The Roshua Review September 2016 | Page 16

RECAPSummerSixteenTour Date- August 25, 2016 Drake is the Jay Z of my generation, and I’m sorry if you find that statement blasphemous. It’s actually really crazy to even be saying this about the Toronto artist. He made his mainstream entry while I was in 5th grade, and as he’s grown musically I’ve grown into who I am as a person. Supplying the industry with hit after hit, it would be disrespectful to still compare him to any other rappers of my generation (Wiz Khalifa, Big Sean, Kid Cudi, Mac Miller, Wale) because none of them have entirely reached his level of success. That’s not to discredit any of the aforementioned artists; in fact, all those artists make dope material and have set standards in the music industry that haven’t been surpassed yet. But I’m here to discuss Drake, the behemoth of Rap that came to visit Phillips Arena at what could be the peak of his career. You see, I had never seen Drake live past performances on late night talk shows, and I didn’t know what to expect. Because of the polarity between “Too Much” Drake on Jimmy Fallon during the Nothing Was The Same era and “One Dance” Drake on SNL this summer, I was extremely anxious to see whether it was worth dropping $250 for this tour. I just always assumed that Drake would be boring to see live, or he would barely sing or sing horrible. I had been hearing stories about the Summer Sixteen Tour through headlines and twitter recaps, but that all lent more to guest artists and controversy from the Six God himself. Let’s just say that August 25, 2016 proved one thing for certain: Drake is one of the best performers living. Let me rewind a bit though. From its announcement, I had a feeling that the Summer Sixteen Tour would go down as one of those tours that you probably shouldn’t pass on, and it’s not all owed to the headliner. Joining him on the tour was Roy Woods, dvsn, and his bro Future (and that’s before the special guests). The tour bill was well balanced, introducing Roy Woods and dvsn to the masses who refuse to listen Drake’s artists without a Drake verse (which dvsn actually doesn’t have in his catalogue) and giving members in the audience to see Drake and Future together...again. “But this is the perfect time to see them together!” says the voice in my head. Before when they’ve toured together(2013’s Would You Like a Tour & 2015’s Jungle Tour), they had songs together sureeeee, but now they have a full mixtape together. The Summer Sixteen Tour was slick destined to be a lituation, but I