Words by Bailey Alexander
We take a quick look at Drake’s possible magnum opus, Nothing Was the Same, 10 years on.
What makes an album essential listening? The sound? The popularity? Surely, the impact, no? It’s ability to stay with us for years after that first listen. In truth, it’s all of these things. But sometimes, very rarely, an album can become vital listening just off the back of its cover art alone.
For me, Nothing Was the Same is one of those rare instances. By this point in his career, Drake had dropped two studio albums, Thank Me Later and Take Care, both commercially successful, sure, but neither really as zeitgeist-infecting as NWTS. Am I crazy for thinking his third album marked his leap into the general public’s gaze? A lot of people would argue with me on this suggestion. Hardcore Drake fans, I mean. But I’m not a hardcore Drake fan, I’m just a casual fan of his songs that at one point or another have permeated the charts. I am in fact just an average member of the general public, and not really part of his following, which is why I feel so comfortable with voicing my theory that it was this album that first alerted the wider world to his potential for superstardom.
No disrespect to Thank Me Later or Take Care, though. They were in rotation in my bedroom for sure, especially the latter. The NWTS cover though? What an image. An album’s cover is more often than not a teaser of what the project will offer. The NWTS visual could reel anyone into Drake’s world, so much so, it’s got its own section on the album’s wikipedia page. Released in two distinct versions, the album’s cover shows Drake (either young or adult depending on the copy you bought in the store back in the day) against a cloudy background. It’s a pretty striking visual, and created by Kadir Nelson who also lent his talent to the posthumous MJ album, Michael. So relatively early into his rap career, the artwork is clearly meant to reference the journey Drake’s been on to becoming a rap star. The art makes NWTS easy spotted in any store or on any streaming app, arguably making it as visually noticeable as some of the greatest covers ever, Thriller, Ready to Die, and Maggot Brain just to name a few.
Okay – are we settled on how important the cover seems to be? I could talk about it for a while. If discussing the actual content of the album, I think no line describes it’s purpose and quality than, “Started from the bottom, now we here”. I mean, c’mon. There are few singular lyrics that permeated the culture back in 2013 like this one did. From the eponymous ‘Started From the Bottom’ track, the lyric and the song itself became something of a monster hit in their own individual right. The meaning spoke to something bigger than Drake himself: it spoke to his success. A hard earned, fought for success – or so he suggested. It depends on what angle you view it from. Is he counting bottom in his rise to the top of the rap game as his 7 season stint on Degrassi: The Next Generation as the now infamous Jimmy Brooks? Or is he counting it as the broken home he came from, and troubles he faced in school? Obviously, the latter makes more sense. It makes for a better story. But not everyone agrees on the answer, and that’s what makes this album even more important to Drake’s story: the controversy. He’s no stranger to them: just last week he was called out for what came across as a dig at Megan Thee Stallion. History shows when your work garners even the slightest hint of controversy, you’re being noticed, and your work means something, for better or worse.
If you put any (debatable) controversy aside, you’re left with Drake’s ego. On your first couple of albums, you have to keep up the ante, it’s only on your third one that, if you’ve kept that hype going, you can finally look back and see how far you’ve come, and this entire album was Drake’s chance for that moment of pride. Is Nothing Was the Same his best album? Just ask Pitchfork, who to date have rated no Drake album higher than NWTS, bar Take Care that happens to share the same coveted score of 8.6. Maybe his pride is justified. He certainly shows no shame in showing it throughout the album, shouting with arrogance at points. Look no further than 2 Chainz and Big Sean feature ‘All Me’: “I cannot complain, I cannot / I don’t even know how much I really made, I forgot, it’s a lot.”. That said, it’s still hard to poke holes in an album that carries career staples like ‘Hold On, We’re Going Home’ and ‘Worst Behaviour’. If you’re making a classic, why not be a bit arrogant with it?
I lied at the beginning. I don’t think cover art can make something essential listening, but I do think it can help warrant at least a quick listen. Nothing Was the Same was produced by 40, Drake’s long time collaborator and producer, it debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 200, and earned Drake 3 Grammy nominations. An important moment in his career, and a hip-hop staple, Nothing Was the Same’s accolades and longevity without a doubt make it an essential listen.