Yeah he sings. And guess what he raps even better. Aubrey “Drake” Graham is an anomaly. A Black Jew from Toronto Canada who after years of hard work has become the #1 artist in the game. Forget waiting for a naysayer’s acceptance, Drizzy keeps evolving and Nothing Was The Same is his strongest collection of tunes to date. Yup, it’s better than Take Care.

You should have known. He warned you this past February when he dropped the year’s best rap tune “Started From The Bottom,” that the kid from Degrassi wasn’t playing no games. Track two here best displays his duality. “Furthest Thing” starts with a heavy breezy melody before morphing into a Jake One-traditional banger that’ll ensure that the backpackers will stay on the bandwagon. “I had to Derrick Rose the knee up before I go the re-up,” he snaps with utter confidence.

Yes the sometimes laughingstock of social media proves he ain’t no joke. Yeah Drake’s a nice guy but you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry. He points his fingers at his detractors on the boastful defiant bounce of “Worst Behavior”. Then he annihilates them on the glorious “The Language”. “I don’t know why they been lying but your shit is not that inspiring,” he punctuates before proclaiming, “I got to kill off the weak shit that’s got all you niggas excited.”

Ladies will be enticed by the sultry “Own It”. They’ll get their Jhene Aiko on and sing “I love me enough for the both of us” on the tenderly-vulnerable “From Time”. And I’ve yet to meet a member of the female species not enamored with Drake’s biggest hit to date, the Majid Jordan-assisted “Hold On, We’re Going Home.” See you at the alter, boo.

The only tune here that feels like a fail to me is the bad night at the strip club-sounding “305 To The My City”, but hey nobody’s perfect. Drake told us to wait on it and it was well worth it. In one of hip-hop’s most competitive years, Drizzy leads the pack and proves he’s a rap star in his prime with potential for further greatness. Shit, “Too Much” deserves its own Grammy and I’m sure Drizzy will be around a decade from now and more. You see for the boy with the clouds behind him, the sky’s the limit.—YN