There has never been a lack of debates in the music industry but few as controversial as wondering whether industry favorites really deserve their crown. Today we are going to plunge into one of the most controversial topics in modern music: is Drake overrated as artists?
OK, before the internet loses its mind and the masses (all, as it were, [sycophantic] Drake fans) start firing off frantic comments in earnest, let’s state one fact – the chap can, you know, do make music. But when you step away from it and put it in overall view, it is possible to argue that the Toronto artist might getting more adoration than his recorded output can convincingly suggest. In an era where the best looking numbers are often mistaken for artistic value, its time to talk straight about talent vs hype.
The Numbers Game Doesn’t Equal Artistic Excellence
When discussing whether Drake overrated as artists becomes a valid question, there are some elephants in the room we can not overlook: the commercial success has in some strange way become linked to artistic brilliance. Sure, Drake has surpassed more records in streaming than can be counted, and Drake should be a better artist than that?
Think about it this way, Mcdonalds has billions of customers the world over but it does not make it fine dining. It is hard to argue with the fact that, in Drake, accessibility and mass appeal are great advantages, however, they should not be the only factors that define artistic value. The man has a recipe down on how to produce easy to digest, memorable work that goes down well in the playlist, but there is a difference between having a recipe and pushing the artistic envelope.
Put it in contrast to artists such as Frank Ocean, who vanished years in the making of Blonde, or Kendrick Lamar, who has taken his time in between albums to make sure that his releases take hip-hop in a new direction. These artists do not put the primary importance on content creation and artistic integrity takes centre stage and the results are self-explanatory regarding critical reception and cultural influence.
The Ghost in the Machine
Here’s where things get really interesting when examining whether Drake overrated as artists holds water – the underlying, and long-following ghostwriting scandals that have dogged him. Where it would be natural in hip-hop to collaborate, it is another situation when your personality would be developed by a team of writers.
The pusha T beef was more than entertainment as it was seen to reveal some uncomfortable truths about how Drake works creatively. When Pusha publicized information regarding Drake writing camps and collaborative writing style, it cast serious doubts around what should be and is considered to be true in an genre where individuality and personal storytelling takes precedence over nearly all other elements.
Such artists as J. Cole, Lupe Fiasco, even newer musicians such as JID create their own texts and they introduce real-life stories to music. Comparing their street grittiness, their unedited product, with the refined (but, possibly-professionally-processed) output of Drake, makes it bring it into sharp relief. It is nothing to do with gatekeeping hip-hop, it is about understanding the distinction between expression and corporate product development.
Media Saturation and the Echo Chamber Effect
The question of Drake overrated as artists becomes even more relevant when we examine the media machine behind his success. Drake does not only drop music but cultural events. Any album release is accompanied by thoroughly organized marketing campaigns and social network hype, as well as the support of the industry that any minor artist could not imagine getting.
This propagates an echo chamber in which Drake releases that are mediocre at best are described like proverbial masterpieces since everybody is talking about them. Remember “CLB”? People were arguing about albums over the internet for weeks (or months), discoursing about an album that most people privately theorized was fairly forgettable. The discussion itself was the product and Drake enjoyed both favourable and unfavourable publicity.
Meanwhile, truly innovative musicians such as JPEGMAFIA, Danny Brown or Death Grips make music that is far more innovative and receives a drop in the ocean of coverage. Through the media outlets, Drake can be a very distracting artist often overshadowing other artists who are indeed progressing the art form through a false order of priority where popularity outranks innovation.
The Formula Has Gotten Stale
Let’s be honest about Drake’s recent output when considering if Drake overrated as artists rings true. Even the recycling of identical emotional lines and musical style has occurred now in the man almost a decade long. What is the number of times that we can hear of his relationships, his success and his feelings without a question as to whether there is something new to be said?
Great musicians develop. Observe the way Radiohead morphed out of Creep into kid A, or how space southern raper OutKast has discovered its way into genre busting experimentalists. Drake however, appears to be content with stripping the same emotional ground album after album. The half-singing / half-rapping that was so new in 2010, sounds like a lazy creativity crutch.
Using musicians such as Tyler, The Creator we are shown what real evolution should appear like- moving beyond his shock rap in his early work to the more intricate R&B and jazz elements of his latest releases. By comparing the artistic career of Drake with that of Tyler, the disparity between the two in terms of creativity development is not an option.
The Culture Vulture Conversation
Another angle in the Drake overrated as artists debate involves his tendency to co-opt sounds and styles from emerging scenes without necessarily giving proper credit or context. Ever since dancing in the dancehalls of Jamaica to holding parties in the UK and celebrating African music as Afrobeats, Drake has an tendency of jumping onto regional sounds when they start to become popular in the mainstream world.
Although cross-cultural collaboration can be quite a beautiful idea, it seems that Drake more than once turns it into something that resembles cultural tourism rather than the true and actual artistic exchange. Put this against artists like Burna Boy, who is the definer of Afrobeats since it is his culture or Skepta, who did not appropriate the UK grime scene but grew out of it instead.
This trend begs the question of artistic integrity and whether or not the global sound that Drake has been associated with is, in fact, nothing but market posturing and not authentic exploration of creativity.
Where Credit Is Due
Now, arguing that Drake overrated as artists doesn’t mean completely dismissing his contributions to music. Man has some talents that cannot be disputed, he has ears to music, knows how to make a hook and is able to fix at least some emotional points.
Take Care is still an album that was truly very powerful that set a generation of artists. His initial efforts were promising and contributed to closing existing divides between hip-hop and R&B in very significant terms. However, realizing that one has strengths is not an excuse to deny that there are areas that he or she is weak in and that his/her current performance level is not as high as it was during his/her best moments.
It is not that Drake is not talented but that what he is producing artistically at the moment does not correlate with the sheer amount of cultural focus that he has received. When we live in a world where people have short attention spans and there are endless more musicians who are deserving of attention, some of these resources put into promoting Drake with his regularly scheduled releases could be spread in other places.
The Bigger Picture
Looking toward 2025 and beyond, the question isn’t really whether Drake overrated as artists – it’s whether we as music consumers are ready to demand more from our mainstream superstars. The streaming age has capitalized on quantity not quality and Drake has perfected that art best than anyone.
However, true art entails danger, development and performance. The overrated tag will continue to dog Drake until he begins to practice some levels of creativity instead of chart chasing. It is not only artists that perfect formulas that the music industry requires.
The fact remains, that labelling Drake as overrated is not an effort to undermine success, it is an attempt to uplift the bar and acknowledge the fact that commercial domination is mere trifles to actual artistic brilliance. When there are so many truly innovative artists struggling in the world to be seen through the noise with so much innovation all around us, Perhaps it is time we stop counting the placement on any playlist as an accomplishment in artistry and instead start rewarding the artistic souls who really take the culture somewhere.
