Raw Thoughts 4.2.25-Omertà

On September 11th 2012, the writer John Dolan, p.k.a The War Nerd Gary Brecher, made a rather unorthodox assessment of then-President Obama's record concerning foreign policy, specifically concerning the so-called Global War on Terror. He championed the notion that Obama was a better warrior or killer than Bush but that Bush was better at cheerleading and inflaming the bloodlust of the American people. Obama's efficiency, especially where it concerned the expansion of the drone program, made war almost clinical.

In hindsight it's hard to argue against this. Whereas the Bush years were defined culturally by bombast, soundtracked by the genius level hooks of 50 Cent and bhangra inspired beats of Timbaland(an act of plunder seems apropos for an era defined by the looting of the Middle East), war under Obama and onward has been reduced to ambient noise. It's something omnipresent in the background but outside of isolated instances like the current genocide in Gaza it never bubbles back up to the forefront of our minds.

In Toronto, another clean shaven multiracial man of charisma was working to fill the landscape with ambient noise. His parents named him Aubrey but the world knew him by his middle name: Drake.

By September, October's very own had already achieved his first major victory in lyrical warfare against the veteran Common.

The haberdashery enthusiast and aspiring thespian took shots at him on "Sweet". Drake responded on Rick Ross's "Stay Schemin", which interpolated the Nas b-side "Day Dreamin Stay Schemin"(which in turn interpolated "Daydreamin" by Kurtis Blow) and like a surprising number of songs involving Drake and smoke featured French Montana.

It was legitimately unexpected at the time. I remember hearing Drake saying things like "It bothers me when the gods get to acting like the broads" and "BITCH YOU WASNT WITH ME SHOOTIN AT THE GYM!" and "You like the fuckin finish line we can't wait to run into you" and thinking it was funny coming from a man who up until then was known for mediocre crooning, ugly sweaters and making songs about drunk dialing their ex but I also remember thinking he went in. Also, Common's early life and battle with Cube aside he, as Drake later said in an interview at the time "was in Gap commercials". You can't really call people soft or sweet or whatever if you're doing movies with Tina Fey.

Batting gloves in the Headlines video aside, random throwaway lines about catching a body for a "dreadhead from New Orleans" aside, I can say that Stay Schemin and the clout he got from winning this skirmish was the birth of the entity we would come to know as Mafioso Drake.

Like any figure of his stature there are many Drakes. There's Petty Drake. There's Goofy Drake. There's Lovelorn Drake. But "Drake as paranoid and sad mafia don" has become the most prominent as far as rapping goes.

As I've said before Mafioso Drake(or as some people, myself included, call him, Roman Reigns Drake) is easily my favorite incarnation. Over the past decade or so this incarnation is by far the best in terms of bars(probably the only thing keeping him alive past the ghostwriter allegations) and in a lot of ways the most honest version of him as an artist. Mafioso Drake is where Aubrey Graham is allowed to kvetch about the day to day issues and problems that arise from having to play the multinational brand known as Drake.

There are many great options for me to choose, such as Sandra's Rose or War, but I've decided to focus on Omertà, which was track one on a two track single called The Best In The World Pack, originally released to celebrate the Toronto Raptors win. Keep this in mind as you read through this.

As of the day this is being written no one has been able to find the sample used, if any at all. If I could pick one word to describe the beat it would be mournful. Outside of the drums this is what would be played at Tommy DeVito's funeral. Something to commemorate an untimely passing but the person kinda had it coming so you can't really bring too much pomp or bombast. A celebration of someone not worth celebrating if you will.

The verse(the song is one long verse akin to the Timestamp series which as a brand is hit or miss) starts out:

Look at my history

I'm tryna see what's different from that guy and the richer me

The only thing I see is custom owls from Tiffany

And some gunnas that'll hit you outta nowhere like epiphany

Already Drake starts out incredibly jaded. After all this time the only thing he has is money and people that will clap you if you try and take it from him. He then sends some strays at Pusha T, claiming he "got hot cause he told on me", he says that his enemies send each other texts they'll never send him and even claims that "Benihana is pigeon food". He then states that "everyone that's married is miserable."

We get a picture of a man who has no sense of trust in anyone, "mob codes" aside, who cannot take any pleasure or enjoyment from wearing Loro Piana and Brioni because those are just clothes at that point, who can't even have fun watching the chef chop up vegetables at Benihana. His actual tone of voice can be described as somewhere between lethargic and petulant. When he says that "everyone that's married is miserable" he does so in what can only be described as dull anger, as if he's resigned himself to a life of unsatisfying situationships with 23 year olds who can't pronounce any of the base notes in his admittedly intriguing luxury candles.

The section where he truly seems like he comes alive is when he says:

I plan to buy your most personal belongings when they up for auction

Man, truth be told, I think about it often

The petty king, the overseer of many things

This is in 2019, when he had long since become a legitimate multinational pop star and not just an A-list rapper. He had already become an economy unto himself. At this point with no new heights or challenges really possible the only thing to look forward to was melting the ants in his view with a magnifying glass. As is customary he throws in a reference to when he was in the basement during his Comeback Season and Degrassi days but any joy or relief that he escaped has long since faded.

As stated previously this was meant to be celebratory. This song was released to congratulate Drake's hometown Toronto Raptors for winning the NBA Finals. The lyrical equivalent of Mr. Burns clutching a snifter of brandy while sneering at a TV.

If I were to describe Drake past 2015 I would instantly go to the word "efficient". He's an efficient songwriter who knows how to blend R&B and hip hop flows and cadences in an optimal way to best showcase the qualities of both genres without letting one overwhelm the other. His children tend to lean more towards one or the other(Bryson Tiller, despite the notion of Trapsoul was more soul and Jack Harlow can't sing and thankfully doesn't) or they try to do both at a lesser level like Tory Lanez. None of them are able to be as efficient in terms of base level quality and quantity as Drake was able to do until 2023.

The notion of Drake The Recuperator began in the wake of the Meek Mill beef. Although he had handily won with Back To Back, there was still the scarlet letter on him. Even though there was a considerable difference between the reference tracks and the finished products, the fact that he went to Quentin Miller still tarnished him(despite Meek admitting he wanted songs from Quentin) no matter how much he actually altered and improved the initial products.

Since he couldn't justifiably continue the more rap oriented run he had begun on Nothing Was The Same and If You're Reading This It's Too Late he attempted to become everything to everyone. Hence the overly long albums(or playlists as he deemed More Life) and the Afrobeats and dancehall records and the dance album(which was actually kinda good) and a renewed focus on competently sung yet middling R&B.

In order to keep some credibility as a rapper, Mafioso Drake became more of a presence. This persona served two purposes. The first was to break up the monotony between the different types of singing. You have a song about how she's not a good girl anymore, another one about how the streets don't love her anymore and then as a palate cleanser you have the same guy who just complained about how he can't get the glitter out of his sweater from his one night stand talk about how his Somali shooters are willing to take Australian dollars instead of Canadian or American.

The second was to cater to the now shrinking demographic that still cared about him as a rapper. In this capacity you could actually say that from a technical standpoint he improved. Outside of certain Lupe Fiasco songs, Mafioso Drake is probably the most prolific biter of Biggie's flows and cadences. Listen to Diplomatic Immunity or even this song Omertà and imagine Big's voice instead of Drakes and it fits almost perfectly. Even the way he stretches out certain syllables. From a pure bar craft standpoint and in terms of interior rhymes and emphasis and all that nerdy bullshit Mafioso Drake is great.

Unfortunately he sounds absolutely miserable. And thus we come back to the notion of effectiveness versus enthusiasm. Mos Def referred to Drake as music compatible with shopping but honestly I've tried that. I get why he would go there because as the reigning porridge maker or the 2010s he inhabited enough genres and blended them together enough that most of his work ended up being accessible yet interesting enough to play in stores without inspiring ideations in their employees. He happened to get play in retail establishments because of his stature and songs like Passionfruit did work well in certain millieus like fast fashion chains(I have a piece about this, it's actually pretty good!) but he never made me want to buy stuff. I have felt mournful listening to Drake, I've felt bitterly triumphant listening to Drake, I've felt spiteful listening to Drake but I have never felt happy or fly or jiggy or whatever term you wish to use to describe ebullience and/or joy.

When I want to buy clothes or whatever I usually listen to Hov. Reasonable Doubt is actually great shopping music. Looking at wool coats while that "This way, this way, this way again" sample from the Stylistics plays on Politics As Usual, man...

Jay really makes you think capitalism is good when you listen to the right song on the right day. Like you're excited to engage in commerce! I breezed through and look! Jeans IS Evisu!

Drake, specifically Mafioso Drake, almost kind of shows you how the sausage is made. Capitalism is a joyless endeavor and a zero sum game devoted to accumulation at all costs. To quote his one-time inspiration turned rival Pusha T, "the more you upgrade it numbs you it means no more". This seems to be the one line that stuck with Drake long after the signature faded from the autographed mic he bought during his young adulthood.

This is decent gym music. Honestly I listen to Omertà when I'm playing chess and I need to feel like victory is so assured that it's not even worth celebrating.

P.S What the fuck did he mean by West Hollywood knows I'm menacing?