matteo.herrera@spartans.ut.edu
New music, new trends, new culture, new everything, there is something new every day, but not as impactful as music.
Music connects the world, there are various genres, but there are songs or albums that get the people going. However, just like everything else, there has to be a debate on the topics. It has come to my attention that Drake and Kanye both released long-awaited albums. Kanye released Donda while Drake released Certified Lover Boy (CLB) just a week later.
“Donda was too long, and the features were better than him,” said Lucas Chaparro, University of Tampa student. “Drake had great solo songs in CLB, and the features were great, which weren’t overpowering drakes verses.”
I’ll provide a little back story of the tension between these two rappers. If you didn’t know by now, people found out about Drake having a child because a rapper, Pusha T, who works under Kanye, released a song exposing Drake’s son.
Drake allegedly told Kanye his secret of having a child and trusted him with that information. Rumors started to spread that Kanye spread that secret. If you go back and read Drake’s lyrics on his song “Sicko Mode”, you can analyze that he was speaking about the directions to get from Kanye’s house to his. Drake was hinting that Kim Kardashian cheated on Kanye with Drake.
Do you remember the lyric “Kiki do you love me?” Drake could have been referencing Kim Kardashian again because that is her nickname.
It was anticipated that it was somewhat of a standoff between the two on who would release their latest album first. However, whoever released first technically lost because those who listened to Kanye would go to Drake’s album to listen to his work.
“In my opinion, CLB takes the cake,” said Jakob Bernheisel, UT student. “It was an album that allows people to be able to sing along and play at any function… however, Donda didn’t have this, it just felt repetitive in the long run.
There are amazing songs on both of them. From Kanye’s, I would say “Hurricane” was a masterpiece of a song, as well as “Praise God,” “Moon,” “Off the Grid” and so much more. In addition, Kanye kept the album with Christianity values, none of the songs on the album curse. There are no explicit songs on Donda.
“I feel both Drake’s CLB and Kanye’s Donda are the albums of the year,” Joseph Thorton, UT student.
“That being said, Drake’s album is better because Drake’s style of rap is easier on the listener’s ear…combined with the classic beats that Drake built his identity on, CLB gave me exactly what I wanted whereas Donda, unfortunately, did not.”
My favorite has to be “Way 2 Sexy” on Drake’s album, but others could also get a party going such as “Knife Talk,” “Girls Want Girls,” “Fair Trade,” and others. However, if you want something similar to Kanye’s “Moon,” then listen to “IMY2” from CLB.
“Kanye has for years been seen as one of the “GOATs” in producing and album creation; his tenth studio album is no different, this album is filled with stellar features, like Travis Scott, The Weekend, and Roddy Rich,” said Andrew Elman, UT student. “The same could be said for Drake’s album…he let the music speak for itself.”
In conclusion, I would rate the albums both nine out of ten. They are both equally impressive in their ways.