Still Far Gone: Drake's 10 Year Reign In the Game

During the best year of my life a young artist from Canada released probably one of my favorite works of music ever created. It was a new voice. Different from the Gangsta voices I was accustomed to most of the time. The singing was mellow. It wasn’t this crazy a** range of notes being put to use. It was as if someone was whispering to the teenager in you. Drake and his ’So Far Gone’ mixtape would be the theme music to my summer and for moments after when I wanted to reminisce.

Out of the blue emerged this guy giving Lil Wayne a run for his money on tracks. This lightskin dude would turn around and get you in your feelings about girls on your Myspace page. I didn’t know who Drake was prior to ‘So Far Gone’. There were tracks that LE HOMIES put me on to like "I Can Take Your Girl" and others like "Closer To My Dreams" which I discovered on my own, that I heard prior that my mind couldn’t compute. Halcyonic. It was just right.

Drake was so open about his feelings. The way he went about it was what we the listeners weren’t used to. The lyrics gave you the perfect captions for your pictures. The beats at times would be so simple but compliment him so perfectly they seemed extravagant together. Applause goes to his producer 40 for that. I suck at memorizing songs line for line but I would recite the punchlines like a savage. "Successful" featuring Trey Songz and Weezy F. Baby had us going off in the McDonalds on 170th St. and Broadway. Our McDonalds… but I’ll get into that some other time.

Drake showed his appreciation for H-Town on "November 18th" where he let’s us know:

"I sent ya girl a message, said I'll see ya when I can. She sent me one back, but I ain't never read it. 'Cause pussy's only pussy and I get it when I need it.”

Well okay then Player. He goes from rapping to singing on the DJ Screw production and I think it was advising us this man was about to not be played with. If not track 6 definitely did. “Ignorant shit” a freestyle over Hov’s 'American Gangster' cut, handed us bars on a plate.

Next is the slow jam “A Night Off” with a verse from singer Lloyd. (The beat for this is actually the same one for “Ignorant Shit” just slowed down for you bozos not paying attention.) Panty-dropping Drizzy at his finest then let’s us into Aubrey’s life with “Say What’s Real” where he opens up about his family issues, transitions and brags at the same time. I prefer this Aubrey over what he’s putting out now truth be told.

 “Little Bit”? Hidden gem. Played it on my mp3, then iPod like infinite times. "Best I Ever Had" took over the radio waves like a Muthaaaa. It’s what got cats listening to the Toronto native. After this? We never DID NOT hear of Drake. Think about that for a second.

Lil Wayne’s protege became THE TALK. I was 16 and I was caught up with life at the time. The streets hailed Wayne king around this time, rightfully so. He presented Drake to us and we didn’t even get the whole J. Prince story until later fu***** wit their YMCMB aura. LMAO. 10 years later… for the first time the FULL version of his masterpiece has been made streamable on major platforms. Believe me when I say we have been waiting for this. No more Youtube searching for these classics. Man, even thinking about them days makes me wonder why we can't bring AIM back?

About 2 years ago I came across an interview where 40 spoke on how the mixtape was constructed. To even hear that this audio-gold was recorded in hotels with some on-the-go equipment gave me a certain feeling of inspiration and reassurance on never to stop. The mixtape deserves a documentary. But we’ll settle for Spotify and Apple Music availability for now.