Breh, you're a great poster and a smart dude but you're in our feelings right now. Look at my post.
I wasn't defending Drake as a ghostwriter.
I've always believe in proper authorship and I think he lost all of his legitimacy as a rapper.
As a rap fan, I don't respect a dude with questionable pen game. I honestly believe that the general acceptance of the reference tracks was the nail in the coffin for authenticity; which was one of the oldest and core principles of the genre. It's going to have dire consequences (but thats another conversation).
I've always had a greater amount of respects for the Daz/Hitmans over the Dre, the Danjas over the timbo, the various beatmakers over the kanyes. and Quik is probably my most played artist on itunes. But in terms of songwriting, Dre was better at constructing hiphop tracks. Quik is the better beat maker, musician, RnB producer, funk artist, my personal favorite, every thing else. But admitedly in constructing rap songs. Dre edges him out. That's looking at Quiks discography, the mausberg LP, his work with Suga Free, and even his work on all eyes on me.
But, I'm not taking that sort of talent for granted. He's still top 5 for me over Dre. But I gotta be real.
Similarly, when looking at Drake as an artist. His ear for writing catchy and popular songs is excellent. Dude approaches Rap/RnB like a pop genre and its worked out masterfully for him. Whether or not you agree, Hotline Bling is a very well constructed Pop song. Does that mean, i'm praising Drake as a rapper? No Does it justify the theft of another mans work? Of course not.
Drake isn't a Quincy Jones or a George Martin. BUT, I NEVER SAID HE WAS EITHER. that's fukking extreme. Still, he's not that far off from other great hiphop hitmakers like the Neptunes, puffy with the hitman, or muder Inc circa 2001.
The results speak for themselves. Drake is probably the greatest
Pop star, HipHop has ever had.
Should that hold any weight to hardcore hiphop heads? fukk no.
Dude is MC hammer on a 6 year run. Which says a lot about the state of the genre. But, it's not any less of impressive achievement. Seeing as how many Rappers still struggle with song writing. Think about where Snoop would be without Dre or the neptunes. We wouldn't have Juicy or hypnotize without Puffy.
Songwriting might not stack up to bars when measuring the quality rappers but when measuring the overall quality of the songs. Bad songwriting can cripple a great rapper and great songwriting can gas up wack MCs.
For exame, were both in the Freddie Gibbs thread. You know why Shadow of the doubt seems like a fall off from pinata? It's not because of the trap beats or even the producers. It's because Gibb's songwriting was way better on his last LP. Harold, Thuggin, High, Shame, La, Knicks, were legitimately written/well constructed songs.
Looking at shadow of a doubt, The only truelly memorable song from on the entire album is Freddie Gordy. That's because the song writing on that is fukking amazing. So much so, it sticks out from the rest of the tracklist.
You said it yourself, Gibbs makes the same songs over and over again.
That's the difference Between artists like Drake and artists like Gibbs.
shyt, even Gibbs, a former/possibly active ghostwriter himself, gives Drake props. Dude consistently puts out fully developed songs.
Does that mean that Drake is a better rapper than Gibbs? HELL No.
All it means is that he has a greater ability to construct complete songs.
That's why even though Chris Brown is a way better singer than Frank Ocean. So why does Frank have a certified classic album with Grammys to go with it. Is it because, Chris brown beats women while Frank's beats off men?
Possibly...
Seriously tho,It's because Frank Ocean is an excellent song writer.
Another example, Earl Sweatshirt is a Gifted lyracist while Tyler the Creator is a gifted producer/songwriter. Does that make Tyler the Creator a better rapper? NO. Does that mean, I even like Tyler the Creator as an artist? No.
Are you starting to see the distinction and the greater point I'm trying to make?
15 years into the decade. I can't believe I typed that.
