Drake – “Days In The East”

After ruffling feathers and getting everyone’s attention with “Draft Day,” Drake knew what he had to do. The moment required him release a ballad as a ruse.

“Draft Day” lit a spark akin to haphazardly discarding a cigarette out the car window in Cali on any summer day. Things caught fire quick as his so-called subliminals and the name-dropping set off alarms across the board. Sports rags ran off at the mouth about his bro status with Johnny Manziel. Outlets that had nothing to do with music, much less rap, were questioning whether the Canadian boy wonder had ditched Rihanna to pursue his new crush, Jennifer Lawrence.

Drizzy knew the best way to diffuse it all was simple: just sing. And sing he does on “Days In The East,” the slow-churning piece co-produced by PARTYNEXTDOOR and “40.” What it does redirect all the attention away from the people he was talking about last song and brings the eyes and ears, plus the accompanying love/hate, back to him. The song isn’t exactly new since it’s been teased online for a while and he debuted the full version weeks ago at a recent European tour stop.

Still, it’s enough to get people back to talking about how soft he is for singing instead of how the vics of his latest subliminal bars should respond. “Days” won’t stop the chatter but it will temper the talk for a minute.

Now, I’m just curious as to how he escaped a close encounter with Erykah Badu, rap men’s Medusa, without impregnating her.

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