One of the most influential mixtapes in hip hop history, So Far Gone, turned 10-years-old today. That mixtape turned Aubrey Graham, a TV actor that only teenage girls were moderately aware of, into Drizzy Drake, one of the hottest rappers in the world that lit the charts on fire before ultimately joining forces with Lil Wayne.
This may have been one of those instances where an album hits you at just the right time. At 19 years old, experiencing living on your own, meeting new people, drinking a bit too much, beginning and ending relationships, Drake struck a chord with me as a college kid.
I’ll never forget back in late 2008 when I was a sophomore in college and our school sent around a questionnaire asking which artist we’d like to see perform at the spring concert. Well Drake was on that list and I vividly remember saying we need to book this guy now because he is about to blow up and that’ll be the end of liberal arts college concerts for Drake.
Naturally the school went in another direction and a few months later Drake dropped So Far Gone.
Off that mixtape Drake released the singles Best I Ever Had, which went double Platinum, and Successful, which hit No. 17 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Off a mixtape. You just didn’t see mixtape music cut into the mainstream like that in 2009. Featuring collabs with guys like Trey Songz, Lloyd, Omarion, Bun B, and of course Lil Wayne, So Far Gone put Drake on the map. Complex ranked it the fifth best mixtape of the decade.
A few months after that Drake dropped one of the biggest rap collabs of all time with Forever featuring Lil Wayne, Kanye West, and Eminem.
If So Far Gone put Drizzy on the map, Forever turned him into the biggest star on the planet. Drake wouldn’t even drop his debut album Thank Me Later until the following summer in 2010 so he’s come a looong way.
You see successful unsigned artists everywhere these days, with Chance the Rapper being the most prominent, but Drake was the first to not only crack into the mainstream, but become the biggest thing in music, all without a deal. He did this obviously with excellent music featuring some big name collabs, but the guy built a bigger buzz on the still emerging social media platforms unlike any artist had before him.
So I’ve always been bummed I missed out on seeing Drake before he became the mega star that he is today, but I did finally get to see a Drizzy show when he was at the garden in 2018.
We’re quickly nearing the end of December, which means 2018 is already coming to a close somehow. Naturally, that means it’s time for year end lists! With everyone on the internet posting Spotify analytics of what they listened to all year long I figured it was only appropriate to break down the best music of the year…according to me. Full disclosure, this list definitely skews heavier into hip hop than your traditional year end best of list, but hey we started #RushHourRap so what else did you expect? Without further ado, I give you my Top 5 Albums of 2018.
J Cole – KOD
One of the year’s truly most unexpected and experimental heaters of an album. J. Cole dropped “KOD” from the cloud’s, which more and more artists are doing these days, and I cannot believe how Cole continues to hit it out of the park. Kids on Drugs, King Overdose, and Kill Our Demons are the three different meanings of that album title, according to Cole himself.
In succession he has released “Cole World: The Sideline Story,” “Born Sinner,” “2014 Forest Hills Drive,” “4 Your Eyez Only,” and now “KOD.” Mind you, these FIVE albums came directly on the heels of “Friday Night Lights” and “The Warmup,” which in my opinion is the greatest mixtape ever released not named “Da Drought 3.”
Granted a couple of the songs came dangerously close to overkill, which only the likes of Fall Out Boy and Dane Cook have seen as the NBA Playoffs ABUSED the usage of “KOD” in commercials.
Seriously, remember how badly MLB drove that 2007 Dane Cook commercial into the ground?
Fittingly released on 4/20, this is Cole’s first foray into a legitimate concept album as the entire collection is about drug abuse, addiction, greed, and our own demons. It’s a bit of a paradox as “KOD” sounds like an album promoting the typical rap pillars (money, women, drugs), while actually doing the opposite as Cole slips in some mature tidbits of advice for those struggling with these vices.
Without the drugs I want you be comfortable in your skin I know you so I know you still keep a lot of shit in You running from yourself and you buying product again I know you say it helps and no I’m not trying to offend But I know depression and drug addiction don’t blend
I understand this message is not the coolest to say But if you down to try it I know of a better way Meditate
Best Track: FRIENDS
The 1975 – A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships
This really is an incredible album coming out at the perfect time. With anyone and everyone suffering from anxiety, depression, and general insecurity, a lot of people blame social media. Everyone is fronting, showing you the highlights of their lives so you end up scrolling through news feeds of hundreds of people you “know” seemingly doing better than you, looking better than you, making more money than you. It’s easy to see how that can screw with your head. “Modernity has failed us” is one of the most quotable, appropriate lyrics I’ve heard in a long time. These technological advancements that were meant to bring us all closer together have ironically ended up making us feel more isolated than ever before. The 1975 have always been out there, experimental, and straight up weird at times, but more often than not it just works. This album is no exception as it truly is a genre-bending collection of music featuring tracks from pop to rock to jazz to electronica and everything in between.
“Brief Inquiry is a vivid and panoramic record about what it means to be alive right now, in all its terror and glory. Its explorations of technology-induced numbness put into relief the human joy of reconnecting to another person, or maybe just oneself.”
Best Track: Love It If We Made It
Kanye West & Kid Cudi – Kids See Ghosts
Kanye has had a whirlwind year of borderline schizophrenic behavior primarily around his thoughts on politics and his support of a polarizing president. After misguided outbursts on TMZ, the bizarre sit down/press conference with Trump, and his trademark rants on Twitter it seems like Yeezy finally realized it may be best to just sit the next few plays out.
This didn’t slow down his music production though as Kanye dropped 2 albums this year, with a third one due in November that was recently delayed. The first album he released this year, “ye,” was one that despite mixed reviews I really enjoyed. “Ye” is admittedly a weird Kanye album made for Kanye stans. If you’re not a huge Kanye guy I can see how you’d trash it. I think the biggest shortcoming of that album is that it seems more like a mixtape without any rhyme or reason as to why these songs were selected and put together in the first place. But his second album of the year was a collaboration with old friend Kid Cudi called “KIDS SEE GHOSTS.” Kanye and Cudi go way back having worked together on a number of hits over the years, including All of the Lights, Erase Me, and Welcome to Heartbreak. It’s a fascinating duet as both Kanye and Cudi have publicly struggled with depression and overall mental health with Cudi actually checking himself into rehab. So seeing these two rap about the issues that have plagued them over the years is definitely worth a listen. While this isn’t “Watch the Throne”it’s definitely an awesome collab album with Cudi’s trademark melancholy rhymes helping to level out Kanye’s outlandishness.
“For fans who’ve watched Cudi and Kanye’s relationship evolve from 2008 — from mentor and protégé to adversaries to equals — the announcement of the pair’s joint effort was supposed to be a dream-team rap fantasy come true. In the aftermath of ye, an album currently atop the Billboard 200 but also a mid-year front runner for most polarizing project of 2018, Kids See Ghosts acts as a bewildered fan’s contextual roadmap, providing some clarity for ye and giving an update on Cudi’s mental state.”
Best Track: Reborn
Mac Miller – Swimming
Different than anything Mac Miller had ever put out before, Swimming is a collection of dark, depressing songs wrapped in slow, soft ballads. It’s an album that deals with Mac’s struggle with drugs, loneliness, and love. If it sounds like a movie you’ve already seen thats because it is. Vice points out:
“It’s lucid and lush, brushed with rich sounds assembled using the help of Jon Brion, the composer of Eternal Sunshine and The Spotless Mind, one of Miller’s favorite films.”
It’s an incredibly haunting album in hindsight considering Mac overdosed just a month after its release. RIP Mac. Vice continues;
“it’s a dark record wrapped in light and airy packaging, where its contents are someone looking for freedom in becoming resigned to their sadness, hoping they will soon overcome it—to be better.”
Best Track: Self Care
Kyle – Light of Mine
I know this one is coming out of left field as most of you have probably never heard a Kyle song aside from his collab with Lil Yachty on “I Spy” that popped over the summer. But this is an artist who has quietly and methodically been putting out incredible work for the past 5 years across 3 records. After various mixtapes and indy work, “Light of Mine” is his debut studio album. The self dubbed “beautiful loser,” Kyle raps about everything from video games, and his struggles with women, to growing up as an outcast in the age of hyper-emphasized popularity with social media. “Light of Mine” takes it to another level that is reminiscent of “Thank Me Later” Drake as Kyle croons over incredibly catchy beats with a few A-list features (2 Chainz, Khalid) thrown in for good measure.
2016 hit me like a bag o’ bricks (yup) 2017 switched up, like ooh it’s lit (it’s lit) I nearly had a mental breakdown And eight months later had a hit I guess life is like box a chocolates, huh You never know what you finna get
Best Track: Ups & Downs
That’s it. That’s the Top 5 albums of the year as determined by me. Love it? Hate it? Want me to curate an entire playlist for the soundtrack to your life? Tweet @the300sboston and let me know what you think.
Complex – Pusha-T claims he actually first learned of Drake‘s son, which he then mentioned in his “Story of Adidon” diss track, thanks to Noah “40” Shebib.
First a quick history lesson.
Almost all blue-blooded Americans know the story of the Watergate Scandal, the saga of corruption and unethical behavior that brought down President Richard M. Nixon. Most, although I would guess less so, also know Nixon was exposed in large part by two young investigative journalists, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who gained most of their information from a mysterious source they communicated with in clandestine meetings and referred to as “Deep Throat”. It was either before porn took off or people had any sense of what a good BJ was, not sure which. Either way I doubt it caused as much of a giggle fest back then. Anyway, “Deep Throat”, as some suspected, finally revealed himself in 2005 to be Mark Felt, the 2nd in command of the FBI at the time of the Watergate Scandal. Pretty big news.
Now, acclaimed rapper, former dealer, Drake hater. and possible crazy person Pusha T has come out and stated that he had his own Deep Throat. What’s more, Push claims that it was not Kanye West who spilled the beans about Drake’s love child, as Aubrey claimed to some fuckboy in a barber shop, but that it was Drake’s right hand man and producer, Noah “40” Shebib. Ouch.
Now I don’t know if this was true, and even if it was how much malice was behind it. I don’t think anyone, including Wheelchair Jimmy, knew Pusha T had beef with Drake before he dropped a random diss track.
Maybe even 40 was tipsy and let it slip, not thinking it was the deep dark secret Drake made it out to be. I mean really it is his fault. He’s fucking Drake. This was going to come out. Why even bother try and hide it?
Maybe just maybe, though, this is as nasty as it sounds. Drake has been using some other producers, trying some new stuff. I’d even be lying if I said I didn’t miss “Thank Me Later” and “So Far Gone” -era Drizzy. It’s possible 40 took exception to that. It’s also possible he took A LOT of exception to that. We’ll know soon enough.
Either way loyalty is dead. Vinateri went to the Colts. Johnny Damon and his noodle arm went to the Yankees. Now 40 has turned his back, possibly, on Drake. The biggest split in music since Lennon and McCartney.
I was at TD Garden on Saturday night when Drake finished off his concert that had already featured him rocking a glow in the dark bullet proof vest, a floating Lamborghini, and a Tron-style basketball court with Terry Rozier, before he finished it off by bringing out his former rap beef nemesis Meek Mill. The roof blew off as people went ape shit while Meek rapped Dreams and Nightmares to the sold out crowd and it. was. awesome.
I was at TD Garden on Saturday night when @Drake finished off his show by bringing out his former rap beef nemesis @MeekMill. The roof was blown off as people went ape shit while Meek rapped Dreams and Nightmares to the sold out crowd and it. was. awesome. #RushHourRappic.twitter.com/Bjj6xpMd7x
People forget that Meek and Drake used to work together a lot with songs like Amen and RICO.
If we’re being honest here, I never stopped liking Meek Mill. Even when he was getting body bagged by Drake. When Back to Back dropped in 2016 it was probably a top 3-5 diss track that was legit getting played on the radio. It was superb; the perfect diss track. It essentially buried Meek in the public eye plus he then went to jail not long after that so he was out of sight for a while. Meek of course recently got out of the clinker with a little help from none other than Mr. Robert Kraft, which was ironic because Meek’s music was basically the theme song for the Eagles ripping out the Patriots’ hearts in Super Bowl LII.
But if we’re being honest here, I never stopped liking Meek. The dude has put out some bangers and I think a lot of people forgot just how good he is after the Drake beef. It was too easy to clown Meek and forget about jams like
Monster
Ooh Kill Em
Levels
So I just hope now that Drake has buried the hatchet with Meek the rest of us can all openly admit how much we enjoy Meek’s music.
The 300s 