Everybody hates Drake: How he became hip-hop's favorite punching bag

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Take Care sold 631,000 copies in its first week, but its overwrought cover art became a punchline. His music has been accused of being Lifetime-movie soft more than a few times, with few relating to his chronicling of the trappings relationships in the public eye and how hard it is to be young and rich. Some will never get over the fact that if he never rapped again, he’d probably be set from Degrassi money.

His detractors just seem to want a definitive answer to the question: ‘Who is Drake?’ The vexing dilemma that his duality creates has proved to deliver affable results on some tracks, but only before assembly-line pop tunes overtake any progress he made.

Part of it is the YMCMB assembly line, which doesn’t flinch at subtracting overwhelming substance in favor of whatever is popular. Sales numbers have proven that this approach isn’t so bad. Not helping Drake’s cause are overzealous fans who flood social media with professions of love, usually followed by arguments steeped in style over substance.

There’s little debate that Drake is immensely talented. It’s his talent that raised expectations to begin with.

While Take Care was redeeming in many ways, listeners who bought Thank Me Later expecting So Far Gone still have to scramble to roll their windows up when blasting his music. Thus far, Drake has pulled off being a jack of all trades with unprecedented success. His refusal to accept the notion of his brand of hip-hop being any less legitimate because of his background garners considerable respect. As does his hand in making the venerable palatable to the mainstream.

Now, a gray area exists full of artists striving to emulate his model, when there’s no concrete answer to what that is.

As the search to pigeonhole Drake rolls on, his competitors and even fans keep suggesting he man up, while reluctantly attending his shows. They turn up the volume on “The Motto” or “H.Y.F.R.” on the way there, before ultimately having a great time. They send snarky tweets at any hint of him being disingenuous, while he’ll continue cranking out feather soft ballads, like “Marvin’s Room,” to grate traditional hip-hop sensibilities. If there is some solace, it’s in knowing that every verse that falls short of expectations will be welcomed with a Wheelchair Jimmy meme to put everything right back in perspective.

As he continues to string together hits, Drake seems content with being all those things people love and hate. Maybe the beauty of being a punching bag is thick skin.