Life N Times Podcast epidsode 84

Drake dropping three projects in one day sounds like a stunt until you really sit with what it demands: three different sonic worlds, three different listener moods, and the same level of quality pressure on every track. Ra and I start from that question and keep pulling the thread, from Toronto’s multicultural influence to why Canada keeps producing music chameleons who can rap, sing, and pivot genres without losing the plot.

We get specific about the albums, especially Iceman as the most complete listen of the bunch. We talk bars, beat choices, and replay value, then get into how people judge “who won” in rap based on narrative versus rapping. That turns into a bigger conversation about regional sound and taste: East Coast ears, West Coast production, Southern energy, and why a record that feels weird on first play can become undeniable in the right environment.

Habibti opens the door to R&B, and we argue about what’s missing right now, especially the kind of yearning and emotional clarity that made older R&B timeless. Then we land on Made Of Honor as movement-based music and why album reviews should include listening while you’re living life, not just sitting still with a notepad. We also touch the big three ecosystem, J Cole’s positioning, what fans demand from “political” rappers, and how production and co-signs can push the whole culture forward.

Transcript

Reconnecting And Setting The Stakes

0:00

Kendrick. It's Lane LA. What's up, Ra? Brother. This is not a regular guest, people. This is Ra. Alright. It's 9 a.m. in LA. Let's get it. What's up, brother? What'd it do? Flight fruit. No, I'm kidding. What's up, man? It's been a long time. We had to chop it up a little bit before the recording started, but of course, brother. Of course. Me and this man, when I was first starting in LA, he was first starting LA. We were creative black men that's trying to work and do something positive. It's very hard to get those combinations. So I appreciate that, bro. Oh real talk. So before we get into the music, and this is one of the biggest things, Ra makes music by the way, produced two freestyles by the way, and did a bulk of the editing for the podcast. The original editor, when people ask me how to edit, I send them raw edits. I was like, This is the raw files. You need to do it like him. Um as we get into this music thing and doing it like somebody, who can do it like Drake? Three different albums, three different flavors. Before we get into the music, who can do that type of production and it be quality? Because no matter what anybody says, there's quality on all three albums. I you can't tell me there's two songs on each album, and it's only two songs. I'm sorry. But no, how do you feel as far as like the business of it or the music side? The ability to create and produce quality music in three different albums is crazy. Three different lanes, it's not like you rapping three different ways. He's rapping, singing, house, it's crazy. So Drake, he's from Canada, obviously, right? We all know that. Canadians are the best chameleons in music. Like, so we already know, you know, we got the Drake, we got the party next door, we got The Weekend, we got Justin Bieber, right? So it's no surprise that Drake is able to drop three projects back to back the same day and deliver so many different sounds. Like he has the traditional hip-hop rapping over sample tracks, right? Sample beats, then he has the rap trap beats, then he has the RB, which is what I like Drake for, and what most people like Drake for. Then he dabbles in the reggae, he dabbles in Latin world and the rock and the house and the dance. And you know what? I'ma just go on a limb and say there's nobody else that could do that. At this stage, nobody else is doing that. Yeah, you know what's crazy. People was trying to tell me that in being a young boy could drop three albums. I was like, yes, he could drop three albums. He could. I like Youngboy, I like Youngboy, but not at that quality. Yeah, if Youngboy were to drop three albums, which I'm pretty sure he's done that. He's done sound the same. Yeah, he'll do like the rage and the trap, and he'll have like some he's from Bat Rouge, Louisiana music, but it's not gonna be as diverse as this Canadian, does it? Yeah, you can tell that when Drake raps, and I think one of his bonuses that people don't understand is that he is international. Toronto is an international multicultural city. Yes, to be from there, you have to be multiple things just to get down the street. The culture, the club scene, the music scene, the acting scene. People forget that he was in both the acting and music scene in Toronto before he did anything in America. Yeah, and he was going back to Memphis, and people don't even know this, but his dad's a legend, and his uncle's a legend. Like his lineage is crazy when people talk about his lineage. This is wild. Oh, yeah. I definitely remember the Drake acting era because both millennials do, because we did watch the grassy growing up. I watched the grassy, I'm not gonna be able to do it. Grassy was fire. I'll say it. Jimmy, I'll tell people about it. Yes, I thought the grassy was that shit, bro. Um the grassy, it was our soap opera, you know. It was soap opera, and we were dealing with that shit. I'm not gonna lie, like that show Nasdy classified. Oh yeah, things that are actually happening, you know, there's a different version of society that we don't even talk about, like your college self, your school self, your work self, and those different economies.

Why Drake Can Sound Like Anyone

4:40

Let's get into the albums themselves. We got Iceman, and for me, I'll say it first, this is the most complete project out of the three to me. I like the bars here are at a level where we can't. If you tell me Drake can't rap, I'm not even gonna argue with you no more. I'm like, cool. Like, like if somebody tell me, like, yo, he can't rap, he can't do this, he can't, he can rap at the level that these other guys can rap at. And this is the most concise version of that. He gave us like five tracks of that, and then the other rap tracks are different flows, like what's my name? It's different flows, right? And then Lil Birdies of Florida flow um to bang Atlanta all over it, ran to Atlanta. There's so many different flavors and homages in flips to this, like obviously, commercially and by general consensus, Kendrick won. But to me, by bars, there's still a lot to be said here in this beef, and I really think even if Drake, you know, people have said Drake has lost a beef, and I'm like, okay, cool. I just don't think he got out wrapped. I don't think the bars is what made it happen. But how do you feel about Iceman as a project? And what was your top five songs out of it? Oh, you know, I took notes on this. I know you did. Oh Lord, let me get into so Iceman. I gave it, and I'm a tough critic, I gave it an 8.5 out of 10, right? Because it has those RB tracks that I attribute to Drake that I really liked. Then, but then it's also diverse as far as the hip hop goes. You got the rap songs, but I like I really, really like the make them series. What is it? The make them series is crazy. Make them cry, make them pay, make them remember. The only one I didn't like was make them know, but we'll get into that. Um I thought make them know is a little too passive. I so top five, top five, shebang, but off rip. If you play it in the car, you'll know why it's number one. Yeah, sample flip, it just feels like late 2000s Kanye type of flip, and they reunited. I'm sorry, I should be attributed in the producer, but it has that feel and the flow with takeoff, ad libs, and all that. Number one, off rip. Number two, whisper my name, obviously. Three Janice STFU. Yeah, it's it's the fan favorite, you know. Number four, I put the entire series of the make them songs, but if I had to rank those, it would be make them pay, make them remember, make them cry, and then make them know. And the last one burning bridges, burning bridges is crazy. I watched the YouTube premiere when the album dropped. This one came on. Oh my goodness, it just burning bridges is okay. Yeah, we gotta talk about I know it was so petty, it was about pettiness. Oh my god, drink pettiness on this album, bro, is crazy. Yeah, you see my name rockin'. I know, I know his name is Rocky. Yeah, which yeah, that shit's crazy. Yeah, ASAP is on tour right now. He's like, he said he was saying all this shit. He got the owl up there, he's like said all this to the crowd, and he's like, Don't be dumb. But his voice broke a little bit, so like there's some shit going on with ASAP, bro. I don't know why he jumped in that shit, bro. I would have never jumped. Did he ask? Did he talk? He's like, Yo, are you ready to rap with them? Because ASAP started that situation, but did he think he thought that Drake would rap at him at the level that Drake has been rapping at him? I don't know. And do they really have beef? Or is it a shiny situation, bro? Yeah, that's what I was thinking. And I think Drake takes an L on that part because it's like Rihanna chose up, she chose up to the show. Also, he has to respect Rihanna's decision at the end of the day, but there's also weird little shit. Like, there's some bad this bro. I cover music exclusively on the music and men podcast, and as I've covered it, I've just realized that the whole music industry is in it's just like high school, bro. It's like picking on each other, there's clicks, there's groups, and nobody's having a mature conversation because ASAP, Kendrick, all these people had years of resentment. These guys come from inner cities, and maybe it's on Drake's issue, right? Like, oh, I'm never going, but then again, I don't think these dudes are like gonna have a fight. I don't think any of these dudes have a like a fight and move on. The way they posture in their version of masculinity is gonna always have these issues, and I think that's what's going on with Drake and Ace. They're rapping at each other, they're not addressing anything, it's all for clicks and views, just like today's society in general with content creation, right? It's all about getting the eyes on you and away from yeah, and you know, it's what it is.

Iceman Review And Top Five Picks

10:11

There is some sleepers. Habiti is a sleeper as far as the Drake albums, bro. Uh, how do you feel about that? For me, I I love RB. Like, I'm a big RB guy. I listen to RB releases. Number one, I don't know. Now, I know that my favorite offer there is I'm spent. That's my song. Really? Oh no, no, but I love classic, I love white bone. I so like there's not a lot of songs I'm leaving off of my playlist from this album. You know what I'm saying? I can listen to RB like I listen to rap. If there's certain pockets in where they're going, cadences, the emotion to carry over, and it's like this is something that is missing in RB currently, and why Drake still shines in this genre to me, yearning, yearning. Yeah, this there's no yearning in today's RB. I'll I'll give a little bit of pushback, but I understand what you mean from male RB or male RB artists, yeah. Yearning is missing because what who's the biggest right now? I don't know. We got Brent, but Rince very mysterious. Very, I don't like the way he sings, he sings off key, but it's like it's like from a technical standpoint. Yes, he's he's in the pocket, but he definitely sings off key, and I don't like that sound in particular. But uh, I'm not saying he's bad, but I get what you're saying. Yearning is missing from male RB because there's women's singers like ombre, like Nali. Shout out to Nali from New York. Oh, that that yearning is there for women RB, but Drake is the only one carrying the torch, you know. Yeah, number one from that album from Habipti, which means like my love to one. My love, yeah. Because I know, like being from New York, we had the corner store people, they would say Habi, like my friend, my guy, my dude, you know, and the Habipti is for the girls. I love, but anyway, I rated it 7.9 out of 10, very close to eight. Um number one for me was WNBA. WBA is up there, too. First of all, I love the WNBA. I think got a little thing for Skylar Diggins, or at least he had in the past WNBA. It's just a love song to the ladies. Is it a love song? No, it's not really a love song, it's like a heartbreak song, a little bit, a little smidge, but I like it. It's my number one. My number two is gonna be her, not their features. Oh, with sexy red. Really? Yes, yeah. A lot of fucking knobs are saying that song was bad because of sexy red. I thought it was cool to hear a different. He changed her flow up a little bit. Yeah, she did. She did, but I I don't think she could do that. I think she's capable. I think she puts on a persona for sure. Because she'll take off the wig and she'll take off makeup, and then she looks like a regular person and she's mad chill. But that's besides the point. I think she actually ruined the song. It's a really good RB song. If you just get past the intro, where she likes here in our third, you know, you get past that, it's a great Drake RB song. You know, honestly, it could be number one if she wasn't on it and no shade at sexy red, but that's my number two, and then there's white bone, obviously. Very just solid production. I think it gets a little monotonous towards the end where Drake uses the same cadence over and over to like close the song, um, but it it's it's decent for what it is. Fort Worth. Fort Worth is up there. One of the most cringe intros to a song. There's a lot of bad, so like for this album specifically, the intro for us is horrible. It's probably the worst intro we ever got. That's like my biggest skip out of. I don't listen to that again. I I've never, I don't know why. No, it's it's terrible, but the outro to the intro. Did you listen to the outro of it? No, I couldn't get to it. See, so you can't get to it. Like, I didn't like what I heard, so I turned it off. You know what I'm saying? Like, far as the intro, I was like, all right, hang for me. Yeah, I just went on. Oh, you gotta listen to it. I gotta listen to it, so it's worthwhile. Yes, these three drops, right? The overarching theme of them is to have beat switches, right? Yeah, so the intro has a flow switch at the end, and I think the outro should have just been the intro, not the entire thing, because it sounded very like oh pseudo country, and it's like eh we don't want that, but it was good towards the end, anyway. So, number four, I have Fort Worth. The intro to that song is like, Oh, I'm in a city where they find Confederate flags, and I'm walking to what CVS to get some donuts or something. Like it's like that's very cringe, but yeah, party next door comes in and he kind of saves the song. PD's up there, bro. I wouldn't mind a P and D album coming out soon. And then the last one I have Classic for my number five. Classic should have been so much longer, bro. Yeah, I went to YouTube immediately and got that part I wanted. I was like, loop that even though it's on my top five, it did feel a little gimmicky at first. It felt like oh, he's trying to be like John B or something like that. But it's cool once you give it a chance, it grows on you, is what I should say. All these albums grow on you, I can say that for sure, especially Iceman. When I just got into like so to prepare for this interview and this conversation, I would say I listened to the albums, but like I've been listening to Iceman back to front. Like the way Drake makes albums, you can easily just drop in there. Yeah, like that's true. I can just start off with plot twists and I'm listening to make them pay. I want to talk about some of the bars in Iceman in plot

Bars Dissections And Regional Disses

16:28

twists. Is he going at game culture? Because that's crazy. That's crazy, bro. The way he's he put it is crazy, yeah. The way he because this is how games look to like a citizen, or you know what I'm saying? Oh, oh, to citizens, okay, okay. To regular people, like like a regular person, like, what is he throwing at me? I don't know what the fuck. I don't know. Maybe that matters where he's from, and this also speaks to another dig, too, because another thing he was saying, especially to Kendrick and the West Coast guys and people from that Pacific region area, right? And it was a regional push against Drake far as the West Coast at that time, and that's why he made it too hard for the radio to kind of get at that and to dig into that, right? But he was referencing on plot twists like this and that, but on another song, he was referencing you're only big in the A markets, never the B markets, C markets, D markets, all these other markets in which he's big at. It's making fun of like Crips or gangs or gang culture, like it that's crazy. Like, because Janice Janice shut the fuck up, right? Is a disc to hove and a dis to Kendrick, and it's number one now. Like people are like chilling, like it's a couple, yeah. You know, Drake, bro. Yeah, he got problems, bro. That that's the thing with Drake, bro. He he layering the shit so crazy. Like the Janice shut the fuck up, and they say it's a UOG this as well because somebody on UG's team, especially in the sales department, is named Janice. So it's a whole thing. Nobody likes Janice anymore. Nobody likes Janice anymore, but like that's such a crazy thing. Like the way Drake did that to go at game culture, like the like that plot to his song is crazy to it. Gets crazier to me because of that. Like, that context is crazy. Like you're in LA, it's some you're just chilling, like a regular person, like a you know, some soccer mom's at a club or it this and that. She may be in there with the dude, she don't even know. She's singing this song now. You think they singing that song twist? Oh, putting it in and twisting the knee. Obviously, not gonna play that shit in fucking Compton, but you know, LA's big as fuck, they're gonna play the shit in Santa Monica for sure. I did notice that about the song. I didn't see it as like a dis per se to gang culture from like a citizen's perspective, I think it's from a national perspective because I feel like Drake, as the years go by, he's trying to just hone in on his Canadian Toronto citizenship. So he it's kind of like him saying, Oh, I'm from Toronto, I don't know what none of that LA gang stuff means, and he's trying to downplay it. So I think he's doing it from that perspective, not from like, oh, I'm a civilian, and I don't know I don't think I know like I get what you're saying, yeah. Like civilian, average listening, yeah. He just made that very relatable, you know what I'm saying? He just had this perspective, but now that it's so relatable, now it's just a part of the cultural dialogue, it's crazy. Yeah, the zygos. That's true. I see that, and you mentioned too hard for the radio earlier. I actually kind of dislike it. I dislike that. I'm not uh I don't like I'm not very regional far as my ears, and maybe I am regional as far as my ears, I have east coast ears, so I grew up listening to bars and certain west coast beats and certain Bay Area beats and just the rapping style. Like I never gravitated towards E40. I much rather listen to Jay-Z, you know what I'm saying? Like just style-wise. So I wasn't gonna like that style, but like that's so like if I was gonna be critical of Iceman, I would take Don't Worry off, I would take Too Hard for the Radio off, and I know there's another singing song track on there. Let me see if I wrote it. I would take that off, and that's why I say 15 out of 18 is great, right? It's great because then it's just a matter of taste because my 15 out of 18 might be somebody 17 out of 18, yeah. Yeah, but I think too hard for the radio was literally trying too hard to cosplay. Right because he worked with Overcast on the Make the Bay, which Overcast is from the Bay. Um, so I think he Drake has ties, and he's a bit he's a superstar, so he has ties to people all over the nation, but like it is so weird for him to think it's necessary or needed for him to make a bay sound and beat as a way to like combat Kendrick Lamar and say, like, oh, I can make town bops and this and LA hits and classic. Like, no, you can't just stop, don't do that. Yeah, I mean, I can see how someone feels that. Yeah, I can see how someone feels that it's definitely not like that trek that Kendrick did and the one that turned TV off. Turn your TV off is hard as shit. Oh, I was just watching that show Nemesis, and the dude was like. Turn his TV off. I was like, Oh, now I really like the song. I like the song, but once I got to that, I was like, Oh, I really like this song now. Yeah, he said so crazy, and you know crazy. It truly depends where you are that make a certain sound, black sound, right? We talking hip hop, black sound different because if you in the south, oh yeah, young boy is gonna hit harder. Young boy's gonna hit way harder. You listen to Drake in the West, it's like Drake in the North or the East Coast. Oh, it's heaven, you know. You listen to Kendrick on the West, beautiful. You listen to him on the east, it's like eh turn on the city. It's hard. Me personally, sonically, it's hard to listen to a West Coast rapper, like full west coast beats during a west coast flow, and I'm from the east coast. They're talking about palm trees. Now I have actual lived experience, and while I was living in LA, LA music hit harder. Like exactly, I'm still big Vince Staples fan. I think he reps just as well as Kidrick. I think he reps just as well as all these top MCs, and I also think he's a real political rapper and activist. Yeah, but he's Vince. He got an album coming up. I'm I'm going to listen to that. Salute to Vince. Salute to Earl. Salute to all Earl Earl Swesher is one of my favorites. Shout out to Mike as well. He's one of my favorites as well. Mavi. Mavi. Love Mavi, bro. Strangers, Beast Coast, you know. I think when it comes to music, there is a science to it. How like for sure. Environmental science when it comes to how music is received, and that's worth studying for sure.

Habibti And What R&B Lacks

23:46

Bro, and let's get into the next album, Made of Honor. I thought this album initially was trash, right? Then I started doing the dishes. I start going outside. I start walking around, and I'm not overanalyzing in like you have to move around a certain music. Like I listen to dust while I was working out. I'm hitting the bag and shit. Like, go all the plus all the upload of dust off your tracks. Like, it's some music is movement-based. Like you gotta be doing something, and people, I think when we're reviewing albums, I think we have to listen to it once, right? First review. Then you need to listen to it again while you're doing something active, and then go listen to it again while you're doing something fun. Like go outside, go to the bar, go get a drink. Like I'm just saying, like go take your lady out, like go do something, and then listen to the music because we're creatures of action and habit. I initially I had this album low, but I really like this album. I got in the seven to eight range. I think if he stays where he needs to be, Drake is very fun. Just fun Drake to me, and I like to do fun things. Okay, I'm glad you mentioned that there's a nuance when it comes to music because initially, when I listened to Maid of Honor, I thought it sucked as well. But I was binging these three albums back to back. So, bro, if you binge the three albums, it's so hard to have like a said, some songs, some albums are movement based. So when I got up and I started moving, I was at work and I was like, yo, let's listen to these albums, and we put on Maid of Honor. It was like, Oh, this is fun, like this is a dance album. Dance album. I can't you can't go from listening to Habibti on WNBA, a slow song, and then going to Maid of Honor and expect it to be the same. This is a this is a dance album. The girls are gonna love it. Yeah, seriously. If people are going outside, have a good time, you're gonna hear this all the time at the clubs. That cheetah print song, true bestie, and that's another thing. That's another thing that this is some pushback because Kendrick won the beef, but you have to do other shit besides just wanted to beef. All right, you won the beef, now entertain us. Yeah, you got the throne right now, it's your time. Oh, bro, in 2024, if Kendrick released like a party track, we would have lost our fucking bonds, and all you had to do is just like I know you wanted to make the party die, right? And I understand why, and I understand his critiques, and I understand what his just position's, you know, what his position was in that beef. But I also understand responsibilities of being the guy. Jay-Z was the guy and he didn't stop. Like, after he got done battling with Naz, he didn't stop making records. Like, there's a certain work ethic to being the guy, and I think that Kendrick really missed out on that. I think with Iceman, positioning wise, it feels like nothing happened to Drake, which is crazy. You know what? My pushback is that I think Kendrick Lamar knows what he's doing, he knows that he's a unicorn in the game, just like Drake is a unicorn, just like Kendrick. He's gonna put out quality stuff that people will love, and they don't need anything else additional to recognize his greatness. So he could put out a butterfly, and that's all we need for a long, long time because it's like I see what you're saying, goat. He was never that artist. But look, that's why I think him, his relationship with Drake is symbiotic because he knows that he's gonna give the people what they want and fill a void that he knows that he's never gonna fill. Kendrick is not gonna make party girl shaking ass music, right? He knows that Drake is gonna do that, he knows that there's so many other artists that can fill that void. He probably sees Drake as someone who's overcompensated or trying to do everything, but that's his thing. I don't have to do that, I'm already great. So I think their relationship is symbiotic as well as the entire big three, big five, if you want to include Wale, big Sean guys. So I think they know what they're doing, they've been in the game long enough to know how to play cards. I look, I will say J. Cole is my favorite of the three. I don't think J. Cole knows how to play his cards at all.

Made Of Honor Needs Movement

28:29

J. Cole. All right, let's talk about it. Let's talk about it real quick. Let's talk about it. Yeah, you're from the East Coast. I'm from the East Coast, I'm from Philly, you're from New York. Yeah, I you can't do what J. Cole did in the beef at all, at all. I'm sorry, dog. So, like, for me, in the big three, he's three now. He can never rise from that position at all. No, at all. And he can rap about, oh yeah, this made me the last person aligned because of what I yes, it did. Yes, it did. I'm sorry, and now now one, two can be whoever, right? Depending on what you're doing and what you want, wherever you care about at the time. J. Cole might get knocked out of the big three if you keep that's hey doing the which you watch. Y play big Sean or somebody, this J. Cole. This I could, but yeah, yeah, but I will say future is doing what J. Cole wants to do. He's able to work with this artist, he works with Kendrick, he works with Drake, he works with J. Cole, he works with whoever he wants, and people don't expect them to have an opinion, like he's allowed to be impartial. J. Cole made it so that oh, I can't be impartial because I feel the need to rap about such and such and such. And it's like, just shut up, just make your music. He even started the beef to be honest. I think he started the beef because Drake is J. Cole. Oh because Drake is smart enough before the beef ever started. Drake has been smart enough to never give Kendrick anything to directly reply to his start, right? And Kendrick has done the same thing, right? They've been pussyfooting around both of them 10 years. J. Cole uttered the line that started Kendrick's flip. The start of the beef is a Kendrick flip to J. Cole's line, not Drake's. And for J. Cole to step out after, for him his line to start it, and him to step out crazy fucking work, bro. I can't respect that. Like that shit is crazy. That's why Make Them Pay is such a significant song for me. All right. Yeah. But all right, let's get into the best album of the three. Obviously, for me, it was Iceman. Two years of waiting. Um, the bars are there. This is top-tier hip hop. I think it's gonna age well, I think it's gonna do exactly what it's supposed to do. I'm gonna get more into deaf in this far as the music side of things, but he's knocked out so many records. He has the MJ, he's on pace of through 218k, the second week of Iceman. The album is exactly what you wanted. It is redemptive for me. I never thought, and just from the tracks that went back and forth during that beef, I never thought it was over from Hart Part Six, right? And if you listen to G and X, it's like a continuation of the beef. And then if you listen to Iceman, I feel like it's over. Like the beef is over, and this is where they're at. Kendrick and G and X is the victory lap, Iceman is the comeback. Out of the three, I think that's uh my favorite album out of the three. What do you think? Okay, wow, that was very poetic. Oh, but obviously, Iceman. Obviously, yeah, the best of the three. Um, it was a more complete project, had more songs. Um, you could listen to it on shuffle and still get all those sounds that you want, and it doesn't feel out of place, except for too far for the radio. Um, it's a masterpiece, but I think Drake excels at releasing timeless projects, you know. When he drops, everyone's like, Oh, another Drake album. This is what is this album cover? What is this title? Oh, it's so lame, but then you look at it a year later, it's like, oh, this is classic. Bro, I really like more life, I really like Dark League demos. Like, I could go into a Drake album and leave for something, bro. Like, all the dogs is crazy. They thought it was corny, like, oh, he got exposed for having a son, and now he has his son drawing on the album cover. Like, who cares about that? It's the music, bro. Drake always embraces his commentary. All right, y'all was talking about my son. Now my son here, deal with it. You know what I'm saying? Y'all complaining about Zit Toronto? Now I'm the Iceman. All right, cool. I'm I'm completely ice. Like he leans into his uh his uh negative narratives, and he doesn't push back or string back from those guys. I mean, the way he platform academics against all those other media personalities and the people that have been right. I mean, they've made careers. This is a whole ecosystem of Drake haters. Like they got like town meetings and shit. This is crazy. And the same side for uh people that are pro-Drake, like it's so it's almost like a ventures level, like Iron Man and Captain America when they were beefing and shit. It's just crazy. It's fact just inside haters make the world go around. They're getting people in the political sphere that's like, oh, Drake is so insensitive, Iceman. What about all the rage? Bro, someone's trying to use that angle. I was like, yo, you just talk about it, bro. You just want, bro, come come the fuck on that. Yeah, you you expect Drake to stop, you know what, and that honestly just to have that mindset that Drake is gonna solve that problem for me is nuts, like, yeah, man. So it's literally a blessing to like not have to say anything and just do your art and then have people create a discourse around your art, and you don't have to say anything. I also like that uh you said it was an ecosystem with the big three, and I do believe that I think he lets Kendrick and J. Cole take care of that, that's their department. Oh, yeah. The political speech. Hey, you need to make that the complaint to dot go to North Carolina and go wake Cole up. He retired, tell him to talk about this shit because it's not on Drake to do that, bro. Yeah, Drake does the club, literally a symbiotic ecosystem. They know what they're doing, they have a government of hip-hop, they really do, and that yep. Well, I mean, honestly, we can make critiques on those guys too, as far as like the political rappers when they aren't saying anything, like there's been a lot of significant events, and we're like, hey, maybe that's why they want Drake to say something. But as far as the production on this, this is probably, and this is why Drake is always gonna stand head and shoulders above most of the competition, right? That's outside of Kendrick and J. Cole.

Big Three Politics And J Cole Fallout

35:05

The beats on this is crazy. Oh, magnificent, magnificent, bro. She bang shebang is crazy. Is the one song that I've had on loop you can play that shit with no lyrics many times? Yeah, you play that shit with no lyrics, no lyrics. That's that burning bridges. I like burning bridges because of the like the jilted piano runs, like because that's how I played piano when I would produce growing up, and it stemmed from me not knowing real chord progression, but like just being able to put together those runs and uh just like sprinkles in a beat, you know. So, yeah, Vernon Bridges ran to Atlanta. Crazy, crazy, that song. That song is nuts, bro. First time I listened to that shit, it's crazy. The lookouts he did for producers on this album was crazy. There was like a random 16-year-old that was on this album. There's like a lot of people who are getting their first opportunities on it. Drake Iceman albums crazy. Yeah, that's one thing you can't say about Drake is that he doesn't put people on. Bro, and one of the biggest things, like, and I talk about this on another music podcast. There's more than just being the guy that sells the most records. If you are the guy of your generation, you push your generation forward. The people under you go forward because of that. Like, there's a I have for Drake, is you know, those Bay Area, the Bay Area song Too Hard for the Radio and Lil Birdie, right? I mean, I would go to Florida and get all the biggest, whoever I want y'all to do be uh feature. I would do the same thing with uh the Bay Area, but I think that's the only critique you can have. But he's also putting so much money in that area because like the people on that beat the too hard for the radio are from the Bay. So, like Bay's getting bred from that. Yeah, that that like that's the background on that. The bay, there's Bay Area production on there. Okay, that makes it a little bit better, that makes it cleaner, right? And that's why he put it on to the bay, and there's so much lyrics shouting out the bay, and obviously, he's also repositioning, you know, rappers, the big rappers, they kind of show who's cool or not in sports as well. So he's referencing def instead of LeBron on the song that's gonna carry, you know. Even on National Treasures, the way you came in, Kawhi was no, not Kawhi. That song National Treasures is crazy. Fucking us, bro. That should make you feel like the main character, yeah. But but I do I want to double back to uh feature it, like featuring people and putting people on. I think that's one thing that Kendrick doesn't do well. I think with the GNX album, there's uh a couple questionable features, like Lefty Gunsley who was exposed to like being racist towards black people. I'm like, dude, why are you getting that guy? I get it. LA politics, business, bro. Yeah, yeah, but like that's that's business. Nah, bro. That's the thing. Like, I've been in LA culture, so like I see like there's strong pimp culture in LA. There's some negative caveats to the cultures that he might align himself with because of where he came up from. But as far as the feature thing on the GNX album, they got two options you get 10k, or you get you know, yeah, or dinner with Jason. No, you see you see what Drake said. He said you don't need that shit. Hey, hey, real hove is probably gonna dish Drake, man. I ain't gonna bomb sorry. I think Drake could eat him up nowadays. Yeah, bro. I think Drake would love to like get him out of here. And there's a lot of things he could say because of there's a lot of shit Jay's been like dodging, right? Like, nobody's really like putting it on him for real. I think he's just too old, not saying like he's old and washed up, but like he's beyond rap beef. He should be if he drops the track first. I think Drake will win because of that. Now, if Drake sat down and did the song first, like whatever he could do these jabs because Jay-Z has did enough business against him for him to address him in his music, at least to me. Right, right, right. Honestly, he doesn't say anything too crazy. He's like, I know how you always are rocking already. The jig is up. I think that was very subtle. It won't happen again, OG. The jig is up. Like the only way Jay-Z will prosper from this is if he's responding like to a direct shot, has to be direct, he can't be subs, right? Yeah, so we'll we'll see, but um, the production of this shit was fire, bro. So good. How do you feel as an artist through I you know, we've known this guy from 2009 to all the way here?

Production Value And Putting People On

40:05

That is a mountain to climb. Yeah, I think there's there is very minimal uh progression that needs to happen from Drake. We gotta remember, it's been what 17 years. Like there's we there's no need to expect any more growth, which sounds bad, but any more growth from these people that we grew up on. They they're already who they are. We know what they're gonna give us. Let's stop acting like oh, this is best I ever had, Drake, and we and there's something else that he needs to do. He's a great rapper, Kendrick's a great rapper, J. Cole's a great rapper. We know this decade, it's been a decade, almost two decades. They're good. That's all I got. They're good, bro. People have been saying, get let me know. Are we ever gonna tell Pusha T to stop selling drugs and talking about selling drugs? He wasn't even a real drug dealer, no. He's like oh no. Listen, I'm listening to the album. He's telling me whips and chains, so I'm just listening, you know what I'm saying? Like, like I'm I'm just a listener, right? But I'm not going in there with hey man, I know you're not, I know you're not this guy, right? So artists like that, like push a T and respect to Pusha T and clips. We grew up on the grind to be that's we grew up on that, but the only artists, the only rappers who need to progress are the ones who still talk about politics and the negative, the detrimental stuff to the community, right? Because Drake could do all that, but he'll package it in an artistic way. Kendrick can do that, they'll package it in a cultural artistic way. But certain artists, they just keep coming with the same old negative tropes, and it's like those artists need to progress. Yeah, I'm not listening Lil Dirk has some great fire tracks, right? Needs to progress, bro. His ad lib, man, what that's just crazy, bro. Like, I'll be like in my corporate job, you're like, Man, what? I'm like, oh shit, you know what I'm saying? Like he be talking to me on the track, but I swear he dude either progress. Like I imagine you like 45, you're like, man, what? Like that's just a little well, you know, little baby. He has to progress to me. Oh, absolutely. Because he showed me he could bigger than black and white, song will always mark to me. Lil Baby is bigger. See, he's bigger than just a kid from the block, he's way bigger than that, and he has more than that perspective, and he can get into he shows like like one percent of it. You know what I'm saying? Like if you ever watch anime, there's the character named Deku, and and and my hero, he can only use a little bit of one for all. But when he does, he he flips the tide of battle. I feel like little baby in that moment when he was talking about that track, like bigger than black and white, especially at that time, he could have been more than what he is right now, and that's why I feel that way for like Kodak, I feel that way for like Lil Yachty. Lil Yachty's entirely too talented to be doing what he's doing in the lanes he'd be playing around him. He's slowly trying to pivot into like actual hip-hop. He's he can rap, he can rap. Lil Yachty can rap, he got his bars. I think he just has to be more concise. I think that's the biggest problem with him. I feel like Denzel Curry progressed more than Lil Yachty. Wow. I just listened to Denzel Curry. That's some bars. That's some bars, bro. He he's like an old head, he's an old head, but he's young. It's like boom bat, but like upgraded. I wouldn't say upgraded, it's just Modernize. Modernize boom bat. Modernize boom bap. I feel like there's a niche that a lot of artists feel like they need to stay in to be successful. And that's the Kodak. You know, all the names that you named of like hood party music. You know, it's like okay. That's what you want to do. Right. Like I'm not in the hood anymore. That's like a big thing. Like anymore. Sorry, guys. Right. Where's the progression? And that's why I say we're actually blessed to be from the millennial generation. We grew up on these artists that they told the line between ignor and progressive rap. I think I don't know how to say it, but like Gen Z, they they're stuck with like the no disrespect to young boy, but like they're stuck with that sort of like angry. Oh, I mean rap and the bar of rap right now is crazy. Yeah, like I couldn't I couldn't think of a young boy that's like 20 that's like rapping at Kendrick's level right now. And then like with New York, they have the drill scene, which is first because it's just so angry, right? And what what's what is it turning into sexy drill? Yes, something that gets people dancing and fun and is happy. So that angry sort of rap is kind of before the millennial and after the millennial, and I think we just got it really good where our best of the best are at the top of the league right now.

Artist Growth And The Next Generation

45:40

Now you're from New York. I I gotta ask you this. This is a New York question for real. Um set Rocky, yeah. Why did he not become top five? He had all the potential to be so. I'm talking about when he initially came out because I believe ASAP Rocky has a classic album. I'm pretty sure it was his first or second album. Long live ASAP. It was Long Live ASAP, but I believe that's a classic. Yeah, that's a classic. I don't know to me, it is. But why didn't he become top five? He's from New York, that should already do a lot. I'm trying to put myself back in the 2011-ish era, and I grew up in the Bronx right across the bridge from Harlem. Um he just like the whole ASAP collective, they were cool, like people rock with ASAP furry, heavy. One train that was like a little cipher track, but Tap Rocky was never really like, oh, he's gonna be our hero, he's gonna be our savior. Because we New Yorkers, we loved, we revered the early 2000s. We got Max B 50 Cent, Cameron, dipset, like Jada Kiss. We had all those people to look up to there too, right? Style Speed. So it was just like I don't know, he missed it, he missed his time. I I don't see Camden to really talk about him like he was one of the guys, you know what I'm saying? No, like I always he was in a sphere of his own for real, ASAP collective, like that, and we had pro era as well, which they were kind of the same way. Joey Badass didn't get as acclaimed as ASAP Rocky, so we had a lot of collectives going on, and I think it just wasn't the same feel as a 50 Cent or Max B, you know. So it was just like eh, whatever, we'll support you if you do well, but it's not like you're our savior. Yeah, because I feel like Pop Smoke had more respect in New York, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, because he was a solo artist, you know, and that was six to seven years after ASAP Rocky's introduction, so it was just becoming a new sound. I think the biggest artist in New York after ASAP Rocky, after that whole collective era, was a boogie, brock boogie, you know, and that kind of changed the game of like, oh yeah, we have our Drake hip-hop rapper singer. He is, he is the he is New York's Drake, he sings better than Drake to me. Yeah, he got a better voice. He has more range, I think he has better range for sure. Yeah, so I think we kind of missed an era in New York hip-hop of like from the entire 2010s to the late 2010s. Yeah, how do you feel about uh Joey Badass? He was going at I think Kendrick Ducked the Faye. Kendrick does not like that. That that's the worst matchup for Kendrick. This is a dark-skinned kid from the inner city of New York, the Mecca rap, and he raps at your level. But that's the thing that if we're talking about eras, right? All right, Kendrick beat Drake and it was his era until Iceman came out, right? I would say that. I would say it's his era until Iceman came out. Some sexy songs for you was not a direct, you know what I'm saying? It was it was that was RB. That was like I would never think, like, even the lead track on there, the hip-hop song on there is give me a hug. It wasn't anything really aggressive. But Joey Badass does not fit the bill for the opponent Kendrick once. And you know, Ray Vaughn, he's a very great rapper, very great lyricist. But I think TDE really fell with promotion in getting, they have these super talented lyrical, but they don't have the promotion. Their promotion is bad for them, and they're not they're not ever gonna get out of those contracts, too. If they're signing for 200k and they're selling 50, you know what I'm saying? Get to work in the sweatshop. I'm being nice. TDE sales is crazy if you go across the board besides Sizzy and Kendrick, Isaiah Rashad. And Isaiah Rashad. But bro, I just don't think I don't I don't so like if you're the guy you have to take the fade. Like, we didn't think at the time, I still don't think technically Drake could ever rap at the level of Pusha T because of just the lyrical density, right? Now I'm not saying he can't be lyrically dense, right? Like, I think he can like so Duppy freestyle is very lyrically dense, but I don't think he can rap as technically sound as Pusha T, right? He still got in there with them. Get in there, Kendrick. Come on, bro. Because like he gave it to the young bulls, and then like the young bulls didn't really do much. And like I thought Kendrick, not Kendrick, but Joe Joey Badass spanked all them during that this that this saga between him and those guys. And then he was talking about he got like he was getting jumped, and I was like, I don't think he would be jumped, I think y'all were cool because especially after all that shit happened, he's rapping with uh one of the TDE guys, so it can't be real tension, that has to be real business, right? How do you feel? I feel like that could have been Joey Badass's crowning moment, and he could have really started a real conversation because if we go catalog for catalog, it's not like Joey Badass is like here to go catalog for catalog with anybody, he got a classic at 16. Oh, pretty sure he's in 1999. Yeah, he was our answer to Anas, Ilmatic. And of course, he's from New York. There's like, oh bro, I remember listening to him when I was I was his age when I was listening to him. It's crazy. Shout out pro era. I could not believe he was making that type of music at that age. It's crazy. Yeah, so I really I don't have a stance per se in the Joey badass interjection into the beef. I think Joey is obviously better than any of the TD minions on the Goon Squad. The goon squad, but I don't think people are gonna receive Joey Badass the way we receive uh Kendrick and TDE because the boom the New York boom bap sound is like kind of fizzling out, and sad to say, like Joey's flow and those uh responses to Ray Vaughn and it's cool, like he obviously won, but it's not it's not like a diss track that'll resonate, sort of like how Drake's oh he did Smek Mill. Oh back to back. Yeah, I mean you can throw that song going, so it's not it's not like that. And I mean, I don't know. That's why I don't have a stance because it doesn't have to be like that. You can just say you won off bars alone. So respect to Joey on that end. I want to say, shout out to Capital Stees, rest in peace, Capital Stees. He he defined pro era for me. His mute his catalog was magnificent, and he should still be here making music because he could have been a GOAT in the scene almost like Earl Sweatshirt is in his realm of like grunge hip-hop, you know. Hey, Earl really runs the grunge hip-hop scene, yeah, crazy capital would have been there. Sure. I mean, you know, that scene's in vigor, you know. Mike Canoom is turning to like a whole collective, yeah. It's crazy.

ASAP Rocky And Closing Plugs

53:45

But hey man, it was a pleasure speaking to you about all this, man. Episode 84 of the Life of Times podcast. Get to know your producer, rah. Getting some real producer questions in here, getting to know. Hey, shout out everything you got going, shout out anything you need us to plug into. Let me know. Okay, so first and foremost, I created my own website. It's essentially a portfolio of all my art, which I do beats, I do writing, I do photography, and I have a section of services I offer where anybody can hit me up. You know, my website is rah the hitmaker.com. Yes, it's the free version, that's why I got WordPress in my thing. But you see my name on the screen, rah the hitmaker.com. My Instagram is at ra the hitmaker. Hey, I have worked with Ra since I've been in LA and I've known him since I've been in LA. Expert work, professional, one of the best people that I've done work with in the space of creation, you know, in this landscape of creators is always some shit, and Ra never gave me any. So tap into everything he's doing, and he will be back on the show. We always gonna talk about shit, bro. I'm your friend for life. You're gonna have to deal with it. I appreciate you, man, for even taking me in. Like, bro, you're you got a camera? Do you do video photos? Yes, bro. I was so happy to talk to someone that wasn't trying to be on angles because I was still getting used to LA. It's always a little weird amongst the brothers, but we are brothers, life and times network, episode 84 of the Life and Times podcast. Tap in then it's Lena.