Today marked the release of Drake’s much anticipated “Best I Ever Had” music video. It’s been a big week for the Degrassi star-turned rapper. A couple of days ago he was signed to Lil’ Wayne’s Young Money record label. Being that “Best I Ever Had” is Drake’s most popular song, I expected the video that accompanied it to be top notch. That’s why I was a little let down when I saw it earlier today.

First of all, the video has nothing to do with the song. The concept of the video seems to have come out of left field. I thought that Drake was above the whole big-breasted-women-in-skimpy-outfits-talking-in-sexual-innuendo in rap videos thing. Guess not. Secondly, the video is directed by Kanye West, who has basically no directing experience whatsoever. I realized that it was Kanye West the moment I laid eyes on the high school lion mascot; it basically screamed of Kanye’s The College Dropout and its bear mascot.

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As I contemplated what mixtape to post up for this week’s Mixtape Mondays column, I figured that it’s time to show some love to Drake (after all, he’s been in the Heavy Rotation section for a good while now). His mixtapes have been out for about 2 years now, but these days, it seems like everyone is head over heels for the Canadian actor/rapper/singer. He’s been slowly but surely building a huge underground fan base.

Although he’s most famous for playing the handicapped Jimmy Brooks on HBO’s Degrassi, he has been doing big things in the hip-hop world. Many critics have been comparing his burgeoning career to the likes of Cleveland’s Kid Cudi and DC’s Wale. As far as his musical style goes, he is extremely versatile. When he sings, he does it softly and gently like Trey Songz or even R. Kelly. When he raps, he brings it hard like Lil’ Wayne. The difference is like night and day. He’s also a talented ghostwriter and has written for people like Jazz Cartier, Bishop Brigante, Lil Wayne, Keshia Chante and Dr. Dre. I definitely prefer to listen to his harder tracks such as “Comeback Season,” “City is Mine,” or “Barry Bonds Freestyle.” At the moment, Drake is working on his debut album, Thank Me Later, which is set to drop sometime around Christmas 2009.

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