Aubrey Do Better: A Lesson in Male Entitlement

Few artists have the network or musical catalog to rival Aubrey Drake Graham, but nevertheless with all his influence Drake still is toxic. Despite the wealth, power, and access Drake is not above the misogyny which commands our lives. His newest album Scorpion shows us more and more of the toxic masculinity which hides behind Drake's self-proclaimed nice boy attitude. 

Drake's songs are well produced bops with a common theme: entitlement. A prime example of a hit record sprinkled with entitlement, respectability politics, and manipulation is "Jaded". Praised as one of the higher performing records on the album, this track is full of verses dissing Drake's ex Jorja Smith. Throughout the four minute song Drake illustrates his post relationship mindset. The overall lesson at song's end is simple: Drake needs therapy.

Now, Drake does an excellent job of letting his audience know the intent of this track off top-- he's hurt, jaded, and not willing to repair the relationship. Yet, the song goes deeper than surface level post break-up pettiness. Drake opens the song by declaring his ex used him and thus owes him for her career. That's strike one. Drake is regurgitating the classic narrative of male ownership over female creativity and success. This erases her talent and work ethic. She can only exist as a product of everything he has done for her. As the song continues he resents her for the time spent with her family and the time he spent getting to know them. Simply put, Drake demonizes his ex for forcing him to engage in healthy quality time with her loved ones. It is not centered on him so it is unnecessary. Essentially, Drake is crediting himself for her wins while also declaring that the intimate time they spent together as a waste. 

Overall, Aubrey needs help. His relationships with women are reliant on his dominance as he dates women deemed lesser than him. Again and again Drake preys on younger women or women of a different social class. Then, he produces music which glorifies himself as a savior they were not ready to evolve for. We saw this frequently in earlier albums when repeatedly praised himself for liberating women from strip clubs (removing them of all agency). For the millions of Black women that consume Drake's music the larger question is when do we divest from him in similar ways we divested from R. Kelly? Do we continue to support Drake's more subtle brand of misogynoir indefinitely? Ultimately, regardless of our choice to divest Drake exemplifies the issue of entitlement at the core of the nice man narrative.