FEATURED Mos Def: Drake Is Pop, Not Hip Hop

[grYmes]

There’s always been rappers that have crossed over to pop since the very beginning. Rather or not these are great rappers in a traditional sense depends on who you ask. Drake is a pop star, but he’s still a rapper & still makes hip hop music. Other artists from different genres have made pop music yet are still tied to what made them known in the first place. For some reason hip hop has always had a problem with that. I can separate my opinion that I haven’t really enjoyed a Drake album in over a decade with the fact that he’s still a hip hop artist. I dunno, maybe I just don’t take this shit as seriously as I once did cuz I was easily on the other side of the fence years ago.

 

[ChicagoFigure]

Drake is a pop star, but he’s still a rapper & still makes hip hop music.

It's really this simple. Idk why we always get caught up in it having to be one or the other.

 

[Dwayne]

It's really this simple. Idk why we always get caught up in it having to be one or the other.

Because Mos came off as a hater.

All he had to say is Drake makes all type of music and does not fit into one box

 

[Inori]

Because Mos came off as a hater.

All he had to say is Drake makes all type of music and does not fit into one box

Yeah you can tell Mos dont really fuck with Drake music like that artistically. He never said it was trash.. "It's likeable"

At the same time.. folks could be and have given Drake legit constructive criticism and like folks have said in here already.. if it aint ALL PRAISE his fans gonna scream "you a hater"

 

[PhenomTheMac]

"If you wanna listen to Drake music for the rest of your life—I welcome it, I want you to listen to it, I want you to be a part of it—just don’t ever be surprised when I’m singing or using melody. I’m doing that on this album. This album is not some straight rap album, I’ll never do a straight rap album. That’s not how I came into this and that’s never what I’ll do. I make songs for people. I have aspirations to be Marvin Gaye in the back of my head."

Drake Says he Has "Aspirations to be Marvin Gaye" and Will Never Make a Straight Up Rap Album

www.complex.com

He says it over and over and yall want to be delusional. He don't want to be a rapper. He just can't sing good enough lol. How yall saying he's hip hop when he keeps telling you he's not?

 

[VulcanRaven]

I mean he right. Drake is Hip-Pop

 

[BlackRain]

Yeah you can tell Mos dont really fuck with Drake music like that artistically. He never said it was trash.. "It's likeable"

At the same time.. folks could be and have givien Drake legit constructive criticism and like folks have said in here already.. if it aint ALL PRAISE his fans gonna scream "you a hater"

That's also true...but it doesn't make what Mos said a fact in terms of Drake not being hip hop. And it's stuff like that that gives Drake stans that extra battery. Shit even a few rappers people respect for their "classic hip hop" have disagreed with Mos already.

 

[BlackRain]

"If you wanna listen to Drake music for the rest of your life—I welcome it, I want you to listen to it, I want you to be a part of it—just don’t ever be surprised when I’m singing or using melody. I’m doing that on this album. This album is not some straight rap album, I’ll never do a straight rap album. That’s not how I came into this and that’s never what I’ll do. I make songs for people. I have aspirations to be Marvin Gaye in the back of my head."

Drake Says he Has "Aspirations to be Marvin Gaye" and Will Never Make a Straight Up Rap Album

www.complex.com

He says it over and over and yall want to be delusional. He don't want to be a rapper. He just can't sing good enough lol. How yall saying he's hip hop when he keeps telling you he's not?

Did he say he's not hip hop or that he's never going to make a straight up rap album? Because that's how he came into the game

 

[Inori]

That's also true...but it doesn't make what Mos said a fact in terms of Drake not being hip hop. And it's stuff like that that gives Drake stans that extra battery. Shit even a few rappers people respect for their "classic hip hop" have disagreed with Mos already.

fair.. microwave raps are still hip hop technically

 

[ZMaKEa]

Did he say he's not hip hop or that he's never going to make a straight up rap album? Because that's how he came into the game

Drake isn't Hip Hop, he just raps.

Lol, like I don't know how many times Drake gotta tell people that he has no aspirations of being a rapper.

Calling Drake Hip Hop is denying the tenets of Hip Hop culture that was established pre-commercialization.

If you wanna call Drake Hip Hop because he raps, then so is Kesha because she also rapped lol.

 

[ChicagoFigure]

"If you wanna listen to Drake music for the rest of your life—I welcome it, I want you to listen to it, I want you to be a part of it—just don’t ever be surprised when I’m singing or using melody. I’m doing that on this album. This album is not some straight rap album, I’ll never do a straight rap album. That’s not how I came into this and that’s never what I’ll do. I make songs for people. I have aspirations to be Marvin Gaye in the back of my head."

Drake Says he Has "Aspirations to be Marvin Gaye" and Will Never Make a Straight Up Rap Album

www.complex.com

He says it over and over and yall want to be delusional. He don't want to be a rapper. He just can't sing good enough lol. How yall saying he's hip hop when he keeps telling you he's not?

He's still a rapper who sings. Maybe Drake is the one that's delusional and we're all fighting bc of it

 

[OGDirtyD]

More dumb shit being said in this thread

 

[BlackRain]

Drake isn't Hip Hop, he just raps.

Lol, like I don't know how many times Drake gotta tell people that he has no aspirations of being a rapper.

Calling Drake Hip Hop is denying the tenets of Hip Hop culture that was established pre-commercialization.

If you wanna call Drake Hip Hop because he raps, then so is Kesha because she also rapped lol.

Drake isn't hip hop just because he raps. Even when he sings the structure of the songs from music to lyrics is still done in the style of rap music.

 

[ZMaKEa]

Drake isn't hip hop just because he raps. Even when he sings the structure of the songs from music to lyrics is still done in the style of rap music.

There are plenty of artists that rap that aren't Hip Hop.

The damn lead singer of Imagine Dragons raps.

When people say Drake isn't Hip Hop they aren't talking about rapping. They are talking about his ambitions, what he raps about, the spirit he goes about making music.

When Drake says shit like he wants awards for Pop music, he don't make songs for dusty niggas, he's chasing Michael or he imagines himself to be Marvin Gaye...he is clearly signaling that his aspirations ain't Hip Hop.

Lol, like this man has done everything he can do to break out of Hip Hop and not to be associated with it and to be associated with popular genres music.

His albums are closer in structure to Michael Jackson's of the 90s. You gonna have one song with bars, an RnB joint, an Afrobeat joint, a drill joint, a couple of bitches ain't shit songs of various moods, an interlude by a faceless RnB chick, a strip club joint, a battle of the sexes joint and a couple of female empowerment songs. There's something for everyone, no matter what kind of music they like.

That's not the structure of an album by a Hip Hop artist, that's called a Pop album, an Urban Contemporary album.

Lol like Post Malone does the same shit and nobody claims he is Hip Hop. He disassocisted himself Hip Hop the same way Drake has. But Hip Hop fans wanna claim Drake lol. Let him go.

 

[ChicagoFigure]

There are plenty of artists that rap that aren't Hip Hop.

The damn lead singer of Imagine Dragons raps.

When people say Drake isn't Hip Hop they aren't talking about rapping. They are talking about his ambitions, what he raps about, the spirit he goes about making music.

When Drake says shit like he wants awards for Pop music, he don't make songs for dusty niggas, he's chasing Michael or he imagines himself to be Marvin Gaye...he is clearly signaling that his aspirations ain't Hip Hop.

Lol, like this man has done everything he can do to break out of Hip Hop and not to be associated with it and to be associated with popular genres music.

His albums are closer in structure to Michael Jackson's of the 90s. You gonna have one song with bars, an RnB joint, an Afrobeat joint, a drill joint, a couple of bitches ain't shit songs of various moods, an interlude by a faceless RnB chick, a strip club joint, a battle of the sexes joint and a couple of female empowerment songs. There's something for everyone, no matter what kind of music they like.

That's not the structure of an album by a Hip Hop artist, that's called a Pop album, an Urban Contemporary album.

Lol like Post Malone does the same shit and nobody claims he is Hip Hop. He disassocisted himself Hip Hop the same way Drake has. But Hip Hop fans wanna claim Drake lol. Let him go.

All I get from this is he's a hip hop artist/rapper who wants his success to transcend all genres.

At the end of the day he's still a pop star rapper.

Post Malone has literally turned into a guy who gets sent songs to record.

The guy from imagine dragons might "rap" but he doesn't make hip hop music.

 

[ZMaKEa]

All I get from this is he's a hip hop artist/rapper who wants his success to transcend all genres.

At the end of the day he's still a pop star rapper.

Post Malone has literally turned into a guy who gets sent songs to record.

The guy from imagine dragons might "rap" but he doesn't make hip hop music.

Drake gets sent songs to record.

Travis Scott gets sent songs to record.

Kanye West gets sent songs to record.

Nicki Minaj gets sent songs to record.

Cardi B gets sent songs to record.

Not writing your own lyrics or having your own song ideas doesn't exclude someone from being a Hip Hop artist. Rapper's Delight was written by someone else.

Songwriters have existed in Hip Hop since the beginning of its commericalization.

At the highest levels of the music industry, very few people are sitting down and coming up with their own shit by themselves.

Drake had Lil Yachty writing for him this time around.

Y'all think Drake is a Hip Hop artist because he's Black.

Just like people think Michael Jackson is R&B.

Just like people thought Early Weeknd was R&B.

Just like people wanted call Fka Twigs R&B.


But they advocated that they make Pop music. The Weeknd called R&B niggas lame for a reason. He said the only thing R&B about him is his singing style for a reason.

Michael Jackson said he was the King of Pop for a reason.

They are not genre purists and they keep being pulled back down into genre ghettos that they obviously don't belong to but get associated with because they rap or sing a certain way.

Lol like Drake's albums never been 100 percent Hip Hop, never really had Hip Hop themes, but he's a Hip Hop artist because he raps...but so does Post Malone.

But Post Malone gets to be a Pop Star but Drake has to be associated with Hip Hop when he's made everything from drill to DanceHall? When the biggest songs he's known for internationally aren't really Hip Hop?

All because he raps and make Hip Hop songs?

Drake is an Urban Contemporary artist and a Pop Star.

 

[ChicagoFigure]

Drake gets sent songs to record.

Travis Scott gets sent songs to record.

Kanye West gets sent songs to record.

Nicki Minaj gets sent songs to record.

Cardi B gets sent songs to record.

Not writing your own lyrics or having your own song ideas doesn't exclude someone from being a Hip Hop artist. Rapper's Delight was written by someone else.

Songwriters have existed in Hip Hop since the beginning of its commericalization.

At the highest levels of the music industry, nobody is sitting down and coming up with their own shit.

Drake had Lil Yachty writing for him this time around.

Y'all think Drake is a Hip Hop artist because he's Black.

Just like people think Michael Jackson made R&B.

Just like people thought Early Weeknd was R&B.

Just like people wanted call Fka Twigs R&B.


But they advocated that they make Pop music. The Weeknd called R&B niggas lame for a reason. He said the only thing R&B about him is his singing style for a reason.

They are not genre purists and they keep being pulled back down into genre ghettos that they obviously don't belong too but get associated with because they rap or sing a certain way.

Lol like Drake's albums never been 100 percent Hip Hop, never really had Hip Hop themes, but he's a Hip Hop artist because he raps lol.

Not writing your lyrics doesn't exclude u I agree. But the music that they're reciting is what matters. R&b artists don't write much but it's still r&b music.

Post Malone at this point is just a pop artist.
The other artists u mentioned still make rap/hip hop music.

What I consider drake has nothing to do with his race, just his music.

And just rapping has nothing to do with it. Linkin Park had a rapper and a DJ that scratches. They still weren't a hip hop band.

 

[SeaSnake]

There’s always been rappers that have crossed over to pop since the very beginning. Rather or not these are great rappers in a traditional sense depends on who you ask. Drake is a pop star, but he’s still a rapper & still makes hip hop music. Other artists from different genres have made pop music yet are still tied to what made them known in the first place. For some reason hip hop has always had a problem with that. I can separate my opinion that I haven’t really enjoyed a Drake album in over a decade with the fact that he’s still a hip hop artist. I dunno, maybe I just don’t take this shit as seriously as I once did cuz I was easily on the other side of the fence years ago.

Facts I don’t take hip hop critique as serious as I used too

 

[RandomNegro]

He is a pop star that raps. It’s just what it is. It’s all good, but he needs to be honest about his music

 

[VIBE]

Too many words in here.