Singles - Drake - Back to Back

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Lemme fill you in real quick if you're a couple weeks late to the draw (or myself late to the post!): Drake was featured on a track on fellow rapper Meek Mill's new album called "R.I.C.O" (which btdubbs was on Monday Mixtape, Vol. 12).

After the album dropped, Meek Mill went on a twitter rant claiming that Drake used a ghostwriter named Quentin Miller for his verse. Turns out that Drake has credited Quentin Miller for writing other songs with Drake which would no longer make him a ghostwriter. Mill was also pissed that Drake wasn't promoting his feature on Mill's album, so he decided to go after the biggest rapper alive right now (regrets to Kendrick and Kanye).

Relationship note: Mill was also dating Nicki Manaj - who Drake has dated - and prior to this disaster joined Manaj on her world tour as an opening act. So now we're getting into a crazy love triangle. Drake's lyrics on this situation are great:

You love her, then you gotta give the world to her
Is that a world tour or your girl's tour?
I know that you gotta be a thug for her
This ain't what she meant when she told you to open up more

Needless to say, Mr. Mill, this was a mistake. As we learn time and time again, do not fuck with Drake. It's one thing when you're a nobody trying to make a name for yourself by going after a big rapper, but it's a huge mistake when you're actually selling records to go after the most beloved rapper.

Drake came back at Meek Mill with two diss tracks, "Charged Up," and "Back to Back." The latter is my favorite. This track has already ended the beef as Meek Mill took his diss tracks off SoundCloud.

The best part of this all has been the gifs on the Genius.com lyrics page for "Back to Back." First, play this song, read along to the lyrics, and appreciate a great diss track. Then, scroll down to the comments section and prepare to laugh your ass off with the clever gifs these people came up with.

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Singles - Anderson East - Satisfy Me

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I haven't thrown a single up for a while, so I thought I'd share this new guy I started listening to, Anderson East. He's got that retro soul sound that St. Paul and the Broken Bones have brought back as well - in fact the start of "Satisfy Me" sounds just like "Like a Mighty River":

His raspiness reminds me a bit of Ray LaMontagne and other times he sounds like the male version of Brittany Howard from Alabama Shakes.

If you dig any of those bands, I'd say his album is worth a listen. I'm not enamored with it, but "Find 'Em, Fool 'Em and Forget 'Em" is another great track.

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Singles - Father John Misty - The Suburbs (Arcade Fire cover)

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Father John Misty released one of my favorite albums this year, one that I lovingly reviewed some months back. He's taken his talents to perform a somber cover of the first track of Arcade Fire's great album, The Suburbs. The cover is a stripped down version of the song, a simple four chords strumming throughout.

I am always inspired when I hear songs so good with so few chords. Ryan Adams is a virtuoso at this, and I was shocked to realize that this original song, amongst the guitars, pianos, and strings, breaks down to just four chords. As you watch FJM play, notice how he progresses chords four times and repeats the process pretty much throughout the whole song. Simplicity wins while the darkness of the lyrics sing.

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