by Dan O

I spend a lot of time playing scenarios out in my head. It prepares me for all manner of situations but also helps me to consider things in a different way. The one that started this is…what if the unthinkable happens. You’re in a room at a party and Kendrick, Cole, or Drake is just kicking it and because parties are awkward it somehow becomes a conversation between you and Kendrick, Cole, or Drake. For some reason you are not nervous and just talk hip hop. You don’t get nervous and talk just like you would to anyone else and that global superstar gives you a look and asks “What would want me to do next?” Maybe its just messing with you, maybe its crowd sourcing, maybe your goofy intensity about music begs the question…what would I say? Here is my rant response for all three:

Drake: I like Drake most as a collaborative artist but I don’t tend to like his collaborative albums because they are broing out albums. He tends to grab a dude and brag together. The point I would make to Drake is that he lost to himself before he lost to Kendrick. Kendrick didn’t shock us because Pusha had already taken him down. The real issue for Drake is that he established his career as an artist having a genuine dialogue with his female audience, not just heartfelt moments but inside jokes, flirty asides, naughty confessions. All that is gone. He’s turned up the darkness to Count Dracula levels and I’d love to see him give us a full album with a talented woman. My first thought was Latto who is heavily influenced by Drizzy. Her album of last year (Sugar Honey Iced Tea) was my favorite Drake album in years. They’re both confident, can make great hooks and get the best out of collaboration. Doesn’t have to be a rapper though, on the song Wait For You Drake and Tems worked together. A full album collaboration with her would be fantastic for him. Tems has a beautiful voice, can make music that stops time or moves your body but either way she writes and performs with gripping sincerity. Drake has lost a lot of his and could use a punch in the arm. Collaboration albums are chemical mixtures and he needs new names to change the formula.

J. Cole: People lose track of how long Cole has been at work. A large part of his audience connected with him through 2014 Forest Hills Drive in the year 2014. I was listening to The Warm Up, The Come Up, Friday Night Lights all the way back to 2007. This dude has been at his job in the spotlight for almost twenty years now. He’s said a lot of things in a lot of ways. It can get hard to keep your energy and drive in its proper place over that length of time. Luckily, he has one of the most exciting rappers on the planet right next to him. J. Cole needs to do a full album with J.I.D. because they both have what the other doesn’t. Cole can show J.I.D. how to carry a theme through, how to build personal moments with your audience while not sacrificing bangers. J.I.D. can get Cole excited again. The ability to switch speeds, spit on any kind of beat with any collaborator opens things pretty wide in terms of possibilities. Why not? Lots of folks are saying Cole is the 2nd best rapper on his label…ok…plug in the microphones and let’s see. Everyone wins.

Kendrick Lamar: Kendrick is a solitary performer in a lot of ways. He has love for the TDE originals but a lot of his work is Kendrick v. EVERYBODY. The last thing I would recommend is a full collaboration album with another rapper. Even a full collaboration album with a producer might not make sense for him. I would tell Kendrick to gather the smartest people he’s worked with and build a band. Once the band he wants is assembled just start making music. A point I would make is the only way I can give advice to Kendrick is to step out of the time we live in and take a longer view. I’m thinking about David Bowie who grabbed Mick Ronson and Trevor Bolder for his Ziggy Stardust/Aladdin Sane years until he felt that was fully explored. He walked away when it was done and we got the Berlin trilogy with Brian Eno and Tony Visconti. Kendrick has been doing his very best to make each album a fully enclosed world which has been exciting for us, the audience, but it has robbed him of exploring growth within a space. Get a band and enjoy their energy, build something on it and keep building. Have fun doing it. You won’t be alone and we won’t have to miss you.