{"id":168329,"date":"2018-06-29T06:32:08","date_gmt":"2018-06-29T10:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=168329"},"modified":"2018-06-29T06:32:08","modified_gmt":"2018-06-29T10:32:08","slug":"drakes-child-social-media-and-michael-jackson-five-things-about-his-album-scorpion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/06\/29\/drakes-child-social-media-and-michael-jackson-five-things-about-his-album-scorpion\/","title":{"rendered":"Drake’s child, social media and Michael Jackson: Five things about his album ‘Scorpion’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\u201cScorpion\u201d<\/a>
FILE: \u201cScorpion\u201d also offered some humbling observations on how social media is eating away at Drake’s own life and the people around him. (Photo<\/a>: Drake\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO — Drake often boasts about his chart successes and wallows in heartaches, but on his latest album \u201cScorpion,\u201d the Toronto superstar has delivered a confessional the likes we’ve never heard from him before.<\/p>\n

The rapper and singer unleashed an explosive 25-track album onto streaming music services on Friday which appeared to confirm that he secretly fathered his first child — putting to rest a rumour that’s been circulating on gossip websites.<\/p>\n

\u201cScorpion\u201d also offered some humbling observations on how social media is eating away at Drake’s own life and the people around him.<\/p>\n

While it’s a digital-only release at this point, \u201cScorpion\u201d is being presented as a double-album that’s divided into two parts, one half rap songs and the other R&B tracks.<\/p>\n

But what becomes especially clear on both sides is that the 31-year-old artist — who has often referred to himself as \u201cthe boy\u201d — is swiftly being shepherded into manhood and the responsibilities that come with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cScorpion,\u201d which clocks in at nearly 90 minutes, features an array of guest appearances by marquee rappers like Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj and Future. It’s also packed with classic music samples from Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson and Lauryn Hill.<\/p>\n

Here’s are some of the most notable elements of the album:<\/p>\n

HIS SON: Drake looks to be committing to fatherhood as he comes clean on speculation that he was keeping secret child away from the public. Those rumours picked up steam in May when a spat between Drake and fellow rapper Pusha-T escalated into the diss track \u201cThe Story of Adidon,\u201d where the American rapper called out Drake for failing to take responsibility as a dad. Drake dodged the topic when it first emerged, but he addresses it numerous times throughout his album. On the song \u201cEmotionless\u201d he says, \u201cI wasn’t hiding my child from the world. I was hiding the world from my child.\u201d Other songs that reference his son include \u201c8 Out of 10\u201d and the closer \u201cMarch 14,\u201d where he directly addresses the boy (\u201cI only met you one time, introduced you to Saint Nick.\u201d) and confesses he’s \u201cembarrassed\u201d to tell his divorced parents he’s \u201ca co-parent\u201d too.<\/p>\n

PAUL ANKA: Fans were baffled when it was confirmed the Ottawa-born crooner was in the studio with Drake earlier this year. It turns out the duo were putting a new spin on an unreleased Michael Jackson track Anka produced in the early 1980s. \u201cIt Don’t Matter to Me\u201d was reworked into Drake’s mid-tempo \u201cDon’t Matter to Me,\u201d a brokenhearted love song punctuated by Jackson’s unmistakable voice on the chorus.<\/p>\n

SOCIAL MEDIA: The pressures of Instagram life might be wearing away at Drake’s patience these days. Even though he’s known for frequently updating his Instagram Story with slices of his lavish lifestyle, the rapper confesses on \u201cCan’t Take a Joke\u201d that nasty posts from anonymous strangers eat away at him (\u201cMy comment section killin’ me. I swear I get so passionate, y’all do not know the half of it.\u201d). He revisits the soul-crushing side of social media on \u201cEmotionless\u201d when he recalls several women he knows who live through the lens of their phone cameras trying to \u201cpost pictures for people at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

CANADA: Surprisingly few mentions of Drake’s Toronto hometown turn up in the lyrics on \u201cScorpion,\u201d if there are any, but he does slip in a quick reference to the whales at Niagara Falls amusement park Marineland. Other than that, his Canadian roots are mostly referenced through mentions of the United States. He talks about bringing his closest friends stateside when he works, and makes a cryptic reference on \u201cSandra’s Rose\u201d to having \u201csome real demons across the border fence.\u201d<\/p>\n

LIFE’S PURPOSE: Between the boasts about his rap skills and competitive nature, Drake pauses to consider what the pursuit of fame and fortune actually means in the bigger picture. The question rings most strongly on \u201cIs There More,\u201d which throws his corporate deals and endless parade of women into the spotlight to ask, \u201cAm I missin’ somethin’ that’s more important to find? Like healin’ my soul, like family time?\u201d He doesn’t reach a conclusion on the song, which assures Drake still has plenty of conflicts to explore on his next album.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO — Drake often boasts about his chart successes and wallows in heartaches, but on his latest album \u201cScorpion,\u201d the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[6885,1915,2671,52340,8358,3555,16460,52339],"class_list":["post-168329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-drake","tag-future","tag-jay-z","tag-lauryn-hill","tag-mariah-carey","tag-michael-jackson","tag-nicki-minaj","tag-scorpion","mauthors-david-friend","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168329\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}