Scorpion

Double albums used to be common before the digital age beckoned and during those days, it suited the format of the album and the CD, because the delineation is clearly seen between the two albums because of the packaging. Also, it was a way for artists to easily get to #1 in the US charts because each album was counted as two. However, in this age of streaming and downloads, a double album like Drake’s Scorpion is not immediately noticeable and to people like me who have to plow through 25 songs without sensing any clear difference between one and the other, the task would seem so tedious. Unless of course, if one was a big Drake fan, this double album would be an absolute buffet feast for them! Congratulations though to Drake, because in my research, all 25 songs in this album charted in the US charts top 100 list. Imagine that! And to top that, seven of them went all the way to the top 10, with three of them going all the way to #1. I will talk about those songs later and why they do deserve to be at #1 in the singles chart. I think Drake’s motivation to release this much material was just to break streaming records and to capitalize on his still highly popular state. Otherwise, if he wasn’t that famous anymore, half of these songs would’ve been released much later as an album containing songs from a long-bygone recording session. Overall, I find the album a bit self-indulgent as the subject matter is mostly about Drake himself – his life, his fame, his kid, his love messages for his kid, his past relationships – it’s self-indulgent to say the least. I mean, if this is the direction rap is going to these next few years, that would be terrible for the genre. Admittedly the album has some very good songs (that’s why some of them went to #1), but should all the musings of a musician be converted into a full song – and should the public be allowed to suffer through them? Drake can just Instagram or tweet his feelings. That would save us from plowing through 12 or 13 songs of dullness and “It’s all about me, me, and me.”

Ok, quick story time (trust me this is going to be worth it). We all know the story about the Scorpion and the Frog right? A Scorpion asks a Frog to for help across a lake, the Frog worries the Scorpion will sting, the Scorpion says “nah trust me fam I really need to get across this lake because I can’t swim” and then ends up stinging the Frog halfway across the lake while telling him “I’m sorry but it’s my nature” and they both drown. It’s a pretty dark story to hear as a child but the point of it is clear: Frogs don’t make good decisions. But more importantly, when someone has shown you who they are, believe them the first time; because if you’re relying on them to be different in a key moment, you’re likely to be disappointed. This is how I feel about listening to Drake albums. Drake always gets us hype and expecting a classic only to then stings us with something surprisingly mediocre. As luck would have it, Drake named his album Scorpion. Let’s get into it.