Nothing Was The Same

I wasn’t a fan of Drake until this past summer. Frankly, I hated his music. I thought his voice was annoying. I didn’t like his world view. I thought it was ridiculous that a guy named Aubrey who was on a teen soap opera thought he could rap.

But once I got past his strange path to music, I realized that hip-hop’s unlikeliest superstar was making captivating music. Drake can’t decide if he wants to be a singer or a rapper, but instead of this leading to inconsistency, it showcases his versatility.

Strengthened by production from Noah “40” Shebib, his right hand man, Drake’s body of work is well-rounded and solid. He continues this trend on “Nothing Was The Same,” his third LP.

Opener “Tuscan Leather” is a two-parter, and one of the strongest tracks on the album. Drake takes a page from Kanye West’s book in the track’s introduction, using a sped-up sample. 40 puts his own touch on the beat by playing the sample backwards.

Drake raps “I could go an hour on this beat,” but two minutes in, a cassette tape player clicks and transforms the triplet-based beat to one that’s all thumping, banging hip-hop.

40 has made a name for himself on Drake’s records by formulating hazy, trippy R&B beats to showcase Drake’s often melancholic raps. And that’s how “Furthest Thing” starts out. “The furthest thing from perfect / Like everyone I know,” he raps. But the album’s second track is also a two-parter, and the last minute is an exercise in neo-soul from 40 as Drake goes full braggadocio.

Following this is the excellent lead single “Started from the Bottom,” from which Drake launched yet another pop culture catch phrase. Nowhere else is the album as good as this opening stretch, but “Nothing Was The Same” still has successful moments around its midsection.

As he’s done before, Drake mixes hip-hop and R&B on this album. There are pure rap tracks, like “Worst Behavior,” where Drake sticks it to everyone who has called him “soft” over an eclectic, clickety beat. On “The Language,” he sing-raps with the same flow he used on Migos’  “Versace.”

Songs like “From Time,” with its beautiful hook sung by Jhene Aiko, fall near the R&B side of the spectrum. On second single “Hold On We’re Going Home,” Drake nails the nuances of the late-1990s R&B sound in the spirit of his idol Aaliyah. It’s a brilliant track, and one of the best in Drake’s entire catalog.

“Too Much” has the classic Drake sound. The album’s penultimate track features a jazzy piano chord progression, over which Sampha sings a soulful, yet trippy hook. From the opening millisecond of the first piano chord, it’s clear that this is a Drake song. But that’s not to say it’s unoriginal. The hook and the spacey beat make it one of the album’s best tracks.

It’s unfortunate that Drake chose to add “Pound Cake / Paris Morton Music 2” after “Too Much.” The quoted sample of Wu-Tang Clan’s “C.R.E.A.M.” is off-putting, and it’s made much, much worse by a terrible verse from Jay-Z.

Despite its frustrating closer, “Nothing Was The Same” is a satisfying release. It might not be as much fun right away or have as many great songs as 2011’s “Take Care,” but that album was longer. With time, this album will show just as much lasting power as Drake’s previous releases.

“Nothing Was The Same” is one of the best rap releases of 2013 so far, but it begs one question. When will Drake take the leap from consistent rapper to great pop star? 2013 isn’t his year for this, but it remains to be seen if he is willing and able to rise to that challenge.