In early 2009 the Canadian acting child star-turned-R&B singer/rapper, Drake released a third official mixtape. This, entitled “So Far Gone”, was by far the most significant as the Young Money signee showed that under the wing of label owner Lil’ Wayne, he could become the next big thing in the game as he brought this, complete with a couple of tunes which have le to his success and breakthrough.
1. “Lust For Love” (Intro)
2. “Houstonatlantavegas”
The mixtape really gets underway with this one as here you find that Drizzy gets down to one where he shows off his skills when it comes to delivering some powerful, soulful R&B vocals as he gets into one where he likens a girl in the club to three of USA’s big hotspots. It is a seductive song, and although it could be regarded as unengaging, the calm start warms you up and progresses as towards the later end he raps a little too.
**Four Stars**
3. “Successful”
With this, he drops into one of the artist’s big singles as he is seen to work with two names who are known to associate heavy with him as he gets ATL’s bad boy R&B singer Trey Songz joining him, in addition to New Orleans’ Lil’ Wayne, and Weezy shows just how Drizzy should mould his rhymes (although not through any actual raps) as they do things on some cold synth and deep snares to pull out the energy within it as he talsk of his game plan.
**Five
Stars**
4. “Let’s Call It Off”
This one follows on well from the tune prior to it as after some raps, he returns to singing with this one and is seen to do things in a way where he is able to explore alternative genres as he is joined by vocalists from a Swedish Indie Rock band, and they seem to move things on quite a bit as he lays down a breakup song. I felt that the guests overpowered things to the point I was put off, but I can still see the appeal.
**Three Stars**
5. “November 18”
Sampling words from The Notorious B.I.G.., this is a hardcore tune where Drizzy jumps on top of some throwback backs from DJ Screw. It is a killer tune and shows that he’s down for just about anything as he raps on some cold Dirty South beats from the nineties and has half of his rhymes screwed to reflect the pace of H-Town and the sort of music which made it such a unique city for the Hip Hop it produced (especially at that time).
**Five Stars**
6. “Ignorant S**t”
With this one you see that Drake jumps on top of a Just Blaze composition from Jay-Z’s “American Gangster” album (given in the title) and with this Isley Brothers “Between The Sheets”-based song, you get one which has him assisted by Weezy, who comes with some fresh rhymes to really back up the main artist and show exactly where he could possibly take things if he continues the way he is currently going with his raps.
**Five Stars**
7. “A Night Off”
Atlanta’s Lloyd helps out Drake on this oen as you get a seductive song where he makes full use of this added R&B singer’s abilities as he gets on more of the unique style of beats which you have from Noah “40” Shebib, which really appear to have a lot of inspiration taken from the late Houston producer DJ Screw (who innovated the Chopped & Screwed sound of the city and the surrounding area.
**Four Stars**
8. “Say What’s Real”
With this one you have Drake showing that there was at least someone who actually became inspired by what was brought on Kanye West’s odd, alternative “808s & Heartbreak” album from 2008 as he gets on some beats from it in this one and he comes out with a pretty fresh joint where he goes hard with the raps and makes sure that he makes an impact with this in just the way he clearly did with great R&B vocals elsewhere on the album.
**Five Stars**
9. “Little Bit”
Here you have a tune which shows more of his alternative work as he gets into one where he does things on top of some haunting, electronic production to put across the fact that he is far ahead of what is occurring in the game at this current time. It is one which you need to take time with as at first I really wasn’t having any of it, but over time I did become much more tolerable of it (although I can’t say I really liked it as others).
**Two Stars**
10. “Best I Ever Had”
This one was quite simply the biggest song off the album and one which just had to be included on his first official album as he comes up with a killer joint which merges his skills at singing and raps for a fly joint which has him speaking on the one girl who did it that extra bit better than all the others he’s been with. If you are familiar with this one, then you are likely to be taken aback when you here the explicit version you get here.
**Five Stars**
11. “Unstoppable”
On this one you get a track which shows just how far he differs form others in the game as he gets down to one where he lays down some of the biggest verses on fresh beats which reflect recent trends in the game (which seems to all have been initiated by Lil’ Wayne and his third ‘Carter’ edition, and you find more flows form him here, and with it he seems to just have fun with it and take it to the girls.
**Five Stars**
12. “Uptown”
You have yet more from Lil’ Wayne on this one, but in addition to this you get a welcomed name in UGK’s Bun B as he joins the two of them to show how OGs get down to this progressive Rap material as they jump on top of beats which take on heavy influence from the Houston scene, as well as the general Dirty South to show how he can’t really identify a specific Canadian sound with the music which he bring on this mixtape.
**Five Stars**
13. “Sooner Than Later”
In this one you get a bit of a change in the music as you see that in this one he gets on his R&B thing and chooses that it is appropriate to make the auto-tuning prominent in the music (although not as heavy as what T-Pain, Weezy or Kanye are known to) and so it makes for a song which has a feeling of being futuristic, but is held back by traditions, and this is kept in check especially through the piano work behind it.
**Five Stars**
14. “Bria’s Interlude”
15. “The Calm”
In the final proper musical tune on the album, you get a song which has Drake getting down to one where he is able to express all he wants to with this concept record as he expresses it in the most clear manner (through raps) about what the album was designed to do and how he hopes it can across to the listeners. It is a fly tune and one which reflects the great journey he has gone through over the years.
**Five Stars**
16. “Outro”
Although I can’t claim to like everything that you get form this mixtape, the majority of it is of a very high standard and one which gets him showing that there is a new rising in the music world, and he is amongst many who wish to represent it as he drops a tune which shows him working to his full potential both singing and rapping in a style which is far ahead of its time and has to be compared to “Tha Carter III” from Lil’ Wayne in 2008.
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