Scorpion (Abridged)
Description
Quickstats
Playlist Length
0 days, 0 hours, 35 minutes
Playlist Followers
7
Source
Playlist Last Updated
Unknown
Mood
Mixed Mood
Track Popularity Rating
Deep
Style
Varied
Average Release Decade
2010s
Main Genre:
Hip Hop
Reddit Info
Reddit Post
This is a long-ass review. But it's a long-ass album, so fuck it. TL;DR *Scorpion* gives Rapper Drake and Singer Drake each their own album’s worth of spotlight; neither really shines through. *Bias alert: I'm not a Drake* **fan** *per se, though nor am I a Drake* **hater**, *either. Rather, I'd say I'm a Drake* **realist** *(I know that sounds pretentious as hell, but bear with me.) I don't think he's the mortal vessel of some Shakespeare/Tupac hybrid reincarnation that his most loyal Stans seem to worship him as, nor do I think he's merely an industry-planted hack with no lyrical ability, like his most fervent detractors swear he is. I think he's a consistently above average rapper, who occasionally has flashes of true greatness. The Kevin Love of hip hop. It's hard to argue he's not usually amongst the Top 10 MCs in the game.* Twenty-five songs. *25 whole-ass songs for one album.* That means at some point, Drake & Friends had 20, 21, *22, 23, 24 songs on deck*, And each time they looked around amongst themselves and thought, “Y'know what?....Not enough.” The nerve...the Aubracity. More than half of the songs on this album are just wholly unnecessary, mostly through redundancy. And I can't help but feel like their inclusion is primarily a business decision in regards to the economics of music streaming, as opposed to an actual artistic imperative. Through dozens of songs, Drake paints himself as a provider, loyal friend, musical/business maverick, and selfless lover, who is nonetheless beset by countless attacks on his work and character for reasons of no more merit than reflexive jealousy, baseless malice, or neglectful indifference. There's nothing inherently wrong with talking about this; the problem is talking it *to death*. And I feel like this is a growing phenomenon in hip-hop: If you dedicate most of an album to talking about how you don't give a fuck about what the haters say...the irony of such shows through quite easily. In *Scorpion*, haters are essentially Drake's “fake news": a dog-whistle meant to distract and inspire attack and bolster defensiveness amongst one’s followers to criticism of their faultless leader. The intention of this dogmatic theme was presumably to conjure up a picture similar to *Henry IV’s* “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown" speech: a noble man on an even nobler mission being weighed down by the envy, ignorance and hatred of both those he opposes and those he aims to protect and empower. But honestly, it feels more like watching the titular character of *Scarface* in the restaurant and hot-tub scenes: an imaginary Mark of Cain burning on the back of his neck, urging him into self-exile to escape persecution; going home to wallow in an ornate pool bubbling with arrogance and self-pity. Remember the “King Kong” scene from Training Day? Just in case, [here it is...]( https://youtu.be/6KrNpxODiDA) ...and you just did a speedrun through Side A of *Scorpion*. **“Don't push me when I'm in album mode” was initially considered a threat; in retrospect, it seems more like a plea.** Not so much a prime heavyweight champ taunting contenders, as a middle-aged golfer asking for peace and quiet while he makes a pivotal putt. He *needs* absolute focus, because any outside distraction or self-doubt will throw his game off. That tittering hi-hats, stomping bass, and menacing melody combination that was prototypical of trap, has successfully bled into mainstream hip hop, and is now a shorthand for the generic songs of the era; almost akin to how the background characters are drawn in an anime--just enough effort put in to make them identifiable in their appropriate category, but not nearly enough to make them memorable. When you're listening to the work of whom many consider a world-class rapper and his production staff, you expect them to attain a certain level of distinctiveness and quality that's beyond the reach of the average SoundCloud producer. (Side B) *“Treat you like princess/Rest in heaven, Diana...”* Pause. Eyes close, fingers pinch the bridge of my nose. A deep sigh. “Drake really is the type of nigga to hold open automatic doors for women because he doesn’t want anything slowing them down in life...” I think to myself. Side B is when Drake attempts to go into Lothario mood and swoon us home with his R&B laced lamentations on the endless complications of love, including infatuation, limerence, consummation, and eventual dissatisfaction. Once again, there is nothing wrong with focusing on this subject matter; if that were the case, the entire genre of R&B would be artistically invalid. But the songs just feel empty, and are lacking in cohesion. It feels like Drake is just giving us what we expect of Drake, rather than speaking as Aubrey through Drake. And I hope this isn’t coming off like a psychoanalysis, because I don’t know this man. This is just the vibe I pick up from the music and the things surrounding it. Anyway, I listened to “Summer Games", and my immediate thought was *This man is really coming for Taylor Swift’s turf, isn't he?”* Hey, someone's gotta give 12-year-old white girls in Idaho something to bump on those long, dark summer night drives. If anything, I thought the sleeper hit of the album was going to be “After Dark”. Is it just me, or does Ty Dolla $ign seem physically incapable of delivering a bad feature? Similar to Kanye (in reference to his recent album *Ye*), it seems as if the ever-growing force of social media has begun to weigh down on Drake, as well. Usually, he brushes it off as the same envious hate and fake love he's always admonished. But it's actually through this theme that one of the most poignant moments in the album comes: in the second half of “Emotionless”’s second verse, Drake paints a very vivid picture of the deleterious effect social media has on our personal sense of fulfillment. It's one of the few times in the entire work that Drake analyzes people’s behavior outside of his enemy/fake friend/temporary lover schema. This. This the Drake that his Stans go on and on about in defense and praise of him. If he'd managed to stretch and transmute this Drake out appropriately into 25 songs while still maintaining the upbeat, commercially-minded elements of the album, we'd have an instant classic on our hands. But instead, we have the “In My Feelings” challenge. **The quality of Scorpion juxtaposition with its commercial and social success is indicative of Drake's near-peerless level of star power.** Drake doesn't even *have* to make good music anymore, because simply by being Drake, *he makes music good.* A walking Marvel movie. He’s essentially become hip-hop’s Adele: One or two chart-topping hits a year, and enough media love and social clout to instantly catapult himself into the headlines at/against his will (I damn near thought Drake was *playing* for the Raptors this year)..all culminating in a largely forgettable album. A high-selling, record-breaking album, mind you. But if first-day sales/streams are that important, Vanilla Ice is a GOAT. I’m just saying, I don't think it would be hard to argue that “In My Feelings" wouldn't have gone viral had it been made Chris Brown, The Weeknd, Miguel, etc. *Scorpion* won't cause very many Drake acolytes to jump ship, but it certainly won't bring any fresh members along, either. It might be too harsh to say he sank, but it's a bold faced lie to say he swam. I picture flaring nostrils and a pointed mouth poking above the water, the rest treading below the surface. Pusha T really did fuck up this man's whole summer. 4.5/10 (6.5 with the fat cut off--a lot of fat). #Post-Review Stuff: ...And just to get it off my chest: Drake's baby mama is *not* ugly. For 95% of men on Earth, that's a damn good catch. The album is so overly-stretched, I made an abridged version that I think still maintains the integrity of the full body of work: Songs #1-3 handle the “Started from the bottom/Fuck the Haters" vibe; #4-7 take care of the celebration/ consummation/dissociation with women; and #8 & 9 address the controversy and acknowledgement of his son. Sandra's Rose God's Plan 8 Out of 10 Nice For What After Dark Finesse Don't Matter to Me Emotionless March 14 [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/user/iq0iivq79zwh52ivosgc1htwe/playlist/7BsZqMTWBScJCCk217OTJT?si=wLC_AT9JT5uLP4TOeX6XQA) [Tidal](http://tidal.com/playlist/526ce47d-15d2-4baf-9ac4-70a1c0cde218)
Upvotes
295
Subreddit
hiphopheads
Reddit Username
JamalBruh
Reddit Timestamp
6/29/19 11:30
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