One of the people who shared his opinion on Drake and his music is Yasiin Bey. In an interview with The Cutting Room Floor, the artist formerly known as Mos Def was asked what he thought about Drake’s music and his answer was interesting, to say the least.
“Drake is pop to me, in the sense like, if I was in Target in Houston and I heard a Drake song… it feels like a lot of his music is compatible with shopping. Or shopping with an edge in certain instances… It’s likable.”
Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with shopping at Target, but I wouldn’t want my music compared to shopping there.
@tcrfff 🎙️Season 5 Episode 2 #yasiinbey ♬ original sound – The Cutting Room Floor
I would say, I agree with Yasiin that Drake is more of a Pop artist than a Hip Hop artist. However, I do feel like Hip Hop in a certain aspect has been commercialized to the point that it is more like shopping at Target than getting a custom suit from Dapper Dan in Harlem.
The difference between Drake as an artist and say a J. Cole, is that I believe Drake deliberately makes music for the Pop charts. On the other hand, you have some artists in the Hip Hop culture who make their music for culture and it happens to become popular.
I will add that Drake is no different than any other Hip Hop artist who has achieved some level of success. I think once an artist becomes “popular” in the music business, there is some pressure from the system and the fans to create music to sustain that popularity.
I think Yasiin alluded to this in the interview when he asked the question “Are we seeing the collapse of the empire?”
@tcrfff 🎙️S5 EP2: #yasiinbey #mosdef #onlyonpatreon ♬ original sound – The Cutting Room Floor
What do you think about Drake’s music and the comments from Yasiin Bey? Leave your comments below