Drake released his first track with the late
Aaliyah, ‘Enough Said.’ How does it fare?
Probably better than most people expected.
“Can’t you talk to me? / Tell me what you need,” Aaliyah
pleads over a soft, somewhat minimalist beat. Yes, Drizzy can. The
Toronto-bred MC, who has a tattoo of the fallen starlet on his back,
spits an entire verse on why his life is tough, asking, “Is this even a discussion?” he rants. “Don’t you ever wake up disgusted? / Every million I get an enemy or a cousin.” Aw, Drake! Your life is so hard!
The track sounds like traditional Aaliyah, with the stunner’s signature smooth, soft vocals. Early in the tune, Drake asks, “What’s up?”
over and over like a hype man who doesn’t know how to listen, while
Aaliyah harmonizes with herself, dropping her signature coos over “Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah.”
The song doesn’t sound like it’d be out of place next to her hits like
‘Are You That Somebody’ or ‘Rock the Boat,’ though it’s most reminiscent
of ‘We Need a Resolution.’
However, some would argue that there are some elements missing that
would otherwise make it a classic Aaliyah track — and those elements are
Timbaland and
Missy Elliott (or, as others may argue,
R. Kelly). Timba made it known that he
doesn’t approve
of the Young Money pinup boy producing or releasing Aaliyah’s music
without himself nor Elliott involved, as they were her best friends and
most frequent collaborators.
Regardless of who morally or ethically should have created and
released Aaliyah’s music, we’re simply happy to hear it — Drake indeed
did a pretty good job on ‘Enough Said.’ The song is an easy listen,
though we do wish Drake would find something else to rap about.
Considering how much he adores and admires Aaliyah, we think her memory
deserves a little more than another set of rhymes about being rich.
In any case, Aaliyah’s voice, presence and charisma will never die —
though hearing her again does make us with “YOLO” wasn’t true, because
we certainly do miss her.
