Alright @YouTheReader, Light Up is the 10th track on Drake’s Thank Me Later. I technically had to skip track 9 because I used Unforgettable in the 2nd half of Week 18, '23. This song today features Jay-Z. In my opinion, which you can take with a grain of salt, this is one of the most underrated hip/hop songs of the last say 15 years. Jay-Z at this point in time in ‘10 was less than a year removed from releasing The Blueprint 3, which had massive hits on the album like Run This Town, Empire State of Mind, On To The Next, and Young Forever. Jay-Z featuring on a Drake album was a huge deal at the time.
Here is what Drake had to say about Light Up at the time, “It’s just me and Jay both rapping on it for an extended period of time,“ It’s real rap. I do sing on it, but it’s just on the hook – but it’s rap. It’s great. The perspective, the dynamic on the track – it’s me and Jay’s relationship on the song, basically. When you hear it, people will be like, ‘Oh man.’ That’s how we are – just the two. He definitely has guided me a lot, as far as his words and his advice. We have a real funny rapport. I always enjoy my conversations with Jay. It’s good.” (Source: MTV News)
Drake further elaborated: “When I heard that beat, the drums that they had come up with, it was like, ‘Man, this is a moment. This sounds like where I’m at in my life.‘ So, we took it and 40 did what he does to pieces of music that I see potential in – he took it to the next spot. Jay-Z’s on it. The song is phenomenal. It’s done now. "Light Up” really came from, Jay had a busy year, obviously, with The Blueprint 3 and the success of that and the tour. So we didn’t do it in the same room. But me and Jay have a lot of great conversations, man. So it would never just be like, 'I’m gonna send you something, and we’re not gonna talk about it, and you send it back. We really talked about it. And Jay’s joint on the album is so important on the album because it’s another turning point. Whereas “Over” is a turning point for me, “Light Up,” I think it’s one of my favorite Jay verses. Jay not only gave me a great verse, but a life lesson. And I think he’s gonna give everybody a life lesson just about this business. It’s incredible.” (Source: MTV News)
Drake back then and even to this day is notorious for his late-night studio sessions. While the dirty and clean ways of getting money imply an illegal activity that comes along with the lifestyle of most rappers, the dirty and clean here could also be about versions of songs that were radio hits.
Just like how Drake can do radio hits for anybody in the car, he also can produce club anthems that his friends would party to.
As an American, you have to admit that is a pretty hard Canadian flex. He follows that up by going after other rappers who while he is working are busy talking about him. Most of the criticisms about Drake at this time had to do with his singing, here he is saying he writes for the rappers’ girlfriends so kick rocks. Kelsey Grammer, the actor/writer/director/producer from Cheers and Frasier, produced a show called Girlfriends around the time of this song.
Strong finish to a verse that leads to a Drake chorus which is why every song sounds like Drake featuring Drake…
Dammit, two days in a row where New York rappers I grew up listening to shoot down Week to Week Notes. @YouTheReader ya know, technically this is a newsletter, but whatever, Jay-Z does run New York so I’m not going to argue with HOV.
In my opinion, this part of the verse here where Jay-Z is spilling Drake some knowledge about the music industry is what makes this song so special. Jay-Z was dead right in that a lot of rappers would go on to start silly rap feuds with Drake because of his future success. Financially, Drake has really never lost in the music industry, but he did take a hit due to his feud with Kanye West, Pusha T, and GOOD Music, which I’m sure we’ll cover on a Mock Draft Monday on Week to Week Notes much later on. A bit on that though is that Drake was actually writing verses for Kanye when all of that went down. Overall this is just a really wise verse to listen back to now. Jay-Z could tell that Drake was destined for stardom and rather than give him some throwaway verse, he actually gave him sound advice. The Barzini meeting is a reference to The Godfather and the way that Jay-Z says “done” here sounds like “Don.”
To close out Jay-Z’s verse, he admits he was once as cool as Fonzie but that his fame drove him into something else.
We didn’t get much traction from the players last Mock Draft Monday. My guess is the fellas weren’t all that interested in Drake & The-Dream serenading Shut It Down. That said, on Friday while Dialing Drunk there were a few athletes amongst us…
The newest Nets center, Noah Clowney is “Stretch.” Both of the Thompson Twins, Ausar above and Amen below, have now seen the Brand Name & Logo now twice. They are Week to Week Notes favorite set of twins in the NBA, by far.
…Patrick Cantlay and Shane Lowry were also around Friday morning… Golf fan insider witnessed Cantlay’s deliberate play in person at the Travelers this weekend so we’ll have more on that Thursday.
Kalen King enters the ‘23 College Football season as a junior at Penn State with 10 career starts under his belt. Last season he was named third-team All-Big Ten honors by the coaches and media, while Pro Football Focus actually had him All-Big Ten first team. The star cornerback of the Nittany Lions in 26 career games had recorded 53 tackles, 3 INTs, 26 passes defended, 2 forced fumbles, and has had 4 tackles for loss. In ‘22, King led the Big Ten in passes defended with 21, good for 3rd in the nation. Kalen King has a twin brother also at Penn State and would like to one day become a sports analyst, after playing in the pros of course.
Calen Bullock enters the ‘23 College Football season as a junior with 20 career college starts. As a freshman, Bullock played free safety, nickelback, and cornerback. In ‘21 he had 39 tackles, 2 INTs, and 3 pass deflections. Last season as a sophomore, Bullock took an even bigger step forward, starting all 14 games for the Trojans. The leader of the USC secondary had 5 INTs, 48 tackles, and 5 pass breakups. He was named AP All-Pac-12 First Team and the All-Pac-12 Second Team. The First Team All-American plays an explosive and smart brand of football.
Troy Franklin enters the ‘23 College Football season with at least one reception in 17 consecutive games and has actually scored a TD in his last 4 straight games. He played sparingly as a true freshman in ‘21 but had a breakout season for Oregon in ‘22. Starting all 13 games, Franklin led the Ducks with 61 catches for 891 receiving yards and 9 TDs. Franklin is not afraid to go over the middle of the defense, he ranked 6th in the nation with 447 receiving yards between the 40-yard lines. He can go up and get the ball like in the GIF above but also has the demeanor to fiercely pick up yards after the catch. At 6’3” and projected to run around a 4.3 40-time, Franklin should have the size with athleticism to play both in and outside in the NFL.
Smael Mondon Jr. enters the ‘23 College Football season as the starting inside linebacker for the back-to-back National Champs. As a freshman at UGA, Mondon Jr. actually was listed as a reserve defensive back and he earned special teams playing time on kick return coverage units. In ‘22, Mondon Jr. put on some weight but could still fly around the field like a defensive back. He started 13 games as a linebacker, led the Bulldogs in tackers with 76, had 8 tackles for loss, and an outstanding 23 QB hurries. Let’s also include the sack and an INT Mondon Jr. had as well. A terrifying thought for Georgia opponents is that Mondon Jr. believes, “I still feel like we’ve got a lot left to show. You know, we’ve got a lot of room to grow still. We’re not really complacent or stuck on last season. We know we’ve still got a lot of room for improvement, so really just working on things like that.” It sounds like the heart of the defense of Georgia still has something to prove, can they go for a 3-peat?
Just want to start off by saying that I don’t think Tyler Davis and I are related. The Clemson defensive tackle enters the ‘23 College Football season as a 5th-year senior graduate. The ‘22 All-American is a 3-time All ACC selection and is tied with Christian Wilkins, Dexter Lawrence, & William Perry for most career All-ACC selections by a defensive tackle in Clemson history. His head coach, Dabo Swinney, has nicknamed Tyler Davis “Baby Dex” while his former teammate turned Commie, K.J. Henry, took it a step further calling him “Mini Fridge.” Tyler Davis earned the starting role in his first career game as a true freshman and has been a vital part of the Tigers’ defense ever since. In 39 career starts, T. Davis has 122 tackles, 26 tackles for loss, 15.5 sacks, 4 pass breakups and 3 fumble recoveries. In ‘22, Davis was named permanent captain of the team for the season so I would expect him to earn the role once again in ‘23. Davis could have entered the last 2 NFL Drafts but felt “like I still had some stuff in the tank here. That’s the real reason, and because I want to win a national championship.”
With the NHL Draft set for Wednesday, June 28th, here are quick bits of the players projected to go in the top 5 …
Connor Bedard is from North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Last year at 17 years old, Bedard led the Western Hockey League (a junior hockey league) in both goals scored (71) and assists (72). They totaled 143 points in 57 games. The next closest player in points was 86. Bedard was averaging 2.5 goals or assists a game. He was granted exceptional status by Hockey Canada to play in the major junior-level Canadian Hockey league when he was just 14 years old. He has been targeted as the consensus #1 Overall Pick, much like how Wemby was for the NBA, for years due to his child-prodigy status.
Adam Fantilli is originally from Nobleton, Ontario, Canada. Fantilli played one year at the University of Michigan and absolutely dominated College Hockey as a freshman. He took home the Hobey Baker Memorial Award (given annually to college hockey's top student-athlete), the Tim Taylor National Rookie of the Year (awarded to the top freshman), was First-Team All-American, and B1G Freshman of the Year, First-Team All-B1G, B1G All-Freshman Team. Fantilli led the nation in points per game, goals per game, and assists per game, scoring 30 goals with 35 assists for 65 points in 36 games. He’d probably be the #1 Pick in most draft classes.
Leo Carlsson is from Karlstad, Sweden. The 18-year-old represented Team Sweden in both the World Junior tournament and the IIHF World Championship. Team Sweden fell to Team USA in the bronze medal match of the World Junior competition, Carlsson ranked third on the team in points (6) through 7 contests scoring 3 goals and 3 assists. Carlsson has improved his draft status by playing for the Swedish Hockey League, a senior adult-level league, from the time he was just 16 years old. From ‘22 to ‘23, he went from scoring 9 points to scoring 25 in the SHL.
In West Philadelphia born and raised, On the playground was where I spent most of my days. Chillin' out, maxin', relaxin', all cool, and all shootin' some b-ball outside of the school. Oh whoops, this Will Smith is from Lexington, Massachusetts. In USHL competition he notched 42 points in 20 games and tied Jack Hughes' American record with 20 points at a single IIHF U-18 Worlds tournament. Smith played in the U.S. National Team Development Program where their mantra is “preparing student-athletes under the age of 18 for participation on the U.S. National Teams and success in their future hockey careers."
Ryan Leonard is from Northhampton, Massachusetts. He has been playing in the U.S. National Team Development Program for the past two seasons. Leonard went into last season with the goal of scoring 40 goals and he destroyed that goal ending up with 94 points in just 57 games. He netted the golden goal minutes into overtime to help Team USA earn gold at the 2023 IIHF U18 Men's World Championship, which looks like a Mighty Ducks celebration in the GIF above.