Danko Jones and Drake
Every Thursday, Two Tracks brings you a one-two punch of Toronto’s latest audible confectionery... straight to the ears!
Danko Jones, “She’s Too Pretty”
A few weeks ago, Danko Jones made headlines for giving Lulu, Lou Reed and Metallica’s clunker of an album, a vicious Tweet-lashing, calling it the “Ishtar, Waterworld and Battlefield Earth of rock ’n’ roll.” Well, the Mango Kid’s just dropped a new EP, Mouth To Mouth, presumably to show those old fogies how it’s really done. “She’s Too Pretty” is track No. 2 from the release. If we had to make a cinematic comparison, we’d say it’s akin to Saturday Night Beaver.
All the makings of a killer Danko tune are here: punchy proto-metal chug-riffs, a sticky sing-along chorus, an unrelenting 4/4 party swagger, and bad-mannered lyrics about how Danko needs to bang some chick, like, right now. Basically, it’s the same song the dude’s been writing for the past 15 years. But, boy, does it still give’r. This time around, he even indulges his inner romantic, dropping sonnet-worthy couplets like, “She got about five good years before she hits the wall / Until then I’m gonna do what she wants, even if I have to crawl.” Oh Danko, you charmer you.
Don’t underestimate the guy, though. One could interpret “She’s Too Pretty” as a commentary on modern society’s unhealthy tendency to celebrate the allure of everlasting female youth, resulting in a cultural devaluation of older women. But in all likelihood, it’s really just about how hot chicks make dudes do messed up things.
Drake ft. Rick Ross, “Lord Knows”
If you haven’t heard Drake’s leaked sophomore set, Take Care, by now, you’re probably a) a sad, lonely hermit, b) terribly uncool, or c) an upstanding citizen who obediently abides by laws against piracy, in which case, we “salute” you. “Lord Knows,” which was released prematurely by Drizzy to plug the release, is one of the album’s dopest cuts, boasting a guest spot from his just-as-on-fire rap colleague Rick Ross, who alludes to YOLO (You Only Live Once), the mix-tape these two are working on together. A plug within a plug? That, folks, is called getting on the grind.
If there’s one word to describe this track, it’s triumphant. That has much to do with producer Just Blaze’s rapturous, gospel-choired beat, featuring a hook that sounds like a retro soul sample, but is actually bellowed by a live freakin’ choir. Drake lets loose one of his longest flows on the album, covering just about every topic he’s been chewing over this year, from his distrust of wanton females to his copious bling to his excess of haters. The dude sounds sharp as a whip, at one point making a loftily self-assured statement (“I’m a descendent of either Marley or Hendrix / I haven’t figured it out ’cause my story is far from finished,”) and immediately following it up with a rebuttal to his naysayers before they even get a chance to tease him for it.
But it’s Rozay who takes the cake with a short-but-sweet final verse rife with BBM-status quotables (“Still allergic to broke, prescription straight to the paper / Destined for greatness, but got a place in Jamaica”). Call us symptomatic of the Big Rims Theory, but screw Take Care, when’s YOLO coming out?
