It's a really great song, I encourage everyone to hear it! I've posted it below:
The song tells the story of a man reflecting on the relationship that he had with his ex-girlfriend and it is written almost like a letter to her, as is typical of a Drake ballad. Here, he vents about some of the things that they went through that made them drift apart as a couple and he also hopes to have her reflect on her actions as he sings phrases like..."Remember?
I deleted all my other girls' numbers out the phone for you
Remember?
When you had to take the bar exam
I drove in the snow for you
You probably don't remember half the shit a n**ga did for you"
Yeah, you ain't really f*ck with me way back then
But how 'bout now?
Cause I'm up right now, and you suck right now
Oh, you thought you had it all figured out back then
But how 'bout now?"
"Yeah, man enough to tell you I was hurt that year
I'm not even Christian, I still went to church that year
Guess I just had to pretend that year
I ain't even see my friends that year"
As if these verses didn't express the level of emotion that he is feeling, the interlude sang phrases like, "My heart belongs to you. Whatever you need. There's nothin' I won't do," despite the resentment he apparently feels for his ex.
This is not the first time Drake releases a song where he wears his heart on his sleeve. He's pretty notorious for owning his emotions and singing to his exes or whichever girl he is sprung on at the moment. This tendency to wear his heart on his sleeve has even gotten him quite the reputation of being hyper-sensitive to women's feelings, his own, and sensitive in even minor romantic situations. This reputation can be observed in a variety of ways, one notable one being social media such as Twitter accounts dedicated to mocking the "type of ni**a that Drake is" and memes frame Drake as a man who dates girls for their personality rather than their looks and who is in constant touch with his emotions. In this way, I would definitely consider Drake to be challenging society's perception of what men typically do in relationships, especially those in the rap game.In this particular song, even though he directs his words to his ex in kind of a condescending way, I would argue that this song still positions him in a vulnerable state considering the fact that he is opening up about resentment which here is a strong emotion that stemmed from the love that he once felt for his lover or still might feel.
I thought about Anne Bader's analysis of love songs and wondered if any of the myths that were featured in her work applied to this ballad. I thought that there was more in the song to challenge myths and traditional roles of men and women in relationships than to reinforce these myths. However, although I did not consider there to be many of the myths present in this song, I would argue that certain elements of some could still be considered to be present in it. For example, the background of the song is the idea that Drake was with this woman before he "got big" and she didn't appreciate what he did for her throughout their relationship. He makes it a point to see the contrast before and after his fame and fortune. In this sense, I would consider there to be some relation to the myth number 6: The man should not be weaker, younger, poorer, or less successful than a woman. Because here Drake has a flashback of when he was just a struggling rapper and she was an upcoming lawyer-to-be, I could see how the woman in this situation is in more of a position of power and success. It mentions that she didn't "really f*ck" with him back then, which could be a way to refer to the idea that it didn't work out between the two of them because she didn't take him seriously professionally. However, this is only implicit and a subjective interpretation, not explicit.
Other than this, I would say that we might overall see more aspects of the song that challenge myths rather than reinforce them. I would consider that it challenges the myth that a partner is predestined or that love prevails despite bickering, etc. considering the fact that here we see a torn relationship and the aftermath of that relationship ending in success. I also think it challenges myth number 9: all you need is love, even if you and your lover have different values, because again, this relationship appears to have been torn apart in part because of the woman's failure to take him seriously at the beginning of his career, before the success.
I also find it relevant to think about Taylor's Cads and Dads article because I think Drake is a very strange intersection of a Cad and a Dad, with the Dad persona prevailing more than the Cad according to the many memes about him. From what we know in Taylor's research, a dad type would be a man who is romantic, emotionally stable, committed, and invested in the relationship. Meanwhile, a Cad would be one who is sexually aggressive and experienced, less inhibited, and more superficial. (Taylor, 2008) Although other Drake songs would definitely frame him as a Cad, in this particular song he frames himself as more of a person who saw potential in the relationship but whose effort was not met or reciprocated by his partner. He was committed and cared about her well-being and put her first as we see in lyrics such as "When you had to take the bar exam I drove in the snow for you. You probably don't remember half the shit a n**ga did for you." Through this, we see Drake in a position where he would do anything for her, a sacrifice a Dad type would definitely take.
All in all, I would consider Drake's fame and lyrics to be really important to the "rap game." In a sphere where women are constantly degraded and men often feel the need to be hyper-masculine and assert their dominance, especially over women, Drake is a step forward in this genre for men to see women for more than their bodies. We see a rapper who is more open and in touch with his feelings than we are used to. Because of this, I think he definitely challenges hegemonic masculinity as he is sensitive, emotional, committed, and invested in relationships. He tends to see women for more than their bodies. Yes, Drake also has other songs where he is a womanizer and refer to women in ways that are just as detrimental as other rappers such as Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz, but at least he is versatile and does not only frame them as disposable "hoes." I think this song is a prime example of how he challenges the norm, especially within the rap/hip-hop genre and in my opinion he is an important trail blazer that will contribute to the idea that it is okay to be one with your emotions, even though you're also a thug with connects. Despite the memes and society's attempt to discipline his masculinity, Drake continues to put out music that is distinct from what we see other rappers do.
Works Cited
Taylor, D. Laramie. (2008). Cads, Dads, and Magazines: Women’s Sexual Preferences and Articles about Sex Relationships.
Bader, A. (2007). "Love will steer the stars" and other improbable feats: Media
myths in popular love songs. In M.-L. Galician & D. L. Merskin (Eds.), Critical thinking
about sex, love, and romance in the mass media (pp. 141-160). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum.
Yeah I definitely think Drake has defined his own niche within the hip hop genre with a more realistic masculine perspective and although a lot of people make fun of Drake for defining himself that way, he has really owned it and he has a huge fanbase. The funny thing is, I think it's the consumers of music that are actually in the dark here because I think if all hip hop artists had their way, they would actually tend to write more like Drake, but their comparative lack of agency might force them to continue writing the same cookie-cutter types of songs. But maybe as Drake continues to succeed with his brand of music, other producers may be convinced that there may be another winning formula to music and perhaps it will help to mediate the existing heterosexual scripts as well.
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