By Steven Roberts
I'm quick to pat myself on the back. Each of the new MCs I said that you guys should watch out for in 2009 have been carving their own lane in hip-hop. Sure, two of them almost retired, Asher Roth put his foot in his mouth and Charles Hamilton is kinda eccentric, but they're all on their way to becoming household names.
Wale is working with just about everybody considered good in music, from Lady Gaga to TV on the Radio, Asher released a solid debut album, and Kid Cudi is releasing phenomenal music. While I hate to say it — and stop patting myself on the back — I definitely missed the brightest star of the bunch.
Drake's buzz had been building on the Internet for a while, but I honestly wasn't that big a fan of his singing and rapping. But the more I hear his mixtape, So Far Gone — and the fact that DJs play a selection of Drake songs every hour here in New York — the more I find myself singing along.
I honestly haven't seen a buzz about someone this big since 50 Cent's rise, or the rise of Drake's mentor Lil Wayne, who has given his protégé plenty of useful advice.
"You know, as far as myself, I write — I really write." Drake told us recently. "... I take my time. I write and it's just about me getting my thoughts out. ... Wayne told me something really important one day. I said, 'How do you find those thoughts so quick?' He said, 'It's not about making things up — you don't have to worry about making things up if you're really writing from an honest perspective, your thoughts are in there, you just have to locate them.' So he's like, 'You shouldn't stress about making up witty stuff. It's not about that — it's just about finding how you really feel and locating it and saying it like you're a rapper so you know how to make it rhyme,' " Drake said. "When he told me that, that's kind of where I get my influence with Wayne from — just saying things that people wouldn't normally be able to transfer from mind to mouth."
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