If You Can't (Afro)beat Them... Pt 2: Drake Didn't Let Us In
This isn't a review of Drake's Views. It is, however, about perspectives. It regards the unrelenting perceptions the west has towards Caribbeans and Africans. It also isn't about whether a Hennessy wielding Drake can take someone else's girl if he wants to. Although “no one man should have all that power”; he also shouldn't receive so much unnecessary credit.
Somewhat astonishingly, Drake's One Dance gave him his first Billboard number one after years of cuts that seemed destined for that position. The track features Kyla and Nigerian sensation Wizkid with additional production work done by South African Dj Maphorisa, of Uhuru fame.
Enter Ebro Darden, popularly known as Dj Ebro, radio host at American station Hot 97. By virtue of his profession and comparative proximity to the music industry, Ebro is automatically a cultural gate keeper. Now he recently took to Twitter to reveal how Drake “opened the door for Afrobeat, but the music should be quality”. His suggestion is that Drake has given Afrobeat artists the opportunity they've all been waiting for... he single-handedly put a whole genre on!
Apart from the condescension towards genres that are considered peripheral to the mainstream, this serves as a great opportunity to discuss the daps we all collectively owe Dancehall and Afrobeat.
Perhaps dealing with the frequent misnomers these genres are referred to by is necessary here. Labelling Dancehall as Tropical House seems to happen often and contributes to a long of history of erasure. Similarly, referring to Afro Pop as Afrobeat due merely to the geographical location of an artist is pretty lazy. Artists such as Wizkid are brilliant pop acts and make pop the same way any pop artist would anywhere else in the world: influenced by the sounds that surround them. They aren't however automatically Afrobeat because they are African.
Now to single out Drake may seem unfair here, but his tendency to ride waves and adopt lingo, flows and tracksuit-wearing from others makes him a culture vulture par excellence. His affiliation with everything from sports teams to upcoming artists seems to be done in service of his success not theirs. A case in point is Drake's use of patois in his Views album. It is both cringe-worthy and for lack of a better term; exploitative. Songs like Controlla, With You, Too Good and of course One Dance all have a Dancehall or Afro sensibility. Drake, however, didn't even have actual features of the artists that influenced these tracks. Popcaan was unceremoniously removed from Controlla whilst Wizkid is sampled rather than featured on One Dance.
Add a vocal extract of Beenie Man used on GGHHGGGJJG and such tings are hard to ignore as they mimic the historical erasure of non-dominant cultures! Granted samples of Pimp C, Mary J Blige and DMX all make an appearance on Views; but Drake isn't credited with opening a door for RnB or growly-voiced rappers. It is simply regarded as a sample. Now I have nothing against sampling: I'm a fervent supporter of it actually; but it looks like something else is going on here.
It seems Drake wants to use the pulling power of these artists and their respective genres for his sole benefit.
From where I'm standing being associated with a Wizkid or Popcaan gives you a certainn level of authenticity whilst your appropriation takes place. Drake seems to want to appeal to demographics that are represented by Afro and Dancehall artists without offering them an actual feature on his album. In short, they have supporting roles in Drake's masterful act of being multi-cultural. Apart from hanging Drake out to dry regarding this, it would help Dj Ebro to have a less patronizing approach to peripheral genres because they represent real people who are excluded from society in more ways than just musically. To try and reinforce a false superiority complex based on your predilections is not just careless, it is harmful by design.