Thank Me Later is Drake’s first official studio album. Fireworks featuring Alicia Keys is the first song on that album. I started doing Drake Mock Draft Mondays on January 30th this year with So Far Gone. Drake isn’t everybody's favorite artist by any stretch, but people around my age constantly grew up listening to his music on in the background whether they liked it or hated it.
Plus, nobody loves a good Sad Song Sunday like yours truly, but I don’t think it’s a bad idea for me to go back and listen to his catalog in chronological order for a Monday morning pick-me-up.
In an MTV interview, Drake mentioned that “the last line of the third verse in the song "Fear” is gonna be the first line on my album [Thank Me Later]“. The last line of that track is: "It’s funny how money can change everything.” Unfortunately I couldn’t do commentary on his song “Fear” because @Zuck doesn’t have it in his IG playlist, but that’s a nice throwback listen as well. The flower growing from the concrete is a reference to Tupac’s “The Rose That Grew From The Concrete.”
Alright @YouTheReader, this part of the verse I could write a whole essay on but I’ll keep it short. Drake had and still has his fair share of critics that would hate his music. Rather than get all caught up in the drama, he just embraced the hate. Hate and love come from the same vein, but that doesn’t come naturally for anybody - it comes with time. Hopefully, with this Week to Week Notes’ writing “bit”, you can tell I’m pacing what I’m racing after. To dumb down what I mean by how it relates to Drake Mondays (lol), most people would think it’d be smart to just play his biggest hits, but back in January, it hit me that I should start from the beginning to tell the story about how the #1 artist of the past decade got to the top.
😳
…I hope Week to Week Notes isn’t considered to be a gossip rag…
Wow, he almost said Nothing Was The Same on Thank Me Later. I’ll hold off on the rest of the verse because it’s about his parents and no need for me to dive into his family's past.
🫡@Drizzy…
…alright on to some sports…
The Scout That Never Was
This year’s NBA Draft is on June 22, ‘23. That gives us 8 Mondays where I’ll have 5 NBA prospects’ bios included each week. In preparation for the College Football Season as well as the ‘24 NFL Draft, I’ll also include 5 NFL prospects’ bios included every Monday. I figure always keeping up with the next generation of stars in sports is very important. @YouTheReader don’t worry, I’ll save the NFL Draft Prospects on a Google Word Doc so you won’t have to do too much scrolling on Mondays all year.
‘23 NBA Draft Mock
The NBA lottery is on May 16, ‘23. I’ll start including the team’s needs and where these players fit once we find out who Adam Silver has rigged the lottery toward.
Victor Wembanyama has already been labeled as the next “guy” in the NBA for quite a while now and for good reason. He’s only 19 years old and has been playing professional basketball in Europe since he was 16. Wembanyama is already 7’5” standing with an 8-foot wingspan. Since the time I posted this, he may have even grown more so don’t quote me on dude’s official measurements. People love to make hyperbolic statements when it comes to prospects in sports of any kind, but Wembanyama is basically the create-a-player giant with 99 overall potentials at all facets of basketball that you used to make on NBA Live before 2K body bagged the basketball video game industry. Kevin Durant's skillset in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s body is what Brian Windhorst said about him.
Brandon Miller became the first SEC player to win SEC Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, and Tournament MVP in the same season. Random stat - he is the only Division I player in the last 30 years to score 696 points, record 305 rebounds, and make 106 three-pointers in a single season. His 18.8 points per game led Division I freshmen in scoring and was an SEC best. On the court, Miller is a stud. Off the court is where scouts may have questions as Miller was connected in a fatal shooting that took place near the UA campus in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Miller was not charged with any crime but his car was indeed struck twice as he was with one of his then-teammate Darius Miles who has been charged with capital murder. We’ll see if more news comes out about this trial and if it will affect Miller’s draft stock in the NBA Draft.
Sterling "Scoot" Henderson chose the G-League route rather than go to college. Henderson had offers from the likes of Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee before heading to the G League. At 17 years old, Scoot became the youngest professional basketball player in U.S. history when he signed with the Ignite in May ‘21. If you’re wondering where the hell the Ignite play, they are located in Henderson, Nevada. In a recent interview with the fashion magazine that shouldn’t make lists about who the King of New York is, Scoot Henderson said, “Yeah I think I should go one. I know I’m gonna go one… Who doesn’t want to go one?” He’ll have to work on his outside shoot, but Henderson has been compared to the likes of Russ Westbrook, Derrick Rose, and Ja Mourant in terms of his driving ability and athleticism.
Anthony Black rocks an afro that will make his smoove game look that much smoover. At 6’7”, Black will be a large point guard who can create a shot for himself as well as others. He doesn’t have extreme athleticism but he knows how to get to his spots on the floor. This past season at Arkansas, he was the only player in the SEC Top 25 in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, and blocked shots. He also led the SEC in minutes played, set freshman Razorback records in steals averaging 2.06 a game, and free throw attempts with 190. Black has a very solid overall game and should be a very solid floor general in the NBA who can do it all.
Taylor Hendricks as a freshman at UCF led his team in points (15.1 per game) and rebounds (7.0 per game), while also maintaining the best field goal percentage (47.8%) and 3-point percentage (39.4%). Hendricks also led the AAC in block shots. While he may never be the prototypical big man of yesteryear as he stands 6’9”, he can probably grow into the role of a stretch 5 when NBA teams want to go small. Hendricks has both rim protection skills in the paint as well as the ability to defend in space.
Caleb Williams was the ‘23 Heisman Trophy Winner, a record-setting Unanimous First Team All-American quarterback, and should again be America's top player as he returns for his second season at USC as a junior in ‘23. He will attempt to be just the second player ever to win a second Heisman - Archie Griffin was the last to do so in 1974 & 1975 for THE Ohio State University. His ‘22 season was his first as a USC Trojan as he followed his head, Lincoln Riley, out west. While he was at Oklahoma as a freshman under Lincoln Riley, he exposed Spencer Rattler as a fraud and took over the starting job midway through the season. Williams’ Heisman Trophy as a Trojan put him with an impressive fraternity of other Trojan greats which include Mike Garrett (1965), O.J. Simpson (1968), Charles White (1979), Marcus Allen (1981), Carson Palmer (2002), Matt Leinart (2004) and Reggie Bush (2005, later vacated). @YouTheReader isn’t it kind of nuts that Reggie Bush got his trophy taken away and OJ… ahh never mind. In ‘22, Willimas had a 67% completion percentage, 42 TDs to just 5 INTs, and threw for 4,357 yards. He’ll be without his top WR, Jordan Addison, as he now plays in the NFL.
Drake Maye made the first Drake Mock Monday in May strictly because of wordplay. Nah, the Tar Heels QB probably would have gone Top 5 in the ‘23 NFL Draft. In ‘22 as a Redshirt Freshman, Maye was named the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year. He was also selected ACC Player of the Year, ACC Offensive Player of the Year, ACC Rookie of the Year, and ACC Offensive Rookie of the Year - becoming the only the second player in ACC history to sweep all four awards joining Jameis Winston in ‘13. Maye became just the sixth QB since ‘10 to post 4,000 pass yards, 35 pass TDs, 650 rush yards, and 7 rush TDs in a season joining Kyler Murray (2018), DeShaun Watson (2015, ’16), Marcus Mariota (2014), Johnny Manziel (2013) and Robert Griffin III (2011). He holds the UNC single-season records for yards passing (4,321), completions (342), and attempts (517) and tied the UNC single-season record for touchdown passes (38). Drake Maye vs. Caleb Williams will be a debate come this fall and beyond. He has lost his top WR, Josh Downs, to the NFL.
Marvin Harrison Jr, yes, is the son of Marvin Harrison of the Indianapolis Colts. While it might not be fair to say Junior is as good of a route runner as his Hall of Fame father was just yet, the younger Harrison certainly has learned a thing or two from his old man. The Ohio State Buckeye is actually 6’4”, something Peyton’s favorite target was not blessed with. He is a sensational receiver and a nearly unstoppable receiver with great route-running skills, superb hands, blocking acumen, length, athletic ability, physicality, and speed. Harrison Jr. joined Joey Galloway as the only Buckeye receiver to catch three TDs in a game twice. His reception and yardage totals are each fourth all-time at Ohio State for a single season and his TD total is tied for second with David Boston (1997), trailing only Terry Glenn’s 17 in 1995. While it might be tough for him to outdo his ‘22 season of 77 catches for 1,263 receiving yards, and 14 TDs, it’s not out of the question as he should only be getting better. He has lost his starting QB, CJ Stroud, to the NFL.
Brock Bowers had one of the best freshman tight end seasons of all time in ‘21 as he won the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year Award. I had no idea that Shaun Alexander had a college award named after him either. Remember he was on the Cover of Madden ‘07 and then the Madden Curse completely ended his career. It was either that or the 370 carries Seattle gave in ‘05 that took a toll. Anyway, back to Bowers, the Georgia TE followed up his 56 catches for 882 receiving yards and 13 TDs campaign as a freshman with 63 catches for 942 receiving yards and 7 TDs. Bowers won the ‘22 John Mackey Award which goes to the Nation’s best TE. While he may not be the largest TE at 6’4”, he may be one of the more explosive once he makes the no-fun league. Bowers has lost his starting QB, Stetson Bennett, to the NFL.
Dallas Turner in ‘21 made the All-SEC Freshman team as he ended up with 8.5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss. He followed up last year as a sophomore in ‘22 with 8 tackles for loss, 4 sacks, and 9 QB pressures. With Will Anderson gone, Turner will look to step into the role as the Roll Tide’s premier pass rusher. He possesses the right combination of speed and power to do so, let’s see if Nick Saban gets it out of him this upcoming season. Roll Tide.