Drake is Tony Montana, Future is also Tony Montana - "Me and My Friends" talk "WATTBA" (Part 2)

Author's Note - this is not an "out of 10 review"  because everyone does that now.  Part 1 of the conversation can be found here.

Metro Boomin, Manu Ginobili, Chicken Wings.  Yes.

"Digital Dash" - prod. by Metro Boomin, Southside

Chris Little:  Future Floated, Drake was cool, production was fire.
Cameron Hawkins:  Yeah, the production was crazy
Miles Burton:  Metro Boomin really letting people know he's still here!  Future tap danced all over that damn song man, that shit really make me wanna be fake kinda drunk in the bar dabbing, or hitting that DJ Esco.  Also, Drake is on the song too.  Cool.  Metro Boomin is important.  I like that Young Drizzy threw a tiny jab at the (Dream) chasers in it though.  "I might take Quentin (Miller) to follies."  That's a massage spot in Philly.
CH:  "You hate your life just be honest!"
MB: "Massage" in air quotes.

"Big Rings" - prod. by Metro Boomin

CL:  That chorus is STOOOPID.  The Future shot was on there.
CH:  "You just a battle rapper"
CL: "You just a battle rapper/ I'm an official Trapper!"
MB:  "Big Rings" is the second best song on the tape.  'Nuff said."
CH:  I think the production is great, again.

"Live From the Gutter"- prod. by Boi-1da, Metro Boomin

CL:  I didn't like this song.  Production was smooth though.
CH:  I don't like it's placement.
MB:  Future danced all over this once again.  This shit make me want to mask up and go get them niggas.  However, I don't have any beefs or even know who "them niggas" is.  Also, I live in South Texas.  Too hot for masks man.
CL:  Should have been in the middle, or close to the end.
CH:  It's solid, but Drake being live from anyone's gutter is laughable any time.
MB:  It does break the hype music transistion; it shouldn't have been right after "Big Rings".
CL:  "Gotta kill witnesses cause Miles' beard sticking out" *Hov voice*
MB:  Drake probably picked up Sean from the gutter when they were getting closer before Ashley was rolling at a party and kissed Sean.  Remember, they were getting back cool and Spinner was jealous? Word to Degrassi Street.
CL:  (texts 5 yelling face emojis)

"Diamonds Dancing" - prod. by Metro boomin, Allen Ritter, Frank Dukes, Mikey Rodrigues

CL:  No need to ask about #4 Cameron Hawkins.
MB:  Yeah Cam, skip that.  I can't be too hype at work right now.  If it's not the best song of 2015 TO ME, it's a close second.
CH:  Lol go to!
CL:  "Scholarship" is fire
(I post a screenshot of "Diamonds Dancing" in the group)
CL:  DAMNIT CAM I TRIED TO SKIP IT (3 yelling face emojis)
MB:  Metro Boomin is very important.
CH:  So, ok.
CL:  Future set the tone off right.
MB:  VERY IMPORTANT
CH:  Future FLOATED
MB:  Now I have to listen to the whole song twice
CH:  And really.  REALLY?  Drake had an outro that lasted 3 minutes.  Being apex selfish hurt Drake.  Being "Perfect Cell" Drake.
CL:  I appreciate hurt Drake.
MB:  "YOU KNOOOOW/WHAT I NEED/FROM YOOOU, WHEN I GET HOOOME!!!/ YOU BETTER NOT BE ON THE PHONE/ TALKIN' UP A STORM LIKE YOU USUALLY DO/ TALKIN' TO YOUR FRIENDS LIKE YOU USUALLY DO/ TELLIN' THEM I NEVER SPEND TIME WITH YOU/ IT'S HARD TO FIND THE TIME, WE BEEN/ Sippin' on Dom Perignon for no reason... Poppin tags, upper echelon for no reason...
CH:  Being "how can your life be worth living if I'm not in it" Drake.  Oh, Chris, it's him at his best.
CL:  He makes singing to these women great.  Perfect description Cameron Hawkins.
CH:  Like, if "Hotline Blng was on Cinemax instead of TBS, it would be "Diamonds Dancing".
MB:  Cam, don't disrespect.  No shde to my youngin, but "Hotline Bling" is so fucking terrible.
CH:  It's forgiveable... "(Diamonds Dancing) is... He went full James Caan in "Casino" on that.

"Scholarships" - prod. by Metro Boomin

CL:  "I rock Kentucky Blue, on these heauxs"
CH:  So here - why not just put this on the tape twice and toss "Live From the Gutter" in the waste bin????  And the flexibility - THEY CAN SAY THE SAME HOOK AND BOTH KILL IT MAN.  "Metro Boom make it BOOM, on these heauxs!"

"Plastic Bag" - prod. by Neenyo

MB:  really the worst song.
CH:  My thing - I know it's not for ME.
CL:  It's trash.
CH:  Cuz strip clubs don't make sense to me.
MB:  Cam, it might be because I don't like the shake joint.

"I'm the Plug" - prod. by Southside

MB:  REALLY I'M THE PLUG!!!
CH: So like, this is the Drake I want rapping.
CL:  Drake's verse on this song was great.
CH:  Big Sean supa dupa flow drake.  What beat is is a riff of?  Off DS2?

"Change Locations" - prod. by Noel

(name excluded):  I don't have enough money to fully appreciate "Change Locations"  but i like the song a lot, EXCEPT how high and nasal Drake's voice is during the "Me and my friends" part.  "SIXTY naked bitches no exaggeration"?!  Nigga, I've only had two a couple times.  This nigga had thirty times more bitches than me at one time, no exaggeration.
CH:  Buying bottles still silly though.

"Jumpman" - prod. by Metro Boomin

MB:  the second best song if we're in the club.  Second or third worst outside the club.

"Jersey" - prod. by Metro Boomin, Southside

CH:  AGAIN - just put this on twice and get "Live from the Gutter" outta here
MB:  Future really making wonderful music.  "Extendo Extendo Extendo, the (clip) gotta hold like thirty!... YOU DO WHAT YOU WANT WHEN YOU POPPIN'!"
CH:  This really could have been on "DS2".

"30 for 30 Freestyle" - prod. by 40

CH:  Uh... Did Drake really say there's a conspiracy to get him out the paint?
MB: He really said that.  By the old niggas though, not his peers.  I don't think it's true, but he was fucking rapping on that shit.

Drake is Tony Montana, Future is also Tony Montana - "Me and My Friends" talk "WATTBA" (Part 1)

Author's note - everyone does "week of" reviews - decided to let this one marinate, then discuss it with like minded folk.

"eeewwwwwwwhhhhhhaaatttt a time!"

Once I find a movie I like, I can watch it time and time again.  A few examples - "Step Brothers is one of the start to finish funniest things I've ever seen.  I feel like I find something new each time I watch.  "Friday After Next” certainly isn't as GOOD as "Friday", but the shift in storytelling, and the supporting cast just work for me.  "Blade", the first great Marvel movie, is a basic cable staple, and when it's on, I watch start to finish every time, commercials included.

One movie I watch, but never finish, is "Scarface".  Hood classic, late bloomer, Spike TV's favorite go to, the story about Cuban criminal turned American criminal turned coked out corpse, is a movie I both love, and find hard to enjoy in it's entirety.  Whenever Scarface is on, I stop the movie right after you see the tiger in the garden.  He made it.  Tony Montana rose to the top, got the girl, and the ridiculous pet.  Fin.

So my relationship with the super popular film parallels the relationship I have with Drake's music.  I'll preface this by saying, its all pretty good.  There really hasn't been anything he's released I didn't "like" upon hearing.  The issue is timing.  "So Far Gone", Drake's first mainstream mixtape, is maybe the most important collection of music to me personally.  To set the stage:

I had just recently graduated college, and had a well paying job.  I'd been seeing a girl for about four years, and we'd just moved in together.  Over the course of about four months, it just fell apart.  There was nothing specific, it was just the change from living with/ around friends, and going to just the two of us, didn't work at the time.  So the next few months were, in a word, intense.  I was out every night.  I was drinking more days than not.  I had never really dated, so I was getting used to the whole dinner/movie drinks aspect of early 20's adulthood.  But I figure this was how everyone else was living, so I should embrace my newfound freedom.

I didn't really talk to anyone about the situation for a time. It's hard to talk about things in your head going bad, when you have more control over your life than before, especially at a young age.  But the fun, wasn't always fun.  You become accustomed to sharing your space, your thoughts, meals with that other person.  So, to cope, there's the alcohol.  There are the parties, the bars.  There's poor dieting and a lack of exercise.  You want to exist in a space where you don't worry about what isn't happening anymore, but you want to control as much of every other aspect as you can. 

So word of mouth starts talking about "So Far Gone", and how this kid from Canada can really rap/ harmonize.  I give it a run.  I'm immediately floored.  The bars are strong.  The cadences are crisp.  The "ballads" as they were, REALLY work.  But the best thing about it - it's just so unapologetic in it's selfishness.  It's "808's and Heartbreak" if Kanye could naturally produce an alto.  The entire crux of it is "how am I supposed to handle all these good things happening to me?" and I could understand, start to finish.  It was about being the pressures of being desirable, asking people to fix things you ruined, and most importantly, nothing is really my fault.

So it's difficult for me to dive into the deep end of any other Drake project.  The music has progressed, and for all intents and purposes, he's BETTER today at singing and rapping.  But "So Far Gone" was my crutch, my doctor, my friend.  I don't need that tarnished, because it meant so much at the time.

On the opposite end of that is Future.  I want to hear every Future record made ever.  I want the stuff he tossed in the garbage, the stuff that didn't make a mixtape cut.  Whereas Drake's first big project is the very best of "Scarface", Future is the extended cut.  It's all so painful.  It's sex, drugs, and rock & roll, but if Roger Troutman smoked Newports and had his jaw wired shut.  I love it.  It's dark, even when it's being lighthearted.  I understand being around people that don't have your best interest at heart, self-medicating, and well, crazy dealings with women.  Everything he has to say, even if I can't internalize it, I want to know about it.

"DS2" is phenomenal.  It's blood and guts, the whole way through.  "Is Rap music destructive?"  Is always a hard conversation for me, because like most things, it's how you internalize it.  I'm pretty sure at least 15 people died over the course of 18 songs.  MAD BIRDS got flipped.  So many pints of lean were consumed!  But it's the way you present the subject matter.  People forget Nelly's first single was about a damn drive by, because of the sing-songy nature of the hook.  HE CAME OUT THE GATE KILLING PEOPLE!  So when Future has the confidence to title a song "The Percocet & Stripper Joint", neither of which I'm really fond of, and I can't stop listening, I know whatever the subject matter, he's going to present it in a way I just want to hear more.  It's real artistry - no matter the specifics, it's crafted in a way that even if you don't live it, you can SEE it.

Perhaps the biggest hook to Future's music is how it deals with women.  It's certainly not embracing any type of one on one relationship, but the why out weight the "WTF?" for me.  It's common knowledge Kayne's "808's" and "MBDTF" were inspired by ex girlfriends (to varying results), and a common idea is that "Yeezus" was hyper sexual because it was created while his wife was pregnant.  So when Future opens with "you'll fuck a bitch nigga for the fame, won't you?/ you'll give that pussy up to a lame, won't you?"  you have a pretty good read on who's being referenced.  So even it the relationships aren't the one's your parents would approve of, you see real world events inspire language and code, making the music more authentic.  In 2015, this is the only artist who's every word I'm hanging on.  In the same way that I replay the hotel chainsaw scene in "Scarface" 5 or 6 times every time I watch.  Up until the Tiger.  Because there's really no movie after that.  I'm convinced.

The "What a Time to be Alive"  group conversation is in part 2.