all that stuff as well. Like, who is he to turn to somebody that booked, you know, his arch nemesis to headline the Super Bowl. Correct. All right, let's continue.
- [19:52]
C
Do you love your pets? Do you love suspense? Do you love it when your pets keep you in suspense because they ate something mysterious? And who knows what the vet visit will cost? If you answered yes twice and then no, you should protect your pet with lemonade. Pet insurance. It can save you up to 90% on vet bills for checkups, emergencies, diagnostics. All the stuff that leaves you financially on the edge of your seat. Get a quick and Easy quote@lemonade.com pet and get your suspense somewhere else, like from a riveting podcast.
- [20:21]
B
Continue. This is still from Make Them Pay. Damn, who is this guy for real? I guess this is. This line is referring. He's just talking to Kendrick. Damn, who is this guy for real? I guess a magician. 100 million streams vanish. No one got questions for niggas. This is, you know, I. This is the first shot. I only brought this one up because it's not like the, oh, you got him. It's. It's just the first acknowledgment of Kendrick, and I do think that that is important. Well, not the first, but it's on this record. It's the first acknowledgment of Kendrick, which I just think is important to make note of. Like, you know, Drake with these. These refilings and these pending lawsuits and all these appeals. A lot of this at their core have to do with. If you look at the legal language here and the filings themselves have to do with the straight fake streams and fake numbers. Right? So this is him, you know, reclaiming, remaking his statement about those fake streams and fake numbers. Kendrick did go through. It looked like a licensing change, which coincidentally did happen the week of this album coming out, which was odd. I had a couple other tweets about it as well, but there was the Not Like Us music video and the Luther music video were taken off of his YouTube and then re uploaded. These weren't songs that were unlisted and then made public again. These were songs that were assets that were fully re uploaded because the view count and the like count started from zero, which is quite interesting. I don't know what the intricacies or dealings of like Kendrick's licensing deal are, nor did I really care to look into it. I just knew that that was the truth of the matter. Just the timing of it does seem suspicious. Let's continue. This is Make Them Pay. Obviously I should have led with this. Make Them Pay is vengeful Drake. Obviously with a title like this, he's going to be coming at all of his adversaries and making them pay for what they said about him. I think this is again, quite literal. All these titles, I think, which I love about these songs is they are very tone setting. And then from there, Drake just takes this canvas and then just paints a picture of exactly what the he means by this title. And he, again, masterfully does it on make them pay. This next line is directed at Rick Ross. Dog, I was doing dog, I was Aiden Ross streams before Aiden Ross was ever streamed. That's such a clever line. And I know, like the fact checkers and all those people were like, did you know Rick Ross was on the Billboard Hot 100 before Drake even put out a da da da da da. I think people often get it misconstrued when, because someone had success earlier than the person in which they're talking about. Therefore people believe, like, that negates or lessens the importance that that newer person had in their person's, in this person's life. So in this case, like, yes, Rick Ross was a artist that put out music before Drake and he had a pretty decent career before Drake. But then Drake became Drake and guess what Drake did with Ross's career? He fucking took him from like, doing decent to like, really fucking like up here. So I hate this, like the, the fake ass, like, it's like half truth, but you're burying like the crux of the entire argument. We're like, Drake was actually still on Degrassi when Rick Ross put out his first mixtape. Well, who the fuck cares? Look what Drake did for this guy. You know, like, I, I, I don't get that. This bothers me so much. Clever bar. Great line. And, you know, like, I was hoping that Ross and Drake could mend their differences, but I don't know, they're kind of the most fun to pay attention throughout, throughout this. Ross's whole crash out on Live Stream where he was airing out podcasters and Drake while promoting his book, is just so Ross. And it's very funny to me, so why not keep it up, Ross? It's next, the, I would say the most violent blow on this album directed at DJ Khaled. Here we go. He says in Khaled, you know what I mean? The beef was fully live and you went halal and got you a dean and your people are still waiting for a free Palestine. But apparently everything is in black and white and red and green. Damn. I'm seeing everyone's true colors for real. I'm seeing a theme that's, I mean, that's as direct as it gets. I think that's, you know, I again saw people saying, wow, it's, it's lame of Drake to only bring up Palestine in the context of using it to shit on his adversary. But that's not true. Drake was one of the earlier artists to sign the petition to, for the ceasefire. And you know, whether or not what Drake has done publicly, I think it's safe to say we know where he stands when. When it. Within regards to the situations to the conflict in the Middle East. And I've always said that Khaled is a fucking pussy and the big piece of shit for not just. It's. There's. There's. There's no excuse. It is the most cowardice thing. Like there's nothing more than I can say that would, you know, there's nothing that needs to be said like this. It's just you are. Does your bad. That's. You're just a bad person and it's intentional and you know what you're doing, and it's. It's. It's pitiful. And I hope you have carry that weight like a knot in your fucking gut. And I'm sure your ancestors and your family, immediate family and extended family and generations that are losing their homeland are, you know, either rolling in their graves or clamoring onto what they have and looking at you in disgust. Yeah, so that's how I feel about that. I feel very passionate about that, if you can't tell. Let's continue. This next shot is obviously at Pusha T and Pharrell. I got all. I got all the chains they ever wrapped. Wrapped in Virginia. I got niggas prized possessions. I got possessed. I got possessive on niggas. Yeah. I mean, again, like, you know, not too long ago, Drake bought. Early in Drake's career, he bought a microphone from Pusha T. And then later, much more recently in Drake's career, he bought some chains from Pharrell. And then obviously he threatened to melt them down on. Was that on for all the dogs? Which in fact, he didn't melt the chains. They were in the music video itself, which played a whole thing. So, yeah, I mean, make them pay. Vengeful. We're getting peak vengeful Drake, he. He's. He's mad. He's mad and he's going out of his way to let those people know who he's mad at and reminding them what he has done to them and what he can do for them or has done to them. You know, let's go on and make them remember. Make them remember. Is this is the. The Drake that I like. I. I. Vengeful Drake is. Is. Is good. But I'm. I'm on like the. The legacy stamp my name Drake. And I think make them remember and make them know that the remaining two do that. The line that I have written down here on make them remember is they Say conclusions were drawn, but I'm in super denial. What is a loss? I'll be damned if I'm losing it now. I think this is to. To be honest, the most honest Drake has been when it comes. When it. Particularly when it comes to the beef. He. He's in. He's saying, I'm it. I'm in. You know, they say conclusions were drawn, but I'm in super denial. That's as clear as day as it gets. Like, I. Again, everyone say it with me, class. Drake lost the beef, Kendrick won, but Drake is a significantly better artist and makes much better music. Drake is such a. I mean, this is a compliment in the best way possible. A. A success and demands, you know, to win and to be the top dog in every interaction and every outcome, which is what makes him such a great artist that him losing this beef has put him in a deep state of denial. Right? And I think that this losing the beef is also independent of these lawsuits and everything as well. I don't think Drake is suing anybody because he lost the beef. He's suing them because of the tactics that were done to. To inherit to then push a song in this narrative that is like, you know, a smear, detrimental to his character, all that stuff. Right? Two very different things. The thing that is most important here, which Drake has not said up to this point, by the way, is conclusions were drawn, meaning the beef has technically and for. For the sake of the sport ended. But I'm in super denial. Well, do winner. Who. Who has denial? Do winners, denies, or who goes into denial after a conflict? Do winners or losers? I think this is as close as we'll get to Drake saying he lost the beef. And I think that's extremely important. And I think that's a part of the healing process. And I do think that it. I mean, I don't know, I just think this is good for him. I think, I truly think this is good for Drake that he. That he said this. But I. But in. In him fashion, the following line is, you know what is a loss? I'll be damned if I'm losing it. Now, Drake isn't looking at, like, losing the beef, obviously, as like a nail in the coffin of his career. He's saying that, like, watch what I do you think I'm a loser? Watch me. You got me up. If you think I'm losing it now, watch what I'm about to give you over the course of this album and two more albums, which I, you know, again, great. I love these are the things that fires Drake up. Let's go on to the last Make Them record. This one's called Make Them. No, again, still my favorite type of Drake. Drake. This is more about legacy building and solidifying his, you know, name in, like, the pantheon of hip hop. Right? So the lines that I have focused on here, this is this, this is directed at the Grammy board and the powers that be in the legacy, the media legacy that determine who's worth what. You know, this album, I'm never submitting it. Submitting it because I know that they'll never consider it. This might be the year I won because I know how they like to position it. Drake historically has had a really shitty relationship with the Grammy board. I believe he only has, like one. It's a joke how few Grammys you have. It's actually quite insulting that. And then Drake became one of those artists that wouldn't submit his music, rightfully so, as of many other superstars, because they understood the politics of the Grammy board themselves and didn't want to play those games. So if they remove themselves from the equation, you're then inherently, you know, also in doing so, stripping the board of what power they have over your inner career. Great move. Never fault an artist for not submitting to the Grammys. Fuck the board, right?
- [31:22]
C
If you're the proud parent of a puppy or kitten, you know, you can't pet proof your entire life. There simply isn't a sock drawer high enough or a couch cover thick enough. But you can pet proof your wallet with Lemonade pet insurance. Whether it's an unexpected accident or a routine checkup, Lemonade can cover up to 90% of the bill. Plus they can handle claims in as little as two seconds. So before you turn into a complete helicopter pet parent, get a'@lemonade.com pet.
- [31:50]
B
That being said, Drake is acutely aware of how this board prioritizes stories. In this lyric in particular, he's saying the Grammy board in more cases prioritizes the story and the narrative of an artist and of an album over the quality and success of that album and project itself. Because let's do some math here. If we were going to go based on streams, success and number ones and hits, Drake would have a bookshelf full of Grammys, right? But he has one. And why is that? Drake has one because at the time of his artist, when he became a bigger artist, it fit the narrative of this new kid that could rap and sing breaking into the industry, an industry that has fought against the sensitive rapper has made fun of the sensitive rapper for years. Well, look what we're going to do as the Grammy board. We're actually going to reward that guy for his bravery, his tenacity, and him fighting against the system. A system in which they kind of help build. Correct. So in this case, Drake is saying, you know, if this were, this would be the project that would. This. The story is so strong with Drake. For what it's worth being. This is his redemption album. This is him climbing back into the industry. This is him fighting against the man. This is his comeback story, double entendre to comeback season, his early mixtape. But this is the story that the Grammys would look for. This is a story that the Grammys would reward. Who doesn't love a comeback story, even if it's from a superstar? We saw what Kanye did with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Love a comeback story. He, you know, ironically, that instance that made him go disappear did happen at the Grammys is the infamous Taylor Swift moment. But these are the kind of things that a Grammy board in the power to be that give out those awards would look for and would reward somebody with their efforts, when in fact, Drake believes that that's not the reason why he should be winning. He should have been winning years from. For. Throughout his whole career because of this several. The success and level of artists that he is. Right. Okay. I mean, those are the songs I really wanted to get into. But I did want to say, you know, I, I relist I. Right before this taping. I re. Listened to Iceman. I. I really, really like this album. You know, selfishly, I wish he didn't put out Habib D nor Maid of Honor. And I really sound like I'm kicking in those albums. But I, I do think there's something to be said of like just Iceman in itself. And it's. It's this, The. The quality of this music. I really do think it can stand on its own. And I've been reading articles, some in which that said. I believe it was. Was it Vulture that put out the piece that said Drake is the Republican of music because he's like Trump flooding the markets. And I think a lot of people online misconstrued, like, what the actual hypothesis of that article was, which is what Republicans do, Trump included. But the entire Republican GOP conglomerate is. They'll get their marching orders and they'll push a message forward like no other. They'll flood the timeline with the same message and they'll take over. So, like, for example, when Trump got shot, well, not. Sorry, when at the correspondence White House Correspondents Dinner when that guy broke in and didn't even get close to the prison president or anybody, when that guy got in and got tackled. And then very, very quickly, the marching orders became this is why we need that ballroom. Fox News, flip the switch. This is why we need that ballroom. All your, you know, libs of TikTok and all these like super right wing conservative social pages got all their marching orders to retweet, repost, make all cap tweets about this is why we need the ballroom. Ballroom, Ballroom. Ballroom became the. This man's life was at stake. But all of a sudden the conversation very quickly became why we needed a ballroom. Right? The mobilization of a message is extremely important. And in a super global world where messages come and go, it takes, I think it takes a harrowing event and some courage to shake shit up in, to put my conspiracy cat on. Every single time Trump's life has been threatened, there's always been a very distinct marching order to come out of these events. In Butler, Pennsylvania, in the golf incident and, and in this most recent one, there's been very specific things that Trump has turned the messaging towards while all eyes were on him to then push out to the masses, which then was repeated over and over again by everybody that, you know, follows him and takes his marching orders. Right. For Drake, this is the hip hop equivalent of how do you own the narrative? How do you flood the space with your news, with your information? You have to over saturate it. So Iceman wasn't enough. Here goes habibti and Maid of Honor. Who else has done this before? No artists. So now we're looking at a first, a historic first, an artist dropping three albums in one night, not doing the Chris Brown mega album with one album with 60 songs and you get tired by song six. These are all themed albums, different types of music, different types of the same artist. It's, it's a risk. And I do think, look, as little as I've listened to the other two, this isn't me saying that the risk wasn't worth it nor didn't work. The first week projections of these albums is incredible. They're all, I believe iceman is around 450 to 500 maid of honor somewhere in the two, it's either one or the other. But they're all above 100, right? First week sales projections. I think the, the, the plan worked and it worked well, very well. Just to give some praise to the other albums, Maid of Honor, I, I loved the production on Hoe phase and road trips. And then to be honest, it kind of loses me. There's like a maybe two or three other songs. I hated Goose in the Juice. I really hated that record. I did have a tweet that had some nice viral noise about Sexyy Red and I will share that here because I don't know what dirt this girl has on people, but she is everywhere. She's everywhere. She doesn't need to be. Let's put it that way. I said we used to get Rihanna vocals and now we get these government mandated sexy red features. I tweeted that at 2 in the morning on what was it like a Saturday. I didn't realize how many people felt that way. The tweet's doing quite well. But I mean, I have a deeper theory, which I wanted to say for here instead of replying and tweeting that because I do believe the reason why we're seeing the sexy Reds, the Stunna Sandys and the. The other two young women, the one that started. I'm sorry if I'm. Let me get their names. The. Quinrisha, Quinn, Reacha, whatever. The other women as well. There's two more. They're all young. I. Here goes my criticism of Drake. I think Drake has left a really sour taste in the people's mouths in the industry, in particular the women of the industry. I think the. Maybe not the best word to use here, but Drake, when it comes to his music can be predatory and uses people the way in which he wants to. And then when it's maybe come time to do something for them or something in return, he may not feel the same way or doesn't care to deliver or, you know, in, in the most basic terms, if he's not going to have sex with them, there are. They serve no purpose to him and he's on to the next one. And this is by no means me saying all this. Women that are on this album have slept with Drake. I'm not saying that all, although I'm sure one or some of them have. But point being is these women are at the, in the beginning of their career. They're either really young or they're, you know, older but finally cracking into the mainstream market. And Drake is still incredibly. Not to say that Drake isn't valuable to any artist. He would help any artist career. But Drake is very valuable and plays a pivotal role in these women's careers because it's, you know, we joke about it's a Drake stimulus package. Whereas, say, the Rihanna that I mentioned and she's in a whole different level. But even look at even other artists, other female vocalists that Drake has worked with in the past. He even just like, burn the relationship with Ice Bias. Like, once there's footing and once a female artist cracks, like a mainstream, sustainable level, there seems to be a pattern where they turn away from Drake and they go off and collaborate with other people in the industry. I'm not making this up. It's just a pattern. And I think there's something to be said that Drake is always looking for the next hot young thing that comes in as a female vocalist, because they are. They don't know what it means to be in his crosshairs, and they see it only as a boost and positive for their career, which musically it is. But then once that service is over, what does the relationship with him serve you? And time and time again, we've seen people walk away from that relationship rather than continue that relationship with. And I do think it is something that's worth saying out loud and something worth paying attention to. Where are the established women in music that Drake works with? I'm off the top of my head recalling when Drake sampled Snow, Allegra's song on what was it? More Life. And obviously she was a fan. Like, why haven't they worked together? Just, I don't know. I feel like you can laundry list of names of women in music that have either, you know, just, just. It's just odd. It seems odd to me that this man still, every time he's working with a woman, he's turning to the younger ones that are at the beginning of their career and haven't gone through whatever seems to be happening here. Right. Clip that if you want. I don't know, it sounds really critical and harsh and I think that there's more legs to be had if I went down the Pablo Torrey journalistic route of it. But I do think it's something worth paying attention to. Seeing who people collaborate with is extremely important into understanding who the type of person is as an artist. That's all I'll say. Outside of that, I. I liked Rusty. I hated that Hot in the the two Sexy Red songs are trash also, like, who's lying and saying they're good? Like, I saw, you know it from my tweet and the replies and even just like the fodder online. Like, everybody's like, what dirt does she have on Drake? I do want to say I'm on sexy Reddit as an artist in these verses, just these verses, because I do like some of her records. But I do think Sexy just is one of, like, the most likable, cool people in the industry. And I genuinely think she's. She's just so fun and so easy to work with and just great. Like, she's on Justin Bieber's album, you know, here with Dr. Like, obviously her as a person and her team or putting her in right positions to win and succeed and collaborate with amazing artists. Good for her. I'm just saying I could do without. But hey, she's got a great team and she's finding her way into these writings in these rooms and giving verses and kudos to her. Who am I to hate? We get one PND vocal on here, which is sad. I was hoping we'd get more. Honestly, if. If Habibti was just a. Extension of some sexy songs for you, I would have loved that. I go back to that album now. I really like it. When it first came out, I think I was still in, like, the fog of, like, what is Drake doing? And I was just frustrated with him as an artist. But then I went back to it, you know, not too long ago, and I was like, this is a good album. And I really do like that album. But, yeah, I wish there was more PND on this one. Classic is. Is good. Like, I don't know. It's just. I. You know, to be honest, I haven't really revisited those other two albums. I've been listening Heavy to. To Iceman. I'm gonna say other records I want to call out that I liked on Iceman, but to be honest, there aren't many that I didn't like. I like the Janus stfu. The Ran to Atlanta is great. Obviously, that's a flip on the Kendrick Line. You run to Atlanta when you need a hit. I do like the. The, you know, the. The Drake. Drake's pettiness is great. I do think that I want to call out that he didn't Drake. I think he really sat thematically with this and how he wanted to deliver without sounding, without it. Like, without the hate and anger overtaking what the full album itself, you know, I mean, like, I don't think he lost himself. I think he controlled his emotions and did a good job to pick moments when he wanted to take shots, but not let those moments deter from making good records themselves. Burning Bridges is great. I mean, there's a lot of vengeful lines on this whole thing. What do you call. What's the one that he said? Firm Friends? Didn't he say, I want to see you. K Y S A S A P meaning he wants ASAP Rocky to unearth himself asap. That man. I mean, look, I don't condone violence, but if anybody has the right to, you know, pull a blicky on Drake, I mean, that Drake talks crazy about him, which really shows you how little he respects him or thinks he's a threat. There was another line on the album about ASAP Rocky's scar on his face, how he got buck 50. Drake said some other wild, disrespectful shit about his scar and his face. Your baby mama didn't post your single. Where's she at? I was talking about Drake's Rocky again when the. The album came out. And it's. I guess I didn't clock this, but I guess Rihanna didn't post his single. Yeah, just a pretty crazy level of vitriol and hate for that man that is. Is actually quite insane. They really, really do. Not with each other. But, yeah, that was the crux and the meat of my Iceman review. I'm happy that this. It's not over. It'll never be over, but I'm happy we're at this phase in the fallout where we get finished albums from both of these artists, all three. I'll throw a Cole in there as well, where it seems like we can. At least now we have, like, the hardened shell of what this is. And now anything that we build from here will build up. And now we're seeing, like Drake says in the line here, you know, like he said on Make Them Cry, what died back in 2004 was a big piece. You know, y' all kept asking me what it did to me. This is what it did to me. This is it. This is what it did to him. And if you like what the beef did to Drake, if you like this album, then in turn you like what the beef did to Drake. I do like what this beef did to Drake. I'm also not here to be like, thank you, Kendra, for pissing off Drake. We didn't need Ken, we didn't need Kendrick to make Drake mad, to make great music. I think that's evident. It's been evident throughout the course of his career. But this, this is this. If this is what Drake's career looks like following the Beef, then so be it. I'm very happy. I am quite curious to see if Drake will tour this and how he will tour this, because again, we're looking at three different albums. I do want to see also, will Drake do any press or Will he have anything to say? I do. I think he needs to do that. No. I think Drake really very well lyrically laid out how he feels in every one of these songs. In particular, the make them Records. If you just go through Iceman and listen to those make them records in a row, I'm telling you, you get a whole different picture. I kind of look at that. Those records like the scary hours of this album. But will he do an interview? Selfishly, I would love for have him do one. Does he owe us any interview or any more content? Not at all. But this is Drake and he himself knows that he can't stay away, which is why we love him so much. So that being said. Oh, who am I? Knicks play tonight. Go Nicks. It's game one of the Eastern Conference finals. We are at home. We have home court advantage again. Two years in a row with home court advantage. We're not going to talk about last year's results. I feel very good about this series. I wanted Cleveland over Detroit. I think we will. I don't think we'll win. I know we'll win. I just. It's a matter of how many games. I would love to say five, probably six. What's important is we win tonight the day this episode comes out and then we can drop a game at home. We need to win the first two at home. Our guys have all rested. I believe. It hasn't been officially reported yet. I'm sure by the time this comes out it will. That OG Anunoby is either playing tonight or he's not. But I'm. I'm thrilled to be. To be a Knicks fan and to be in the city during this time and to watch some. Some great playoff basketball. SGA won another mvp. I don't feel the way about it. It is crazy that Jokic did average a triple double in loss and he's been playing out of his mind. But different era of basketball. For some reason, SGA's got the sauce that all the. The voters seem to be, you know, preferring at this time. But hey, it's going to be a brutal playoff from here on out and I have a lot of faith in our guys and. Let's go, Knicks. All right, guys, this was episode 59 of Something Wrong with the podcast. My big time, heavy time iceman review and a little bit of Knicks love at the end. All right, everybody. Enjoy your week. It's hot as in New York. Crank your ac. We're all gonna die in a year anyways. Let it fly. Love you all Bye.
- [50:35]
C
Do you love your pets? Do you love suspense? Do you love it when your pets keep you in suspense because they ate something mysterious? And who knows what the vet visit will cost if you answered yes twice and then no? You should protect your pet with Lemonade Pet Insurance. It can save you up to 90% on vet bills for checkups, emergencies, diagnostics, all the stuff that leaves you financially on the edge of your seat. Get a quick and Easy quote@lemonade.com pet and get your suspense somewhere else, like from a riveting podcast.