September 23rd, 2013 
James Shotwell 
Artist: Drake
Album: Nothing Was The Same
Genre: Hip Hop
Label: OVO Sound
For the last five years Drake has more or less been in a league all his own. So Far Gone catapulted him to the forefront of the pop-rap movement at the tail-end of the 2000’s with a sound many would soon imitate, and not long after Thank Me Later solidified his brand as a fixture of urban music landscape. Time passed, a number of fantastic collaborations occurred, and then Take Care was released. It was on that album that Drake fully realized what he was capable of delivering. It wasn’t perfect, but Take Care did offer a cohesive narrative about life in the fast lane that throngs of people connected with even though they could never imagine what it’s really like to live Aubrey’s life, and he’s about to have that same impact again – only better – with Nothing Was The Same.
Having a string of hits as long as your career is more than enough to make anyone a bit cocky, and Drake makes it known he’s aware of his greatness throughout Nothing Was The Same. In fact, the focus of the album seems to be on his love/hate relationship with success, and how no matter what he achieves there is a part of him deep down that still feels incomplete. You could call that intangible thing love, but it’s more complex than that, and fittingly Nothing Was The Same is Drake’s most complex effort to date.
“Tuscan Leather” opens Nothing Was The Same with a summary of every topic and idea that will soon follow on the album, sans hook. Drake spits bars for six straight minutes on everything from realizing your potential to stressing over women, pausing randomly to reflect on his own decadence through imitations of how he thinks haters will react, and in doing so delivers one of the most cocky-yet-honest introductions we’ve heard all year. His boasts are born in fact, not fiction, and he makes sure to note every positive tends to come with a negative.
As exhilarating as the intro is, it’s hard to say the album truly kicks off until “Furthest Thing” begins. “Tuscan” brings you up to speed on Drake’s life, allowing you to more properly digest the material he plans to deliver, but it almost stands alone as its own body of work. It fits into the album well enough, but you could stop there and be satisfied with what’s delivered. “Furthest Thing,” on the other hand, grabs you by the collar into Drake’s ever-tumultuous love life, or at least a metaphor being told through his romantic encounters. Even though Drake just updated us on his life in a way that is equally as relatable as the rest of his body of work, he continuously finds himself in situations where people think he’s changed as a result of his celebrity status. This is a recurring theme throughout the album, but this track is certainly a standout.
Playing off the constant desire to prove he’ still the same man who started this pursuit to glory years ago, Nothing Was The Same begins revisiting ideas and influences from Drake’s early days with “Started From The Bottom.” There isn’t much left to say about this song considering its release was in February of this year, but it does make more sense sonically when heard within the confines of the album’s progression. It’s one of Drake’s most aggressive tracks to date, but it’s laced with an inherent sense of fun that keeps it accessible enough for mainstream fans. “Wu-Tang Forever” counters this aggression ever-so-slightly with the addition of more singing into the mix, but the Southern influence is as prominent as ever, and it continues to play a major role on “Own It” and Worst Behavior.”
Serving as the centerpiece of the album and offering one of Drake’s best lyrical offerings to date, “From Time” is one of the highlights of Nothing Was The Same. The track finds Drake exchanges verses with Jhene Aiko that play like letter between lovers who lost their way (emotionally, not literally). Aiko sends her support to Drake, who then replies giving thanks and offering apologies for his time away. He knows he should be home more, but he’s driven by money and his desire to never let his fans down. It’s one of the most heartfelt moments on the album, and just like “Started” works as a sonic turning point for the record.
“Hold On We’re Going Home” ushers in the back half of NWTS with a pop smash that touches on themes of love and longing that are prevalent throughout the remaining tracks. It’s one of the most accessible songs on the album, which makes it an obvious choice for a single, but it shouldn’t be viewed as an honest portrait of the record as whole. It offers a bright moment of catchy goodness amidst tales of battling inner demons while striving to be everything, but still carries its own offering of sadness under the rhythmic drum-and-bass work.
Slowing things down just a bit, “Connect” again finds Drake struggling to maintain his sense of self when surrounded by the world of celebrity and dealing with a relationship on the rocks. You get the idea the demands of his persona is what is stressing the relationship, but as the story goes on you learn the woman involved has shortcomings of her own. Drake knows this, but he loves her and he’s holding out hope it will one day work out. Classic Drake makes the ladies knees shake material, but the mood does not last long as Drake quickly returns to the aggressive approach of the opening tracks with “The Language.” His flow is a carbon copy of what we heard on the “Versace” remix, but the complexity of the rhymes has increased significantly. It was catchy wordplay from the start, but having now been refined and designed to work within the context of his own song Drake is pushing himself to do more with his abilities. Expect this one to be a single, at least for promotional purposes, in the months ahead.
“305 To My City” is another track that harkens back to the structures found on So Far Gone, only this time the narrative is being told from the perspective of someone whose reached the heights of success that were then only dreams. It’s one of those ‘ride through your city at night with nowhere to go’ Drake tracks you expect a DJ Screw sample to surface on, which was something missing from Take Care. The hook reiterates how Drake remains in his hometown with the people he’s always spent time with, but like much of the album the verses find him struggling to explain this fact to a woman who does not see things the same way.
The true highlight of NWTS‘ back half comes three tracks before the end. “Too Much,” which premiered on Fallon ahead of the album’s release, finds Drake finally addressing the stress of celebrity in a straightforward manner. No more metaphors about broken relationships or reflections on the old days, this is Drake putting his foot down and refusing to let the criticism get to him. He’s not only fed up with the way its broken him down, but how it’s impacted the lives of people around him and pulled him away from their lives. He’s over it, and such a declaration could not come at a better point on the album.
Having overcome his demons, Drake spends the final two tracks of Nothing Was The Same offering music with a decidedly more positive outlook. The first is the monstrous “Pound Cake/Paris Morton Music 2” collaboration with Jay Z which, as most assumed as soon as it was announced, is a definite ‘must hear’ moment for the album. It’s a far cry from their previous collaborative work on “Light Up,” and that’s certainly for the best. Still, as great as this collaboration is, it cannot hold a candle to the good vibrations found on “Come Through.” The closer to an already impressive release, “Come Through” manages to find a medium between Take Care and NWTS that has yet to be covered elsewhere on the record. It’s feel good music with just enough attitude to keep guys hooked while the ladies swoon over Drizzy’s croon that leaves you with a sense of positivity that lingers long after the album has ended.
There are a handful of recurring metaphors and ideas running rampant throughout Nothing Was The Same, and for the most part they’re largely depressing. One of the more positive, creative, and subtle recurrences, however, is Drake’s constant lyrical attempts to align himself with people and things considered iconic. From direct references such as “being on his Wu-Tang” in the aptly title “Wu-Tang Forever,” to reinterpreting Mase’s classic opening lines from “Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems” on “Worst Behavior,” Drake makes countless references and comparisons to major players and songs in hip hop history throughout NWTS in an attempt to further instill the same belief about his work on the listener. Whether or not it works is probably best judged on a case-by-case basis, but it’s certainly inventive, even if the Wizard Of Oz reference in “305 To My City” is bit close to lyrical ‘jump the shark’ moment.
When all is said and done, Nothing Was The Same is no closer to being a perfect album than Take Care, but it is a far more complex offering. Drake knows he could deliver something relatively similar to what he’s done in the past and no doubt find success once more, but instead offers us yet another evolution in his wholly unique approach to pop music that succeeds in ways his previous albums could not. He’s built a narrative out of telling his story, and with this album delivers his most open and honest effort to date. It may sound like he’s more aggressive, and at times his ego still takes center stage, but at its core Nothing Was The Same is an album about a man who often struggles with happiness even though he’s surrounded by a lifestyle most would kill to experience. It’s in finding a way to make that story relatable to millions that Drake has built his empire, and his reign over hip hop has certainly been extended with this release.
Score: 9.5/10
Review written by: James Shotwell (Follow him on Twitter)
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