Toronto’s own puts the city back in the spotlight with the leak of Drake’s third full-length album, Nothing Was the Same. The record merges the celebratory champagne-and-bottles hype of his debut Thank Me Later with the confessional self-awareness of Take Care — a new taste to the rapper’s signature cocktail of boasting and lamenting about the facets of fame. The intricacies of its production deserve not only a special mention, but a standing ovation. Drake acknowledges the underground subculture within the music industry by collaborating with Scottish trap producer, Hudson Mowhawke. While Hudson Mohawke leaves distinct fingerprints throughout the soundscapes of Nothing Was the Same, Drake still exudes intense bravado in ‘Worst Behaviour,’ where Kanye West’s undoubtable influence seeps from reworked samples of an old record. With 40, James Blake, and Jay-Z contributing to the audio engineering of Nothing Was The Same, the album successfully unifies the hood and the hip in Drake’s audience.
