By Sean Kang ’14

After releasing his Grammy award-winning album, “Take Care,” in 2011 and going on the Club Paradise Tour in 2012, Drake spent this past year working on his third album. Undoubtedly one of the most anticipated hip-hop releases of the year, “Nothing Was the Same” was released on September 24 and was definitely not what listeners were expecting from Drake.

In making the album, Drake enlisted the help of his best friend and right-hand man, Noah “40” Shebib, who has played a major role in shaping Drake’s music career, being involved in the production of all three albums. Despite the continuity, “Nothing Was the Same” features a very different production style compared to his last two albums. While “Take Care” was dominated with dark, slow-tempo instrumentals to match its emotional subject matter about love and relationships, the overall production on “Nothing Was the Same” is much more upbeat and lighter, especially on songs such as “Hold On, We’re Going Home.”

Aside from the production, Drake also decided to change his lyrical content. He is often criticized by the hip-hop community for being too emotional in his songs and not upholding the image of a stereotypical rap artist. The majority of “Take Care” was comprised of Drake’s melancholy odes to women from his past relationships, but “Nothing Was the Same” is a reflection of his success, career and personal issues. In the opening song, “Tuscan Leather,” Drake reflects on all of his successes in the past few years and even reveals the crumbling relationship between he and his label mate, Nicki Minaj: “Not even talkin’ to Nicki, communication is breakin’.” The album closes with “Pound Cake / Paris Morton Music 2,” in which Drake establishes that he is no longer an underdog and now resides at the top.

Despite the changes in lyrical content and production, there’s no doubt that this is still a Drake album. On the songs “Furthest Thing” and “Connect,” Drake is still writing about his past girlfriends and failed relationships again in his introverted and emotional raps. But not all of his love songs are repetitive and boring. One exception is, “From Time,” which follows a unique song structure and is much more compelling than the other melancholy tunes. Featuring R&B singer Jhene Aiko, the two artists go back and forth over a piano-driven instrumental, telling the story of their love and why things went wrong.

But above all, the biggest change on the album is Drake himself. Drake has already established himself as a prominent artist in the hip-hop community but this album has allowed him to showcase his versatility and his growth as a rap and hip-hop artist. Just as he promised, nothing was the same.