Oh, Aubrey Graham.
If there’s one thing that can be said for 2015, it’s that it’s the year of Drake.
The artist has graduated to a peak version of himself and delivered the goods musically, socially and physically. He’s always delivered the musical goods, but 2015 is special. If rumors are true, it could get even better.
This year, Drake gave us a new beard, a new body and new beef, and we’ve lapped up every second of it.
To start off his dominating year, he released the surprise mixtape “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late” in February. It seems like forever ago, but the tape hasn’t gotten old or lost replay value.
Listeners seem to agree. It became the first platinum album of the year, selling more than a million copies, and was recently crowned the best selling digital album of the year. There’s been some debate as to whether “If You’re Reading This” is a mixtape or an album, but Graham himself refers to it as a mixtape, so tape it is.
The mixtape wasn’t the only reason fans were excited.
During the summer, Drake debuted a super buff body and glorious beard, eliciting everyone’s thirst. In July, media outlets began posting write-ups with titles like People’s “Drake’s New Shirtless Instagram Photo Has the Internet Cyber-Drooling,” VH1’s “When Did Drake Become Such A Bae?” and Buzzfeed’s classic “Drake’s Body Is Destroying Lives.”
For Drake, life was good to say the least.
Then in late July, a Twitter rant changed everything. Meek Mill got all in his feelings and all hell broke loose. He accused Drake of not writing his own raps and told people not to compare him to Drake. Not sure who would ever compare Meek Mill to Drake, but that happened.
In the midst of all the craziness, everyone was perched waiting for Drake’s response, and Champagne Papi came through. He released not one but two diss tracks, and both of them were all over the Billboard and iTunes charts. The first track, “Charged Up,” was a calmly delivered warning and the second, “Back to Back,” was vicious. On “Back to Back,” Drake gave fans classic lines, including “Is that a world tour or your girl’s tour?” and “Trigger fingers turn to Twitter fingers.”
Meek Mill was clearly not at all prepared for Graham’s vengeance and didn’t even have his own diss track to fire back with. For days, “Charged Up” and “Back to Back” were the elephants in every room Meek Mill entered.
When he finally did respond with a track, it was with “Wanna Know,” an unintelligible mess of mumbling which did Meek Mill no favors. Drake was declared the hands down winner of the beef, and Meek Mill hasn’t been the same since.
At his sixth annual OVO Fest, Drake destroyed Meek Mill with a PowerPoint presentation of Internet memes making fun of the rapper. Drake also fired up fans with a tease of a possible third diss track, “3 Peat.” He never released the track, but knowing it exists is enough to see that the 6 God is ready if anyone tries him again.
He also released “Hotline Bling” with the diss records, a song that is smashing the charts and is rumored to get the music video treatment.
After the Meek Mill situation simmered down, we all thought Drake would lay low for the rest of the year. Drake had other ideas.
Rumors of a Drake and Future mixtape began swirling, and on Sept. 20 trap dreams came true. “What a Time to Be Alive” was released, and it was a perfect combo of Future’s sound and Drake being Drake.
The tape featured some great tracks, including “Diamonds Dancing” and “Jumpman,” the latter of which can be heard blasted in cars everywhere. It also hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200. What a time to be alive, indeed.
It’s possible that Drake is still not done. He has been alluding to the upcoming release of his next studio album “Views from the 6” all year long. He hasn’t yet given a release date, but it’s believed that the album will drop before the calendar hits 2016.
Drake recently teased fans at Austin City Limits Music Festival, saying his album will come out soon and he’ll spend the rest of the year perfecting it, sending them into a frenzy.
At this point, fans are dying of thirst for “Views from the 6,” and when it drops, the Internet will surely crash. Who knows what the album will sound like, but the anticipation is overwhelming. “Views” would have been highly anticipated regardless, but all that Drake has done already this year has certainly enhanced expectations and enthusiasm.
Even if “Views” isn’t released this year, Drake has officially transcended the limiting label of “rapper” and simply become an artist.
No artist has done or accomplished more than Drake in 2015, and it’s time to recognize his brilliance and appreciate him being on top of his game.