Drake is a genuinely gifted, one-of-a-kind hitmaker who has released some of the biggest and most impactful songs and albums of my lifetime. But his massive commercial success has created a false equation: a lot of people assume that because he’s the biggest, he must also be the best.
In truth, there are hundreds of MCs who are simply better, with stronger albums, sharper pens, more versatile flows, superior freestyles, and more compelling features. They just refuse to water down their art into the lowest-common-denominator pop-rap that dominates the charts. Authenticity and depth rarely get the same shine as mass appeal, and that’s why the gap between “most popular” and “most elite” has never been wider.
"Being black is a creative act. You have to create your world every single day because the world wasn't built for you. That makes us the ultimate architects."- Andre 3000.
Something I realized about Detroit rappers and from the Midwest in general is that they don’t really focus on mainstream success, they just wanna get money. And they can get money from being loved in their hometowns