Rarely should I go out and do this, but I felt like sparking some discussion. Given his most recent, and even though, electrifying mixtape drop So Far Gone, Drake has already established himself under the wing of hip hop's biggest star, Weezy, and has received the co-sign from many legends and current hip-hop studs. For a guy who began on Degrassi, the look and the appeal was there. He threw in a rap voice and some great lyrical ability to pretty much complete his threat. Is it correct to say that he's got the potential to be, not only the largest selling Canadian Hip Hop Artist, but simply, the most known Canadian hip hop artist ever?
The fact is this ; I've heard more about Drake from the usa than I have from Canada's own. To assert that any other artist north of the boarder has received as much buzz and anticipation for a debut album may be incorrect in comparison to Drake. If you glance at the most successful Canadian artist, you'll find some great emcees : Maestro Fresh Wes ( The Godfather of Canadian hiphop ), Saukrates ( Multi-dimensional musical genius ), Kardinal Offishall ( envoy of Canadian hip-hop ), K-os ( simply one of Canada's premier emcees ). With all of this talent, it may be hard to figure out how or what Drake has that should shoot him to the top.
The answer is easy. Lil'Wayne. Drake hasn't only hip hop's biggest star at his disposal, but music's biggest star. Whether he makes a decision to ride the coat-tails of Weezy's success is up to Drake, but it feels like he already has enough of a stir going with him under Interscope without even putting out an album. With over 80,000 mixtape downloads of So Far Gone ( with a variety of download links the number may be higher ), i find it very hard to say that any of the already mentioned Canadian artists, let alone an artist of any area code, could pull that off. I continue to remember when he put out two joints alongside younger brother ; he was hardly a final thought despite his massive amount of potential and talent. Now, the issue is not talking about him and fitting him into that Weezy mode of always being a subject of conversation.
Sure, while those formerly discussed artists have had tremendous success across the boarder, some fizzed out too soon ( Maestro ) and some took a while to get there ( Kardinal ). Drake appears to have been as loud as ever without ever making any noise. I do not wish to come across like I am riding this guy ( or take anything away from those Canadian hop hop legends ), I'm sure the ego is maybe boosting on the daily, but I think like notwithstanding the standard of his music he is going to be on top or at the very least round the top for some time for reasons that might or might not have anything to do with music.
Canada is piled high with talent, and if you have spotted, KevinNottingham.com has been hard at work promoting some hip-hop from America Junior, as Homer Simpson calls it. Sadly , I can say that Drake potentially will not have that Canadian Artist- Drake label attached to him for too much time, like how K'naan has been developing in Europe and East Asia and even in parts of the US. The small bit of it all is that if and when Drake does release an album, we can potentially expect BET's numerous countdown lists to feature him, for all of the girlies to go nuts, and for all of the dominating male hip-hop heads to give him his daps. He has a ton of appeal and will certainly develop amongst even the smallest hip hop fans, just like his clear partner in crime, Weezy, has.
