He’s been immensely impactful on the culture. But he’s not really a rapper. Or a singer. What is he, exactly?

Ever since his debut album, Drake’s established himself as a top-selling artist and has pushed hip-hop into a moodier, more introspective, and atmospheric place. Trap music, emo-rap, SoundCloud rappers, and many of the next generation of artists emerging owe a lot to the aesthetic he pioneered.

But Drake’s not really a true rapper. He got lyrically slaughtered a couple years back when he picked a fight with Pusha-T: the modern paragon of a traditional rapper. Walking away from that beef with his tail between his legs so to speak was a good call.

That doesn’t take away from Drake’s other contributions or his impact. But the fact he could walk away from this lyrical slaughter without it really damaging his career significantly does suggest that he’s something other than a traditional rapper.

I qualify drake as a R&B artist or just a singer because most of his songs are more songs than rap

True, and R&B singers have been rapping for longer than Drake’s been around. R. Kelly, Usher, even T-Pain are a few that come to mind.

But I think Drake is a bit more rap-heavy than even those and also his sing-song style and aesthetic have influenced a whole lot of younger rappers

Lil Yachty and Lil Nas for instance — neither of them have great singing voices TBH but they do anyway lol

Even Young Thug you could say comes out of the new tradition Drake pioneered

Oh and how could I forget Travis Scott

Massive Drake influence detected

yes absolutely

drake has made good songs. he’s never wrote a single one of them tho