 I know what you’re thinking. Another Drake Stan. But hear me out do you really hate Drake? Do you really hate Iceman? Let’s break down the word hate. Hate, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as “intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury”. This is when you have to ask yourself, does Iceman bring you fear? Does Iceman bring you anger? Do you think that iceman will cause injury to you? If any of these answers are no, then can you really hate iceman? I would challenge that with maybe you feel strongly about Iceman or you flat out just don’t like it. Kanye West once said that art is supposed to make you feel something and that true failure in art is when an audience doesn't care. So by that definition alone you acknowledge that Iceman is art. It provoked emotion it caused action. It got your algorithm algorithmithing. It got you to care. Can I sit and say that Iceman is a classic. I don’t think so yet. Classics need to breathe. Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt wasn’t deemed a classic when it initially came out but people are still dissecting the bars on that album to this day. What I can say is that the more that I listen to the album, the more I realize it has great replay value and that’s one attribute of a classic album. I think what many people get wrong about artists is that, that them themselves have evolved and the artist that they heard has also evolved, so I don’t think Drake was lying when he said on the song Make Them Know, "that Drake from 2009 I don’t think we’ll be seeing him again." There are people who say that Drake hasn't evolved, but then in the same breath say, they miss the old Drake. To evolve is to change right? So how can you evolve but be the same person? I think it’s up to us as listeners to also evolve in seeing the person as who they’ve become, versus who we have met them as. It’s like anytime you see someone from high school, and you knew them as one thing, but in actuality they’ve grown to be so much more than this one thing that you knew them as. What more do you want? I think that’s one of the questions that I ask. A lot of the people who don’t like the album have this reoccurring criticism that it's not introspective enough, but I think from the very first song "Make Them Cry". Drake shows you how introspective he, and he even speaks on the harsh reality that no matter how deep he digs, they’ll always tell him to dig deeper, which I would say anyone who has listened to his music knows that he's always been introspective. But this one record talks about the things that he's going through in life, like his father battling cancer, or also realizing his uncle's bad decisions and with that the realization now that he’s in this place in his life that he can understand some of those choices. That's life. That's introspection. But what about the bars? And then I think it comes to the bars, like a lot of people criticize Drake and kind of dismisses him for certain bars, mistakenly as surface level, but not realizing that these can be a technique to connect to deeper bars or more technical, more double entendre style, or even set ups for the larger couplet or quartet or of bars. "I swear I’m going looney over tune like that green martian." This one bar alone lets you know Drake's pen is still penning. That's not it though, The Internet is going crazy over all the bars in this album, but I also think that in itself is a marketing strategy. There’s this new marketing role called "clippers", these are Instagram pages, social media pages, and TikTok pages, that are incentivized to post content, sometimes 10 to 40 posts of the topic in order to go viral. Sometimes that's lyric breakdown, sometimes that's funny dances. But what makes this different is that not only do the content creator gets millions views, but they’re also monetarily incentivized to go viral so with each mill views on sites like Vyro and Clipify, and I believe that Iceman did use and benifit from this marketing strategy in order to kind of sidestep the normal music label promotion rollout. Especially since Drake is still in legal litigations against his label Universal. I think he had to come up with a more creative way, and since Drake is very much in tune with the social media age, this new style of clipping clippers is a way for him to not rely on the machine in order to push his album and market it without having to worry if the machine will do its thing, without having to rely on radio interviews and this big tour media circuit tour, which is what typically the artist's label sets up. An interesting perspective was also that Kendrick Lamar used the same strategy to push his albums and his singles, so this is essentially the new way of marketing. Sort of how influencers used to be the new marketing strategy, clippers are the new music marking strategy that even big named artists are using. And this makes sense, especially with the way that the Instagram algorithm has changed to suggest content that it thinks you would like more than the people you follow. What you thinking? But let’s not forget the psychology behind this. The algorithm is what it thinks you like, the algorithm thinks you like Kendrick Lamar more, then it’s going to push Kendrick Lamar and reviews and more Drake hate. And in the same vein, if you like Drake more it will push more Drake music and more Kendrick Lamar hate. The psychology behind that like I said the algorithm is more Content based so it’s suggesting things it thinks you’re interested in it. Also the psychology of the content creators that know that hate gets more eyes and likes, meaning that making a video about something you hate or saying something in a very hateful way is more likely to stir up more emotion more comments, and more interaction than just, talking about things you like. This is sometimes called ragebaiting or click baiting for views. I've seen social media influences at times use ragebaiting to get views where in one since they totally bash Drake and all the music he’s made, but then a couple months down their feed you can see them saying they love his song or they even have one of his songs playing in the background, but as you follow these social media influencers you realize that it's not, that they’re not necessarily in the business to love or hate, they’re in the business to get views. and getting views sometimes mean using psychology, tricks that include ragebaiting and Click baiting. Is this really your opinion? Big K.R.I.T. had a skit on his album Cadillactica called “Classic Interlude” where two men are talking about an album that just got released. The main guy asked the other guy has he heard this new album, and his friend says immediately that the album is a classic. But it's with this one friend's opinion that the main guy agrees. Until he then goes on to talk to a female friend where the same question comes up. This time he answers and says that the album is a classic, however she replies that she wasn't feeling it, and that it was wack. This causes him to again change his opinion and says you know what, you're right, it was wack! Sometimes we’re so quick to be in agreements that we don’t even haven't even formulated our own opinion, which then also causes us to not be confident enough to take a stance on a subject. Right or Wrong, people are more respected for taking a stance instead of being fickle. This kind of goes back to school and how we used to have to write book reports. You started with your thesis statement, and the rest of the report was were you added your supporting sentences or paragraphs to show that you actually have research to back up your theory. I say we do that with albums. Lastly, it takes too much effort to get away from the album. Iceman has already lived rent-free in your head and your algorithm. Go outside and you’ll most likely hear it also. The radio and the clubs are playing the album. Social media is going crazy with it as background music. Even your favorite brunch spot probably has Drake on in rotation. To get away from the album you literally have to stay inside the house. Not impossible, but it’s probably a miserable experience. If it’s music, just let it be music. Use that energy for good. My suggestion. Give the album a chance, go into a room where there are no distractions. Don’t try to turn on your phone and record. Or have some reaction video. Don't even listen to the album with a friend. But do bring a blank piece of paper and ask yourself after every track. How do you feel? How did this music make you feel? Did you remember the hook? Was there a catchy part? What didn’t you like about a particular song? How is the arrangement of songs? if you can articulate those things, then I think you have an adequate opinion on whether you like it or not. Let us know your thoughts on Iceman!
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 Over the past couple of years rap beef has occurred, but it’s mostly been a regional thing where artists from the same city beef over who’s the big dog in that city. There hasn’t really been a big rap beef since the Drake and Pusha T beef. Some might argue that the Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion beef is a major one. To be honest. Both didn’t really give the people what they wanted. The diss tracks seemed to be more like jabs that stung but didn’t really inflict any actual damage. So, I would say that the game has been relatively peaceful. That’s until Kendrick Lamar chose to shake up the game and drop a verse that broke the internet, again. I say again because this isn’t the first time that Kendrick Lamar has broken the internet with just one verse. Many remember the bombshells he dropped on the game in Big Sean’s song, “Control”. In the song he literally called out rappers that he had made songs with and are said to be friends with. It’s not personal. It’s just hip-hop. He even called out Big Sean on his song. And Big Sean’s verse was first, so it was like he just caught this stray bullet that he wasn’t ready for. Now looking at this new verse, ironically it dropped on the same day Big Sean’s new single "Precision" dropped, which is the first single he's dropped in two years, unfortunately it was overshadowed by the release of Kendrick's verse. Literally nobody was talking about Big Sean’s song. It was “Control” all over again:  Now we get to the new verse that shook up the world. I’m talking about “Like That” from Future & Metro Boomin’s new album “WE DON’T TRUST YOU”. But why did Future let this happen? Future and Drake have been long-time collaborators who dropped a joint project together called “What A Time To Be Alive”. Interesting enough, Future didn’t appear on Drake’s most recent album, “For All The Dogs”. On the other hand, Drake did appear on Future’s last album “I Never Liked You”, which may mean something since Drake’s album was the latter album to drop. When it comes to the new album, “WE DON’T TRUST YOU”, something to also note is that Metro Boomin’, who provided most of the production for the album, doesn’t rock with Drake, so this might’ve made it easier for Kendrick to drop the bombshell on this track. Am I my brother’s keeper? This might be the real question that Future may be asking himself as there has been another theory popping up around the internet as to why Future would let Kendrick diss his friend and long-time collaborator, Drake. The theory floating around the internet is that both Drake and Future are involved with the same woman, but Drake has been pillow talking to the woman badly about Future. This may be alluded to in his verse when he spits. “Stickin' to the code, all these hoes for the streets, I put it in her nose, it's gon' make her pussy leak, Pussy niggas told, ain't gon' wake up out they sleep”. Now let’s talk about what you’re really here for. Kendrick. He firs attacks Drake with the line, “Say, it's a lot of goofies with a check”. We all know that Drake is endorsed by Nike, and the check is the trademark logo. So, Drake is Goofy the dog and he's getting checks from Nike. OK Kendrick. Nice bar. Another bar is, ‘Niggas clickin' up, but cannot be legit, no 40 Water, tell 'em”. OK it’s getting hotter. This is another jab where Kendrick is talking about Drake and J. Cole clicking up, while also giving probs to E-40 and B-Legit, who formed the group called "The Click". and that the fact that their clicking up ain’t forreal or ain’t gonna help them be better than him. Also note that the beat used for this song E-40 also used on his song "Look At Me" that featured Juvenile, BG, Lil Wayne, and Birdman. Then Kendrick starts to point his aim more direct with the bar, “Fuck sneak dissin', first person shooter, I hope they came with three switches”. People know that "First Person Shooter" is the name of Drake and J. Cole’s track that was a great song and did numbers. Anyone that knows Kendrick Lamar knows that he is clearly a writer and master of his craft. He loves hip-hop but also like in the line he raps, he’s not afraid to go against hip-hop, “I crash out, like, "Fuck rap," diss Melle Mel if I had to”. Story time, Melle Mel from The Furious 5 (which is a classic hip-hop group) dissed Eminem for being on a Top 5 list but stating that it’s mostly to do with him being white. This made Eminem go against the hip-hop pioneer and drop a diss track calling out Melle Mel for possible steroid drug use. Kendrick Lamar is willing to do the same and go against hip-hop to prove he’s the best. That being both the pop rap that Drake is, or the hip-hop purist that J. Cole is.  Finally let’s break down the most direct bars. Remember Andre 3K was the set-up bar in the “Control” verse, well here it shows itself again. When he says Motherfuck the big three, this is a jab back to Drake and J. Cole’s song “First Person Shooter” where J. Cole says, “Love when they argue the hardest MC, Is it K-Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me?, We the big three like we started a league, but right now, I feel like Muhammad Ali”. I think other rappers would've seen this line as a complement, but that's not Kendrick, who takes this more as a backhanded complement, especially since J. Cole ends the bar saying that he is "The Greatest" aka Muhammad Ali. But again, Kendrick Lamar doesn’t want to be buddy buddy, he says it’s him at the top and him only. "Your best work is a light pack". Kendrick is snapping. Then he says, “Prince outlived Mike Jack”. He is saying that he’s Prince and his career gonna last longer than Drake’s. Again, on First Person Shooter, Drake rapped, “What the fuck, bro? I’m one away from Michael, Nigga, beat it, nigga, beat it, what?”. I would argue thought that J. Cole is more like Prince because he can produce music as well as rap. But back to Kendrick with a direct hit to Drake again, “‘fore all your dogs gettin' buried”. Drake’s album is called “For All My Dogs”. Coincidence. I think not. Especially with this line “K with all these nines, he gon' see Pet Sematary”. Ouuuu!! That’s a crazy triple entre. First K stands for Kendrick who is saying that he is a 10 and with the nines, and that Drake and J. Cole are just nines. Second K with the nines, meaning K-9, which means dog. Then with the nines infers that they have 9mm guns and not the stick he says he has earlier in the verse. Also, in that same line he goes into Stephen King’s novel Pet Sematary to say that that’s where their careers are going to be if they keep fucking with him. And just to put the final nail in the coffin he calls them bums. You can see that there were multiple casualties in this verse. Kendrick went direct which many say First Person Shooter was filled with more subliminals than direct hit. Kendrick going direct. So, there you have it. The verse that shook up hip-hop. Kendrick Lamar is now known as one of those artists that doesn’t say a lot, but when he does, the world stops and listens. This verse is so hip-hop. We didn’t even talk about his tone, his delivery, the iconic sample that was also sampled by Lil Wayne. I wanted to focus on the words. Kendrick made a point in this verse. He kept it hip-hop. He kept it direct. But every action has an equal or in hip-hop’s mind a more powerful and deeper cutting reaction. Hopefully, that means J. Cole will respond. Drake too. Just know they both are now officially on the clock.  What do you do when you’re the king of the music industry? When you’ve slayed most of your enemies? When you’ve reached the pinnacle of what success looks like? And last but not least, when you have stayed on top of the game consistently for a decade? For Drake, this means looking to his son Adonis. If Drake is the king, then Adonis is the heir to the throne. Let’s see what the king has to say. So, Adonis. Who is he? He’s the son of Drake who was pulled from the shadows into the middle of a rap beef. And since he has been seen on everything from tabloids to blogs, to Drake’s social media timeline. Fast forward to today, Adonis has been put into the limelight again but this time it was his art, as seen in the 8 Am in Charolotte video. The video featured Adonis and Drake talking about his drawing. which would become the cover of “For All My Dogs”. Anyone who has heard the 23-track album realized that on “Daylight”, Adonis would make his first album feature as he dropped 8 bars. The internet went crazy. It was actually one of the best features of the album. It was becoming clear that “For All My Dogs” was quickly becoming “For Adonis” as following up the release of the album was Adonis’s debut music video called “My Man’s Freestyle”. Disclaimer: Now let’s be clear. Adonis is only 6 years old. But we have to hold him to a high lyrical degree being that his father is Drake. It’s unfair. But that’s life. So, let’s get into the video. Let’s start with the beat. I was very surprised with the beat selection. Mostly because you would expect some high-tempo drill beat that the new school rappers usually recycle. But this beat is unexpected because It’s got roots in more of a Boom Bap old-school New York-style production, with just enough synth on it to give it a more updated feel or maybe RZA feel. The eerie strings stretch around each bar clearing for a soft landing for Adonis to have fun with the track. The video. I liked the video. It was Adonis with his friends, most likely the basketball team, and the whole team was having fun. It was dope to see Drake also in the video supporting his son and putting a battery in his son’s back. There’s even a part that reminds me of his dad’s videos where the video breaks and Adonis goes into a monologue about how to win the game. That’s classic Drake. It was a posse type of vibe and Adonis was the star. Now let’s get to the bars. The meat and potatoes. Adonis’s pen…. What I liked: I liked that the song was about a kid having fun with his friends. It wasn’t about sliding, it wasn’t about the opps, and it wasn’t some oversexualized video of him chasing grown women. It reminded me of when hip-hop was just fun. When people used to do it for the fun of it and not for the fame of it or for a quick check. What I didn’t like: There wasn’t a lot of substance or metaphors or double entendre's. Some would say that’s OK for a six-year-old who probably has a trust fund larger than what some people will ever make in their lives. But I digress, for Drake standards, I need to see more. On top of that, I would argue that his dad should’ve shown him some type of song structure as some of the bars were repetitive chants instead of the carefully crafted bars we’ve come to know from Drake. He’s six. I understand that the ability to write a compound sentence may be an advanced tool, but hey, he could’ve been given some guidance. But then again, it’s a fun song, and his first song, so maybe the point is he has time to build. The best part of the song by far was the hook. This is the part he obviously gets from his dad. His father has always had a knack for making catchy hooks, and that’s what has always sold records. So, there you have it. Adonis’s song “My Man Freestyle”. He’s officially in the game. It will be interesting to see what happens next with his music career. Also, how will his skills develop as a rapper? The heir to the throne. Just know that heavy is the crown that wears the crown. Let us know what you think of “My Man Freestyle”.  "that's when your idols become your rivals This line comes from Drake’s song “Thank Me Now.” But I don’t think Drake knew how much A.I. would be coming for him. ChatGPT we’ve all heard about it. It’s become the new world changing thing and the new buzzword for 2023. Basically, it’s artificial intelligence or A,I. that a real person can use natural language to ask questions and get answer in seconds. But deeper than that is that It do so much more like, write a book, give you business ideas, or even write this blog post. Well not this one. But the thing that excites most people is just ChatGPT but it’s the boundless wonders of artificial intelligence. We’ve all seen the sci-fi thrillers about computers taking over the world. But no one would’ve seen artificial intelligence coming for the music industry. When we say artificial intelligence taking over the music industry, we’re not talking about a Control verse from Kendrick Lamar that turned the hip-hop game on its head back in 2013. Naw this is even genre less and is truly coming for everybodddyyyyyy!!!! Artificial Intelligence is a game changer for all genre’s just like the CD was to the tape cassette or Napster was to CDs. The thing that’s got the game in a frenzy is Voice Cloning!!! Voice Cloning is defined as the creation of an artificial simulation of a person's voice. Today's AI software methods are capable of generating synthetic speech that closely resembles a targeted human voice. In some cases, the difference between the real and fake voice is imperceptible to the average person. We’re not talking about some funny T-Pain microphone that takes your voice and makes have autotune. No we’re talking about taking your voice and making sound exactly like Drake’s. DRAKKEEEEE!!!! Yes, this is where we are now. No longer are these fairytale movie Mission Impossible relics. These are real life now relics. People are creating songs using AI to create songs using big name artists. Just this year a creator used A.I. to recreate Drake’s voice to be on a track. But he didn’t stop there. He also uploaded it to DSPs like Spotify and Apple Music. Can you do that? The creator quickly found out you can’t after Universal Music Group (UMG) made all DSPs take the song down. Has there ever been an AI artist? There actually has.been one. The most famous being FN Meka who was a rapper that was created by developers that used A.I. to mold him into an artist. The crazy part is that he was even signed to Capital Records, a legitimate human record label. The thing that got him in trouble was the fact that he was a seemingly white avatar who said ‘Nigga’, with his artificial chest. So who should be help accountable? The white developers? Or the technology? Also ironically enough the voice used to rap the lyrics for FN Meka was a black rapper named Kyle The Hooligan. So does that make it better? It’s like a black person being a puppet, who is basically repeating lines from a white person. So if he didn’t write the word nigga but given the script to say it instead. Is that OK? But A.I. isn’t just being used by regular people, big name people are now starting to use A.I. to create music. In early February David Guetta, who is a famus French DJ and producer, used A.I. to recreate Eminem’s voice to be featured on a track and then played this track on one of his dj sets in front of a massive crowd. He noted in an interview how easy it was. Get a 15-second snippet of his voice, then typing the lyrics. And voila. Eminem on a track. He stated that since he’s not uploading this to any DSPs or monetizing of the track that it’s not illegal. But if you don’t get Eminem’s consent. Is it ethical? That’s the question that legendary producer Timbaland looks to answer with the new software he is working on. Earlier this month he dropped used this software to create an original verse with the late legendary rapper Notorious B.I.G., which is a collaboration he’s always wanted to do but never got the opportunity to. But now this new software that uses the coined term “AI voice filters” to create songs. He says this will also be a better option because it will involve the actual people whose voices are being used. Problem solved right? Maybe, only time will tell. A.I. is changing the game. A.I. is here. A.I. is only going to get better. We say it with Napster which eventually another company called Spotify decided to create relationships with the record labels in order to what Napster couldn’t. Now with A.I. it’s really a race to see who can create the relationships with record labels so that A.I. and the music industry can co-exist. And the winners or problem solvers will be millionaires. It’s the people who don’t adapt who will be left behind. But best believe we are only at the tip of the iceberg for what A.I. is going to do to the music industry. Let me know what you think in the comments below.  When it comes to Kanye there is no doubt that his legacy will live as one of the greatest artists ever. When it comes to producers he’s Top 5. When it comes to impact on the culture there’s no doubt he’s Top 5. Let’s be honest here. Kanye West inspired Drake’s style after he dropped his album “808 & Heartbreak”.
Day 7, I know some of ya'll are going from Boyz II Men, and it's almost the end of the road....OK..OK... enough with the song references, lets get to business. Like Jay-Z said, "I'm not a businessman, I'm a business....man...". Don't forget about what you bring to the table anytime you do a deal, inexperience doesn't mean that you should bey on the losing end of the deal, ask Mark Zuckerberg a college dropout who had no business experience. Your inexperience just means that you have to know more and research more than the person across from you about to shake your hand. I A crazy article on this same subject called "Black Teens Are Breaking The Internet And Seeing None Of The Profits" by Doreen St. Felix, explains how black teens are creating content for these major brands to later use to try to market to these same demographics but the teens aren't seeing a penny of it. Remember every time you post a picture of that pair of J's or that new Polo you are marketing for these companies "FOR FREEE", Or everytime your create that new dance or slang that you see in the T-Mobile commercial or Betty White, they are getting paid to say and do these. So why shouldn't you? Whenever you promote someone else's brand you are missing out on opportunities to market your own brand. So be a business, mannn....
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