Drake ‘Scorpion’: Wading Through Fake Love

By Marcos Léon and Matt Ford

Drake’s fifth studio album Scorpion, the cover for which was shot by Norman Wong. The album dropped June 29.

Scorpion feels like the kind of directionless relationship that Drake has made a career singing about. Drake promises greatness and leaves us, and the women that he pretends to love, hoping. In the aptly named “Is There More?”, Drake admits that he “only tell lies to who [he] gotta protect.”

He’s afraid of confronting the truth of his relationships; or maybe, the 31-year-old still doesn’t know what he wants from them. So he lies to “protect” the women who love him.

Marcos: He comes at his music the same way. He doesn’t know what to do other than maintain the images he thinks we want, which is why his last three projects have had something for everyone.

It’s clear that he isn’t hard enough for the thug image he’s been faking since “Started From the Bottom.” Even his sensitive side feels more emotionally manipulative than honest at this point. But if you shed those images, fans would be disappointed, or hurt, with what’s left of Drake.

So he “protects” us by lying.

Matt: Nonetheless, these characters keep him in our ears. Like most of the songs that dominate the charts, his songs are increasingly vapid, maintaining a pop structure that continually redirects listeners to scraps of their innermost emotions with a just-enough hard-hitting beat. It’s a trap.

Kiki, do you love me? Are you riding?

Say you’ll never ever leave from beside me

Cuz I want ya, and I need ya

And I’m down for you always

Drake’s lackluster consistency as both an artist and lover can be summarized in the hook (and title) of “In My Feelings”. Drake sings to girls who would likely answer his question of requited love with a resounding “No.” And quite honestly, when I first heard the hook, I was reminded of the opening lines of blink-182’s “All the Small Things”.

But issa bop. Like most Drake songs.

It’s no surprise that “In My Feelings” jumped to the top spot on the Hot 100 only two weeks after Scorpion’s release, with no promotion. We know in our hearts and in our summer (and winter) playlists that the nigga can produce a mean song.

Marcos: That’s the issue with Drake. He really does make enjoyable music, but when it comes to albums he tosses together a bunch of disconnected singles. There’s no thread to tie these songs together.

Lyrically, all he needs is a couple quotables like, “I only love my bed and my mama.” It doesn’t matter if his lyrics contradict each other, and some of the beats are so mismatched that it’s clear they weren’t made to go together.

Matt: Drake starts “Nice For What”, undeniably one of the biggest, best-produced ass-shakers of the year, with the line, “I know shortie and she doesn’t want no slow song.”

As Drake would have it, “Nice For What” is sandwiched between a bunch of slow songs on the B side of the album, the entirety of which is a juxtaposition of the fast songs on Side A.

So my first question to Drake is… Why is “Nice For What” not on Side A? And better yet, why does Side A begin with four slow songs?

Marcos: Drake is built on inconsistencies. He sells social media culture and then says he was hiding his son because of social media culture. Videos like “Hotline Bling” and “God’s Plan” are meant to use social media to add to his image, and Drake is the best at meme marketing.

His reasoning of not wanting to expose his son to this shit is reasonable, but it also feels like a convenient excuse. His image has been one of a goofy yet honest dude. Pusha called him for not being all that open, and this line is damage control.

Matt: He was hiding the woman too. He got her pregnant after singing for years about hookups, traveling to see women, having feelings this one and that one — and now he hides this woman too.

Marcos: Drake is tired; the beats are tired of carrying his weak lyricism, his words are tired of finding new ways to say the same shit, and he seems tired of waiting for someone else to crown him.

Pusha handed him a chance to revitalize his image. He could have come honest or hard. Instead he goes back to the same old bullshit. Who goes through conflict, let alone such high profile your-kid-revealed-to-the-world conflict, and comes out exactly the same?

Matt: Drake never promised substance. He promised “greatness” in the costume of honesty. Because in this age, honesty sells if nothing else does. He uses confessional culture to make his bands and relate to his audience.

But after a while, even his relatability fades as he sings and semi-raps about the same heartbreaks and mistakes from which he has never grown.

SUGGESTED TRACKLIST:

Side A

1. Survival
2. Nonstop
3. Nice For What
4. God’s Plan
5. 8 Out Of 10
6. Blue Tint
7. In My Feelings

Side B

1. Summer Games
2. Emotionless
3. Can’t Take a Joke
4. Mob Ties
5. After Dark (feat. Static Major & Ty Dolla $ign)
6. Sandra’s Rose
7. March 14