Drake

Nothing Was The Same (Young Money/Cash Money Entertainment)

15/20

There are two conflicting notions at war on Nothing Was The Same. The first is Drake’s success and wealth. Tracks like Tuscan Leather and Pound Cake/ Paris Morton Music are near-humorless excursions of braggery that feel slick and polished due to Noah ’40’ Shebib’s idiosyncratic, seductive production. Then there’s other side of Drake’s persona – the heartache-prone softie with schmaltzy breakup lyricism, the guy who looked straight down the lens on Fallon and addressed his family before performing – that gets mocked so heavily on the internet, but also gained arena-filling status. It’s these two identities that make Drake such a polarizing character, and make NWTS such an intriguing listen, despite its missteps.

Some of real highlights on this record are when Drake just raps. Tuscan Leather and Sampha-featuring album highlight Too Much are testament to his distinctive flow, which feels more galvanised when it’s the subject of strained family relations than when he’s reminiscing about romances-gone-by. His lyrics have always had an arresting quality, be but there’s plenty of lines here (“Girl don’t treat me like a stranger / You know I seen you naked”, for example), that feel a little Drake-by-numbers. One real victory of this LP is 40’s production. His sound has grown up with Drake and if it wasn’t for the duo’s mutual loyalty, their formula wouldn’t have blossomed into such a distinctive sound.

Taking the piss out of Drake is still a fun and very easy thing to do, and this album won’t be the record that silences the haters. But you couldn’t accuse his persona as being one dimensional. On Furthest Thing, he claims to be “Somewhere between psychotic and iconic/Somewhere between I want it and I got it”, and it’s among these grey areas where Drake has his moments of genius.

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Words: Duncan Harrison