The new Drake video just came out and I have to confess that it shocked me. Nothing about the video is alarming. The shocking part of it is really just the juxtaposition of that entire scene and sound with, well, Drake the culture vulture.
Aubrey “Drake” Graham is a Canadian rapper who entered and dominated the rap game for most of the 2010s. Or at least, that is what a lot of people think. Judging from his track record, I think Drake is an artiste without an identity.
If fans are going to drag the Kardashians for cultural appropriation, they might as well drag Drake for being a chameleon, morphing into whatever sound is trendy at any given time.
Today we are going to talk about Drake the culture vulture.
First of all, what is a culture vulture?
According to Cassius Life, a culture vulture is the descriptor of one who appropriates the art, creativity, and style of others, most often for their own benefit (and, at worst, in a way that serves no value to the originators of whatever cultural product, tradition or practice was lifted.)
That said, you can see why someone like Kim Kardashian would be called a culture vulture. She has a long history of appropriating and channeling black women without giving credit where it is due.
An example is the “Bo Daniels braids” controversy, the “Kardashian boxer braids” controversy, and most recently, the Diahann Caroll controversy.
Taking from this example, can you now see how Drake is a culture vulture? No? Let’s take a look at his music history.
Drake’s music history
Drake’s early mixtapes were heavily influenced by American rappers like Jay-Z and Clipse. He got Lil Wayne’s attention after he remixed one of Wayne’s songs. He later got signed to Young Money Entertainment and released his best-selling debut album “Thank Me Later” in 2010.
The album saw Drake singing and rapping on the album and this was considered to be his thing because it earned him a lot of certified hits like “Find Your Love” and “Over”.
His follow-up albums “Take Care”, “What A Time To Be Alive”, and “Nothing Was The Same” were of the same sing-rap style, with Drake becoming a Billboard darling and a mainstay in the American hip-hop industry.
Then came “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late” and “Views” which were more trap-like, as was the trend in 2015/2016.
“Views” also saw Drake experiment with dancehall and Carribean sounds. But is Drake Jamaican or Carribean? No.
One might argue that in a dynamic music scene, you either adapt or die. But I argue that there is a difference between adapting and wearing someone else’s skin.
Listen to “One Dance” below:
“One Dance” featuring Wizkid was a dancehall and Afrobeats-infused hit single that would be the first of many Afro-Carribean appropriations. Just take a look at “More Life”
Needless to say, Drake has been accused of drastically changing his sound a lot of times.
War
Drake’s new song “War” was released at midnight on Christmas Eve. In this song, Drake shouted out his fellow Canadian singer The Weeknd as the two appear to put aside their beef, which allegedly stemmed from Bella Hadid.
“War” features Drake with a noticeably new flow, a grime flow. He makes the video in a blue-lit house party setting as is typical of grime rap.
Check out the video below:
Grime is a subgenre of hip-hop that has its origins in the UK. The founders of Grime are the children of the Windrush generation.
The Afro-Carribean influence from their first-generation immigrant parents is the reason why the British accents of Grime rappers differ greatly from the accents of normal British people.
Rappers in this category include Skepta, Stormzy, Michael Dapaah, and even Wiley, who doesn’t like Drake very much. The founders and gatekeepers of grime all seem to come from a very specific cultural background.
This is what makes it surprising when African American/Jewish Canadian-born Aubrey does not let the beat breathe before spewing the patterns he has copied from a movement he does not know the half of.
Following the acclaim Stormzy is receiving in America, Drake might just be trying to hop on this new trend without respecting its roots or how it developed. He cannot just don an entire culture like a new T-shirt everyone is wearing.
Or maybe he just suffers from a lack of identity…
Drake has often talked about struggling with his identity due to his multiracial background and the transition from being Canadian to being American.
And at some point in everyone’s life, we all did some things that were popular for the sole aim of being loved and accepted. But is Drake still searching for an identity at 33?
Most artistes tend to experiment with different sounds until they find themselves. But with a career that spans over a decade, is Drake actually unsure of his own sound or is he just a charlatan, pandering to whatever sounds good at any given time?
What are your thoughts on this? Comment below.