The Leader of the New School? Which one?

"Ever since Youtube, (racial slur)'s been callin me the leader of the New school." Okay Drake, I will admit that you are a prominent force to be reckoned with when it comes to honing in on your strengths to become profitable. Money is not the issue here; the issue lies in exactly what school are you referring to. If Drake is referring to the leader of "New School" hip-hop, then he is quite off mark, here's why.

While Drake literally scorched every verse he recorded in the past 12 months, except his own single, leading "hip-hop" does not seem to be his priority. Drake seem like he would like to be considered an "artist" first, who dabbles into hip-hop and occasionally down-tempo r&b. This leads me to believe that he's focused on his artistry versatility more than his hip-hop status.

Drake is probably one of the hottest and popular music artist out right now, who practices hip-hop as a specialty. Confining Drake to hip-hop would be like labeling Rihanna as strictly a pop artist. Rihanna, like Drake, experiments with other genre's enough to point where the lines are blurred, Robin Thicke reference.

Drake, at most, can be the leader of the new school of music in general, where genre's are label-less and artists can weave in and out of them like Money Mayweather in a barrage of punches. Drake, honestly, can NOT release a hip-hop single, along with a R&B pop single and EVER think that he's solidifying his spot amongst hip-hop royalty.

I completely understand Drake's alleged desire to attract audiences from multiple genders and races, but if he continues to "save-face" and please everyone, I am sure he will continue to stretch his self too thin, to where he's just an artist.

Drake can not be the best hip-hop artist or rapper alive because he does not fully absorb his self into hip-hop or rap music, except when he's featured on someone else's song. R&B doesn't seem to important to him either, remember that R&B mixtape he supposedly "shelved" to work on Take Care? 

Now, that's not to say that there is anything wrong with wanting to be identified as an "artist". Some of the greatest music entertainers either weren't bound to a genre or were considered solely artists; Prince changed his name to "The Artist, formerly known as Prince".

Along with that, Drake never passes up the chance to create a modernized Negro spiritual. From "YOLO" to "I hate sleeping alone", Drake's quotable breadth knows no limits. Drake does not disappoint with "All Me", which I am sure is going to be quoted more frequently in the dusk of the anticipation of his album Nothing Was The Same.

Which leads me to my next issue, what to expect from the album since nothing is supposed to be the same. Really Drake? Nothing? Not a single thing? I know Drake is borderline emo and creates music based off of feelings, inspirations, past ex's, strippers, specific times of the morning with the location, and where he is with his life, but his constant, narcissistic, braggadocios lyrics lead me to believe that he believes that he's at the top of hip-hop/rap. Listen to the "Versace" remix where he boldly states "rap must be changing, cause I'm at the top...no one on top of me".

Really? Drake's previous nine singles only had three identifiable rap songs, and only two of them were legitimate: "The Motto" and "HYFR". I don't doubt that Drake's calling was to be an entertainer who could lace a smooth hook, murder a feature, and go platinum...with his eye's closed, but since we've already established that, why doesn't Drake progress further in the realm of hip-hop?

He is definitely not doing bad for his self, 20.5 million dollar take home last year, but 2013 feels "the same" as 2011 in reference to the potential outcome of Nothing Was The Same.

My prediction may be inaccurate and Drake can still prove me wrong, but I think the album will be "the Take Care of an alternate dimension". How do I figure?  Well, with the two singles "Started From The Bottom" and "Hold On..." I think we can see that some things will be the same, see "Headlines" and "Take Care".