• Tarek Against The World •

The last thing I expected to do when I got up late this Sunday afternoon after a night of partying and late-night chilling was to update my blog, but things have a funny way of unfolding I guess..

Either way, here I am, and although it seems pretty obvious by now that my blog simply is no more, let me just state that the latter statement is only partly true. I don't know what I'm going to do with Tarek Against The World, but I've been hard at work trying to launch my T•[REC] Productions website, and the idea that I have is to combine both, in order for me to have a place to share not only my video productions, but also to keep my visitors up-to-date with the stand-out hip-hop and R&B leaks and releases (along with various other news).

This is why, for example, I didn't update with Drake's mixtape yet, because I simply wanted to keep that for my upcoming website. Now, I'm sure 99% of the hip-hop bloggers and music aficionados have already copped Aubrey Graham's incredible mixtape (read: full-fledged album), but seeing as my boy Leo dropped by to show me some love, I thought I'd take some time to post that shit up and let everyone know how amazing this piece of work is.

If you've been around long enough (although I doubt you have), in July of 2008, when I was taking my first blogging steps, I had posted my first Drake track, back when no one of my entourage had even heard of him. Nowadays, everyone is bangin' his tracks, from my homeboys, to my girl and her girlfriends, my cousin and my lil' brotha, a concrete proof that Drake has blown up, big time. The guy really is something else. At 22 years old, he stands on top of the world, but instead of looking down, he's looking up. With only three mixtapes under his belt, you would think that he still has a lot to prove, but the last thing to have been playing in such heavy rotation in my car and on my laptop was Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III. And with over 8,000 downloads within 2 hours of So Far Gone's release, let's just say that I don't feel so quite alone in saying that.

Very rarely will you find a mixtape/album that flows so naturally from one track to another, leaving you no choice but to sit back and listen to the whole thing from beginning til end. Drake's So Far Gone does exactly that, and if that wasn't enough, takes it to a whole notha' level by actually having you constantly hit the 'Previous' button to repeat (as opposed to the 'Next' button that we all use to skip over tracks that we simply don't feel). This mixtape reaches incredible and very diverse heights, ridiculizing some of the biggest mainstream products and also setting very daunting standards for his debut album. Collaborations include his two partners-in-crime Trey Songz & Lil Wayne, as well as a diverse cast including Peter Bjorn & John, Lloyd, Lykke Li, Santigold, Bun B and Omarion. It's been said that Drake is actually considering re-releasing So Far Gone with 5 new tracks sometimes this month, so we'll just have to wait and see. Either way, Thank Me Later (currently his debut album title) is supposed to be hitting shelves just in time for our late-night, windows-down, Summer cruising.

Get it right HERE!

Stand-out tracks: each and every one of them, but if I'd have to pick, 'Lust For Life', 'Successful', 'NOVEMBER 18TH', 'Little Bit', 'Sooner Than Later'. I'll stop here because I really can't help but feel the urge to name all the tracks. Oh, and word of advice, bang that shit in your car if you can.

[Mixtape] Drake is So Far Gone... and so am I