I think Childish Gambino’s Culdesac is objectively a better album than Drake’s Thank Me Later.
“Well,” I hear you mumbling under your breath to your Tumblr dashboard, “of course the kid who posts to Multitrack is going to think that. Between his background in Derrick Comedy and as a writer for 30 Rock, his regular appearance on Community, and his spokesmanship for men’s high-fashion brand Band of Outsiders, Donald Glover—who raps under Childish Gambino—is kind of a hipster icon.” And you’d be right: he’s got a huge social media following (as evidenced by the #Donald4Spiderman campaign), and if there’s one thing hipsters love to hate/hate to love, it’s the Twitters and the Facebooks.
But hear me out: as indifferent I am toward Lil Wayne’s talent and fame, I’m a huge fan of his Young Money group, and Drake is at least the second strongest member of his team (behind Nicki Minaj, ahead of Tyga). Musik Iz Me writes that Thank Me Later was the most-anticipated hip-hop album since 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Trying. I know I was incredibly stoked for Thank Me Later. Pitchfork—Pitchfork—gave the album an 8.4 review, lauding Drake’s lyrical balance between “artful navel-gazing” and “struggle.” In Thank Me Later we get glimpses of Drake figuring himself out as he’s catapulted to stardom at the tender age of 23.
