So Far Gone into Pop Samples

“Dizzy about to drop the game is in disarray” a quote from Drakes fifth studio album, Scorpion, that we are seeing play out right before our eyes. We are about six hours away from Certified Lover Boy, arguably Drake’s most anticipated album ever, hitting our favorite streaming services. If you’ve been on twitter in the past few days, I am sure you have seen the pictures of the black billboards with a white serif font and a simple sentence. Those billboards, a nine-month delay and “hacking” Sports Center has led to extreme anticipation for what some are already calling the album of the year.

 

How did Drake and the October’s Very Own (OVO) marketing team get to the point where they can trend on Twitter over a billboard? For that answer we need to go back to 2009, when Drake released his third mixtape, So Far Gone. This mixtape or EP was the launching point that turned Drake into the international star he is today. 

 

Before taking a retrospective look at So Far Gone, here are some facts and stats for context. The mixtape was 18 songs long and Lil Wayne was featured on 4 of them. It was the 5^th best-selling rap album of 2009. It is RIAA certified gold selling more than 500,000 copies as of 2010. It debuted as number six on the Billboard 200. All that to say, this EP / album / mixtape had some extreme success when it was released. 

 

Moving into popular songs on the album that non-Drake fans may recall from back in the day. First and foremost, Best I Ever Had, peaking at number 2 on the Billboard 100 and nominated for 2 Grammys. I think this is an undeniably great song from Drake and features some beautifully constructed early to mid 2000s elements. From the auto tune to the opening piano rift, just no doubt the era it is from. 

 

Next up, Uptown featuring Bun B and Lil Wayne. You may have not ever heard this song. But you have definably read a line in the form of an Instagram caption from someone who moved away from their hometown. “Hardly home but always reppin”, that’s right, that line is from this song. However, I would make an argument that’s not even the best line in the song. I think the best line is, “I see all this money through my Ohio State Buckeyes.” Which without question is a great line. I don’t think we can ever quantify this, but I am fairly confident if we pulled the data from Ohio in late 09, most male college Facebook and Myspace posts used this line. 

 

Also, this song contains a reference to TMZ, which just aged so poorly. It also makes me wonder, why does TMZ still exist? Who on earth is looking for the latest in pop culture news and decides TMZ is the best place to go? 

Naturally, I went over to TMZ.com and the second headline reads, “#TBT To Jeff from Glee…See His Shirtless Shots.” Someone got paid to write that and other people clicked on it, unbelievable. 

 

The last song that I believe had some impact back in the day, Successful featuring Lil Wayne, and Trey Songs. Once again it had a very 2009 sound to it that when listening to it today is very noticeable. One great quote to come out of this song was Drake saying, “…I just want to be successful. So that’s what the record meant to me.” Not only does the title spell that out for us if you listen to the song the meaning it pretty on the noes. Making the idea that someone wanted to see if there was a deeper meaning marginally funny. 

 

As mentioned before, a lot of this album sounds like it is from 2009, which I am not bashing or complaining about. I just think this era of music had a sound that is very identifiable. However, I think one of the weirdest parts of this era of rap music was the use of not that old pop samples. Most notably, on the last song of the album, Congratulations, the song samples Coldplay’s Viva la Vida. 

 

The song came out in 2008, so less than a year before So Far Gone hit the air waves. Drake was not the only artist to do this either. In the same year Mac Miller sampled Fireflies by Owl City in the song “Don’t Mind If I Do.” I am sure there are also countless other examples of artists doing this. I am also sure there are a lot of songs that do this and never got released because of copy write issues.  

 

The sampling of pop songs in obvious and overt ways really feels like one of the most iconic things from this era. However, I am aware that this may just be iconic for the very select few in a certain age range. When So Far Gone was released I was nine years old and had no music taste or preferences, as I am sure most nine-year olds don’t. All my music exposure came from what was being played on the radio, which was more than likely the local pop station. Specially, 103.7 Kiss FM back in Milwaukee and later Hits 1 when my mom got XM radio. 

Due to this, of course knew Fireflies and Viva La Vida back in 09. When retrospectively listening to rap sampling these songs it is almost impossible not to like them. In sense it delivers a second life to the song being able to blend the nostalgia with my current taste in music. 

 

Looking ahead to CLB I don’t expect any ColdPlay or OwlCity samples nor would I want them. I think the pop samples are something that can beautifully live in the past and be a timestamp on the mid 2000s.