Drake never really goes away. Since his star turn in 2009 with his So Far Gone mixtape, the Toronto titan has turned himself into a one-man factory of music. Whether it’s via official albums (Thank Me Later, Take Care, Nothing Was The Same, Views, Scorpion) Soundcloud loosies (“0 to 100/The Catch Up”), a “playlist” LP (More Life), collaboration projects (What A Time To Be Alive), culled together outtakes (Care Package, Dark Lane Demo Tapes), guest appearances (“Amen,” I’m On One,” “Life Is Good,” etc.) or his Scary Hours digital EP series. Drake has used his ubiquity over the past decade to transform the sound of pop music writ large, all the while expanding his personal real estate on the charts. His melange of melody, rap and crooning as he explores the inner-working of his psyche has went from innovative to becoming de rigueur for the next generation of rappers (Young Thug, Lil Uzi Vert, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, to name a few who’ve sampled from the Book of Aubrey Graham). For all this effort, he was honored as the Artist of the Decade by Billboard earlier this year, where he gave a memorable speech. “I rarely celebrate anything,” he told the audience. Instead, he offered advice about his come up. “It’s being so unsure how you’re getting it done, that you just kind of keep going in hopes of figuring out the formula. Feeling so lucky and blessed that the fear of losing it keeps you up at night.”
He closed by adding that he’s spent an “incalculable amount of hours trying to analyze what I did wrong.”
