{"id":991922,"date":"2023-07-06T18:24:34","date_gmt":"2023-07-06T15:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=991922"},"modified":"2023-07-06T18:24:34","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T15:24:34","slug":"the-petty-poetry-of-drakes-titles-ruin-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=991922","title":{"rendered":"The Petty Poetry of Drake\u2019s *Titles Ruin Everything*"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Petty Poetry of Drake\u2019s Titles Ruin Everything<\/em><\/h1>\n
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The rapper\u2019s first book is filled with half-baked half-jokes about celebrity, riches, and relationships that only underscore the shallowness of his grievances.<\/div>\n
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By <\/span>Samuel Hyland<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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In the opening line of Titles Ruin Everything<\/em>, Drake\u2019s latest exercise in petulant score-settling, the superstar admits, somewhat grudgingly, \u201cI actually do have good things to say about you\u2014just not this book.\u201d The \u201cyou,\u201d as always, is unspecified and implied\u2014perhaps an estranged love interest, an ally-turned-hater, an umpteenth villain in his sprawling, self-made cinematic universe. He is his own kingdom\u2019s despotic emperor, and in this slight book of poetry, infractions ranging from unanswered texts to full-blown beefs are punishable by constant, torturous negging. It reads like a test run for a line of fuckboy Hallmark cards.<\/p>\n

Drake\u2019s relationship with his audience, especially those harder to please, has become a lot like the relationships he portrays with various women: more rooted in an ongoing push-and-pull than a consistent product, be it steamy romance, genuine vulnerability, or concrete catharsis. Even when he misses, the promise\u2014spoken or unspoken\u2014is that he will be back, and the exchange will be better.<\/p>\n

Titles Ruin Everything<\/em> is the newest phase of this ongoing game between master entertainer and eagerly entertained. The paperback\u2019s full title touts it as a \u201cStream of Consciousness\u201d created alongside longtime collaborator Kenza Samir. And the book includes a QR code leading to the announcement of a corresponding album that quotes Drake\u2019s own 2011 hit \u201cHeadlines\u201d: \u201cThey say they miss the old Drake girl don\u2019t tempt me\/FOR ALL THE DOGS.\u201d If Titles Ruin Everything<\/em> is any indication of what the album may hold, it\u2019s telling for it to begin with an admission of inadequacy, that all of those \u201cgood things\u201d he has to say are \u201cjust not this book.\u201d It\u2019s a tale we\u2019ve grown accustomed to\u2014Drake is still capable of profundity, but if we want to hear it, we\u2019ll have to wait until next time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Titles Ruin Everything<\/em> is 168 pages long. On each of those pages, save for a few blanks scattered throughout, there is a half-baked half-joke about celebrity, riches, or relationships. Most pages contain only one line. Sometimes, two side-by-side pages work in tandem to form a semi-compelling thought (\u201cMy therapist told me I need to stop listening to what people tell me\/but if I take her advice wouldn\u2019t I be listening to what people tell me?\u201d). Other thoughts are, well, less compelling (\u201cThere are two types of women in this world,\/women who like giving head and women who I don\u2019t like\u201d), or not compelling at all (\u201cDead serious\/till I die\u201d).<\/p>\n

At some point in the book, Drake scoffs, \u201cTheir insecurities are the main reason why I increase my security.\u201d It\u2019s clever wordplay, but for a majority of his literary debut, it\u2019s difficult not to notice that he comes off as quite insecure himself. It takes insecurity to need security; it takes insecurity to fester in toxic relationships; it takes insecurity to write a whole-ass poetry book about why it\u2019s everyone else\u2019s fault.<\/p>\n

A few pages away, he complains of his \u201chelping hand getting numb & my visions\/going blurry from looking out for everyone.\u201d But, in a way that can be both funny and pitiful, it often feels less like he\u2019s looking out for<\/em> everyone, and more like he\u2019s looking out at<\/em> everyone. He\u2019s still a tiny speck in his high-up castle, watching old flames (and enemies) have fun\u2014a la Squidward\u2014while he seethes about transgressions they have likely forgotten. He yells his pained platitudes out from his lonely perch, but he is too high up for anyone to hear him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Like his lyrics, Drake\u2019s poetry often feels like one long Instagram caption, the kind best wielded by spiteful losers of long-fought IDGAF wars. A major facet of his endurance has been his willingness to lean into social media dramatics, rather than let his accolades do the talking. Just last year, he went as far as to follow a negative commenter\u2019s wife on Instagram, citing that \u201cshe\u2019s prob miserable and needs some excitement in her life.\u201d The drama-king schtick effectively serves as an extension of his artistry: When he dunks on a rival, picks a fight with a naysayer, or talks shit to any bystander willing to listen, part of it feels like vain performance, but another part of it feels like he\u2019s\u2014somewhat respectably\u2014committed to the bit. Although his gimmick is a superiority complex, he doesn\u2019t consider himself superior enough to be above an argument, no matter how low-stakes or stupid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But seeing Drake clap back at someone online is a teeny bit more tolerable than seeing it in a book that costs money. Everything in Titles Ruin Everything<\/em> could have functioned as an Instagram caption, a tweet, a lyric, or, perhaps best of all, a fleeting, unshared thought. For him to get a publishing deal and curry profit for the same-old snipes and jabs feels less like he\u2019s committed to the bit and more like he isn\u2019t even sure what the bit is anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if I have ever wanted people to buy or support something more in my life,\u201d he wrote in an Instagram caption announcing the book. The statement feels earnest in the same way much of his recent music does: This time, like the last few times, he doesn\u2019t care as much about the product as how far we\u2019d be willing to go to validate it. But when he tells \u201cyou\u201d that he has nothing good to say in this book, he means it; as you flip through the pages in search for something meaningful, it is \u201cyou\u201d he is laughing at.<\/p>\n

When a musician of Drake\u2019s stature publishes a work of literature, it often comes across as something they are taking seriously, and want you to take seriously, too. Removed from distractions like earworm production, beefy dramatics, and the maintenance of musical legacy, their words exist on blank pages with few options but to be genuine\u2014whether because they\u2019re true, or because they\u2019re rooted in feelings that are. The thing about Titles Ruin Everything<\/em>, and the paranoid hip-hop despot behind it, is that as real as these sentiments may be, they aren\u2019t really that interesting unless your name is Aubrey Graham. Much like his recent music, there are two ways you can read this book: with disappointment, or with the tentative, half-smiling nods of someone who cannot relate, but would love to pretend they can. In a recent TikTok video, an ecstatic DJ Khaled read from its pages, wide-eyed. \u201cThe minute you think you figured out the boy, the man writes a book,\u201d he said, leaning forward on his couch. If Titles Ruin Everything<\/em> is proof of anything, though, it\u2019s that Drake may not even be interested in figuring out himself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

Source URL: https:\/\/pitchfork.com\/thepitch\/the-petty-poetry-of-drakes-titles-ruin-everything\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Columns The Petty Poetry of Drake\u2019s Titles Ruin Everything The rapper\u2019s first book is filled with half-baked half-jokes about celebrity, riches, and relationships that only underscore the shallowness of his grievances. By Samuel Hyland July 6, 2023 Photo by Prince Williams\/Wireimage In the opening line of Titles Ruin Everything, Drake\u2019s latest exercise in petulant score-settling, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":991923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[54],"class_list":["post-991922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-pitchfork-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=991922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/991923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=991922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=991922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=991922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}