Its about the music.

“I will say again that I am out of the loop on the attraction to Drake. Maybe you had to be a Degrassi fan to get it”

- No you have to listen to his music to get it

Of course he has the right idea. I don’t understand how artists can think we’ll pay for recorded content. Concerts are where its at. I didnt buy a single Lil Wayne album, but when he stopped by my hometown I went to see it, $100 later and Weezy made more off me than he would of if I just bought his discs.

As for Drake, your article is useless, you don’t speak to his music once. You state all the things he’s done EXCEPT make hot music. Why does an artist have to drop an official album to get hype? He’s got a few tapes, lots of hot music, blowing NY up and its cause of his music man, his music.

I feel like I’m going off on a Iverson-esqu rant about ‘music’. But the hype about Drake is justified in my opinion, and shows how you can use the internet as a medium to distribute good music. The catch is, if the music isn’t good, the Internets don’t like it. Its not like the old days where you buy albums and are limited to what you can hear. Different music is a click away, and people are clicking on Drake’s music, you should give it a try.

One

For the record: The fact that I’m not a big fan of Drake is irrelevant. If you like him, you should listen to him.

My point was that he has a fantastic marketing scheme and I wonder how this is going to change the way that new artists break into the game.

I am not sure how I feel about Drake either, I’ve listened to his mixtape, sometimes he drops a hot verse, then sometimes hes singing R&B which isn’t terrible, but something about it doesn’t make me get hype.
Maybe I don’t get his style yet, or maybe its just me.

Drake appeals to females, plain and simple.. Dudes buy tickets for females, and he sells out. I real don’t have any other explanation LOL.

You talk about labels taking advantage of artists and some percieved “label push” – it hasn’t even been varified whether Drake has signed to Interscope yet, his buzz has been built purely on the acclaim and popularity of his last two mixtapes, which are better than 95 percent of the albums being released in the last few years.

I wouldn’t give dude a listen cause of his ties with Weezy. One day I don’t know why I just randomly got the urge to check him out and downloaded his first 2 mixtapes and was pretty impressed, so I got my hands on the new one where he sings more and has really grown as a song writer. Homies a beast for real. The first 3 tracks on So Far Gone are back to back to back dynamiticity.

Since when is it a bad thing that an artist has a name before getting signed? Shouldn’t it be the goal for an artist to have some material and hustle hard before labels come to him? Im totally missing what him being from Canada or anything else you stated has to do with him getting so much attention. Its 2009 and if you learn anything from our previous election, the nets are powerful! Wale, Mickey Factz and a host of the other Freshmen class can attest to that.

Im not going to get on you for not listening to his music because B.O.B is hyped up and I have yet to listen to his music. But I disagree with you making it seem like its a bad thing to be recognized w/o being signed; his music is that good!

His singing is for the girls, i agree. But did anyone hear his verse on ignorant shit? dude is a monster when he spits too

@Nahshown

Theres no issue if people don’t like an artist, if you’ve listened to the music. I know people have different tastes, some people think a dudes nice, not everyone agrees. But, you if you wanna critique Drake, say you don’t get they hype, thats not genuine if you cant talk about his music.

http://blogofawesomeness.com/04/23/a-message-from-drake-to-all-his-haters/ …A message from Drake to all the haters

i think its just that he’s a light skinned brother who is a better rapper than most. the girlies want tot ouch his man meat.

[...] joined the team last week and he’s already stirring up a ruckus. Nay loves hip-hop. He’s a talented writer. And he doesn’t mind coloring outside the [...]

This “Nahshon” guy is a real joke. I can’t believe The Rap Up wants him to write for them.

Drake’s appeal is that he’s the fusion of Auto-Tuned Kanye & Wayne.

I agree with rapped up andrew….

and shit like this is why The Rap Up is the most overlooked blog on the uproxx blogisphere

go benoit yourself nahshon.

If asking honest questions about the hype behind a new artist (as opposed to jumping on his bandwagon because it’s the cool thing to do) is the reason you’re sleeping on The Rap Up, please go back to bed. I’ve read Nahshon’s post 25 times and still cannot for the life of me figure out why people are outraged. Nahshon is entitled to his opinion. If you want unbridled praise for Drake, I suggest you visit his fan site.

I don’t know about being outraged at Nahshon…its just there needs to be a little more evidence to support the line of thinking. Drake is Canada-based…so is Kardinal…Drake might not be signed and doesn’t have an LP…a bigger question might be why Asher Roth who had no previous works is so hyped? At the end of the day there it either a gimmick or the quality of the product that is pushing the demand that you see. So then that begs the question is it marketing or is it the music? I’d have to say for Drake its the music – I know people who don’t know what he looks like, or where he’s from but when they hear “Best I Ever Had” or “Uptown” they go nuts.

So I get the point…the span of influence of major labels is shrinking…hype is created without a big machine behind an artist now…but the question that wasn’t considered in this article was whether it was a classic case of people LOVING the music.

(FYI…I have no idea why people are outraged, but anyway I’m cosigning with Cathryn on this one)

My last post on this…

1. Never said that I don’t listen to the music. I listen to all of the music that I can get my hands on, because its something that I’m serious about.

2. Hype is not a bad thing. This post was more of a nod to Drake for being a guy who was smart about his marketing and completely circumvented the traditional route in the game.

3. KThundo: what did Drake do for you that got you so defensive about the perceived diss?

4. Maybe you should tone down your online bravado since a quick google search of your name features you getting sonned all over town.
TSS- April 15th, 2009
NahRight – April 16th, 2009
NappyAfro – December 10, 2008

I agree with the writer. I’ve listened to some of his music and can say he is unique in the game. He is by no means wack but I’m not a huge fan. Not hating though. From the way his internet buzz looks, seems like he will have big sales in his debut. I’m more of a Cudi fan.

The reason people are mad at this post is because the writer is talking about his hype being based off of Degrassi and Wayne. Those are good help, but his hype is based off of his ability.

Cudi has a Kanye cosign and no one questions the hype on him. People who listen to him know it’s based on his music.

Drake is way more talented than Cudi IMO, and his hype is a result of that. He sings and Raps, and all of his skills as a artist are what the hypes about, not just because of a Wayne cosign. Yeah, that helped put him on, but if thats all you need then why dont we see tyga tickets for 250 on craigslist?

Drake is unbelievably skilled and people recognize that. Thats what the hype is from, plain and simple.

I *get* where Nashon was coming from but the reality is the hype about Drake stemmed from the fact that many felt a connection to the music.

I didn’t understand the De La Soul comparison. Reason being that: 1. De La Soul doesn’t have new music out right now at the moment 2. Their days of popularity on the mainstream scene are gone…this is not a bad thing necessarily just like I don’t expect the Rolling Stones to have a #1 hit anymore..De La to me has been there and done that, nothing to prove. Drake on the other hand is relatively new and has 3 mixtapes to his name.

I felt the De La insert could almost be perceived as some sort of slight towards Drake. It’s not his fault that ppl aren’t buying De La tickets. It can mean something else. De La for one are hardly visible in today’s world of ppl with short attention spans.

The De La comparison is valid. People are going to see a show with a guy that has nothing but mixtape tracks while De La has 20+ years of music.

I just heard of Drake recently and I gotta say he’s a lot better than the other hype machined new jacks.

Even if he’s done several mixtapes, I feel like Drake kinda just came out of nowhere. Next thing you know, blogs and MTV are talking about him and doing features – and cats are handing over the game to him off the strength of his buzz. It definitely feels manufactured to me personally, and if that is the case I can understand people getting turned off.

However, esbee brings up a good point. The hiphop fan is so fickle that we check for what’s now and nothing else. Now, it is unfair to dismiss a guy like Drake who a) definitely has talent and b) was creative in how he marketed himself and c) dropped a hotter mixtape than most albums released in 2009 – but when legendary acts are having problems selling out their shows you have to wonder if the game is really THAT messed up right now. There’s just no balance between what’s current and the foundation upon what today’s music is built on. Drake selling out shows isn’t a problem to me, but De La struggling to do so has to be alarming to cats, no?

drake is a monster.

so what if hip-hop fans don’t care about IRRELEVANT “legends?”

those “legends” need to make some good music. cranking out the same ol bullshit is not going to win over new fans and their old fans are like “i heard that already.”

drake is something fresh and futuristic, and that’s what it is.

anybody ahead of the curve will see good results.

good article; you didnt’ suck him up and you didn’t hate on him.

[...] Boo seems to be in agreement with Nahshon when it comes to Drizzy [...]

The Drizzy One!!!!
For them haters, listen to Ransom, Forever DOPE Shit

I’m Still FLyyy then talk!