AOTY 2023

Nothing Was The Same

Drake - Nothing Was The Same
Critic Score
Based on 29 reviews
2013 Ratings: #229 / 1115
Year End Rank: #28
User Score
2013 Ratings: #239
Liked by 337 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
Entertainment Weekly

Nothing Was the Same bristles with epiphanies, absurdities, and plenty of bluster, but it’s all fodder for a hyperrealistic portrait of Aubrey Drake Graham, not some coronation ceremony.

90
Earmilk
This guy isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and nothing will ever be the same as a result.
90
Consequence of Sound

Nothing Was the Same wrestles Drake’s successes with his ever-lingering insecurities, and like some of the best music, we can see ourselves in these songs. It’s an exhilarating change of pace for the genre.

90
musicOMH

In the end, what really matters is that the superior Nothing Was The Same brings back the excitement of So Far Gone.

86
Pitchfork

As Drake albums go, this is the Drakiest: Except for Jay Z, who shows up at the end of the album, Nothing Was the Same is an entirely solo affair, and all of Drake's tendencies are dialed up.

85
The Line of Best Fit

Nothing Was the Same is a tougher, more grown up album than he’s made before and, if it never quite reaches the emotional depth of Take Care’s ‘Marvin’s Room’ or ‘Take Care’, it surpasses the previous album in consistency and unity of vision.

83
Paste

The change in soundscape is drastic and helps complete Drake’s transformation from consummate professional to broody enigma. Even on the party songs, he is suspicious of everyone and painfully susceptible to the corruptive nature of his adult playground.

83
A.V. Club

On his follow-up, Nothing Was The Same, Drake eases up on that machismo and distances himself even further from genre tropes to further mine the late-night vibe of Take Care’s softest stretches.

80
Clash

‘Nothing Was The Same’ offers the listener a lot of what they’ve come to love (or loathe, indeed) about its maker, with the occasional flash of something a little more daring than might’ve been anticipated.

80
Slant Magazine

It’s hard to overstate how much Nothing Was the Same benefits from a cohesive production style, just as it benefits from the smaller amount of guests, since more time with the half-charming, half-monstrous Drake means an even clearer rendering of his foibles and flaws.

80
Rolling Stone

A more accurate title for this album might have been Everything Was Pretty Much the Same: It’s a brilliant summation of all the things you already love about Drake – unless you find him totally annoying, in which case it probably won’t change your mind.

80
XXL
With the themes, moods and issues displayed here, Drizzy has shared another moment of his life, and now the only thing left to prove is if his crossover powers can last him a decade from now. Until that moment arrives, we’ll be waiting on it.
80
Billboard
He makes up for the lack of addictive anthems and playfulness with his impressionable stream of sentiments -- our kryptonite, his superpower.
80
HipHopDX

There’s also less fat in general: throughout the album’s lean, cohesive set of 13 tracks, Drake packs multiple emotions into individual songs instead of adding on extra items.

80
No Ripcord

Nothing Was the Same is the work of someone who is not happy to sit on his laurels and determined to build, which is admirable in this day and age of get rich quick artists who quickly fade when they have to build upon and repeat their original success.

80
The Guardian
There's nothing overly complex or profound here, but try to resist the charm.
80
NOW Magazine
To say “nothing was the same” might be a stretch, but certainly the record mines enough new sonic territory to make it Kanye-like in its evolution. Hometown boy’s made good, again.
75
Pretty Much Amazing

Nothing Was the Same is filled with beats that are a joy to listen to and Drake often has worthwhile things to contribute. But, more and more, his confidence is getting the best of him. Sure, he sounds like a star. But I’d rather he sound a like a person. 

75
Crack Magazine
Taking the piss out of Drake is still a fun and very easy thing to do, and this album won't be the record that silences the haters. But you couldn't accuse his persona of being one dimensional.
72
Sputnikmusic

Drake's pop music con job is just too well executed despite all its obvious flaws to not be enjoyed.

70
Exclaim!

Nothing Was The Same is a challenging, uncompromised major label rap album with a handful of impeccable songs, weighed down slightly by the rapper's increasingly solipsistic viewpoint.

70
The 405

Nothing Was The Same is a moody record, like a bottomless pit of violent and vocal hormones during puberty. A little confusing, a little stand-offish in parts, but when an equilibrium is reached, virtually perfect.

70
SPIN

A steely affair that finds Drake and longtime producer Noah "40" Shebib pulling their sound and worldview further inward to increasingly murky results.

70
AllMusic

Nothing Was the Same doesn't show large amounts of growth, but the small changes to the sound and the slightly wider net his lyrics cast make it worthwhile.

70
Spectrum Culture
While it is misleading to say that nothing is the same on the new record, those elements that are the same are largely worth repeating.
70
Tiny Mix Tapes

While Nothing Was The Same won’t do anything to win over Drake’s detractors, doing pretty much nothing new for the rapper except bringing in more drill-style hi-hats and scaling back the obsession with 808s, dude is nothing if not reliable.

50
NME

Drizzy’s candid lyrics about battered egos and insecure relationships were refreshing early on in his career, but the persona is wearing thin as he recalls how rich his melancholy has made him.

50
The Needle Drop

Here, Drake continues with his lyrical obsession with the tattered relationships of his past, which is fine, but he hops on a gauntlet of nutty trap beats on this LP that are less than flattering to his clean-cut persona.

20
PopMatters

A few spins in, listening to Nothing Was the Same is akin to putting up with Big Sean in order to get to Kendrick:  Drake is just tolerable, and it’s tempting to skip through him to get to the good parts, which are instrumental passages and guest spots. 

AZIZ
89

In my opinion, this is Drake's Mona Lisa.

BartDaGoat
84

Yeah, nothing was the same with Drake after this.
Aubrey Graham was born in 1986, in Toronto, Ontario to Canadian mother and Afro-American father. Like he raps on this album he "Started from the Suburbs". When he was 15, Drake became actor. Most know role in his acting career overall is James "Jimmy" Brooks from "Degrassi: The Next Generation". https://youtu.be/KUx80OwMcfg?si=Pz8iZuvenW6AM3uM . In 2006, he started to make rap music. His early inspirations were ... read more

CDTVProductions
82

This album is Drake at his absolute best for me

Top Tracks: Tuscan Leather, Furthest Thing, From Time, Hold On We're Going Home, The Language, Too Much, Pound Cake / Paris Morton Music 2

Weakest Tracks: Own It, 305 To My City

Frizzyy
80

i might not be the biggest Drake fan but these are some of his best tracks to this day

Favorite tracks: Pound Cake, Tuscan Leather and From Time

KPOPstar
88

imagine if drake was still rapping like this?

favorite tracks: tuscan leather, further thing, started from the bottom, wu-tang forever, worst behavior, from time, hold on we're going home, too much, pound cake / paris morton music 2

90

Drake's magnum opus. This project has the greatest opening-ending duo in rap history.

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Added on: June 22, 2013