Song of the Year - The Resistance

Choosing The Resistance as my song of the year was a surprisingly easy decision. It’s play count has already totaled 168 on my iTunes. An astronomical amount considering it came out on June 15th in this bitch whasssuuuuppp. I tend to obsess over songs for days at a time and repeat them over and over, but The Resistance carried it’s momentum through the entire summer for me.

The entire freshmen class of ’09 has made the downside of newfound fame the most prevalent topic of discussion in their music. Cudi was apparently driven to coke addiction because of it, Wale’s More About Nothing is full of tales about losing friends (“lost a couple friends, cool, ni**a made a lot of fans”), and of course B.o.B. questioned “do you wanna be famous?” on his fucking fantastic adventures, but no one is better at articulating the negative effects that fame have had on their life than Drake. Songs like Fear, The Calm, and Say What's Real are intelligent breakdowns of how success and fame have jaded him. The Resistance is his magnum opus in this topic. What makes it so impressive is that he could easily come off as unappreciative or sick of his social status and gaudy bank accounts, but is able to stay cognizant of his revered lifestyle (“Am I wrong for making light of my situation?”). Although, he might need to work on his comprehension of the definition of irony.

What makes the song work so well is it's position within the album. Fireworks documents the effect his parent's divorce had on his childhood and view of relationships. Karaoke tells the story of losing his first loved one due to his fame ("the spotlight makes you nervous"), and the beginning of The Resistance acts as a sequel to Karaoke.

"Yesterday when we were getting high
You were invited, you woulda liked it
Uh uh nah, I know you all too well
We said that we can kiss the past goodbye
But your weren’t excited
There’s no way to fight it
You can stay shawty but here I go"

Once again targeting the same girl he speaks about in Karaoke he proclaims his desire to take her with him as he goes and sees the world, but due to a perceived change in him ("Alyssa told me that she missed the old me"), she declines. Drake sees this happening with all of his relationships. As he was blowing up he made the promise to not change, but his busy schedule prevents him from spending time with these people, proliferating the belief that he has become a different person. In turn Drake begins to fear the realization of his dreams ("what am I afraid of, this is supposed to be what dreams are made of"), which is an incredibly grounded and unselfish attitude.

The second verse is the most brutally honest of his career and this excerpt solidified The Resistance as my favorite Drake song.

"I heard they just moved my grandmother to a nursing home
And I be acting like don't know how to work a phone
But hit redial you'll see that I just called
Some chick I met at the mall
That I barely know at all
And plus this woman that I mess with unprotected
Texted saying she wished she woulda kept it"

His admission that he takes the time to call a random mall rat for a quick lay instead of his ailing grandmother gives justification to the people claiming hes changed. The story about his ex having an abortion is a snapshot into his rapidly evolving reality, but both of these instances are reasons why Drake's music is so arresting.

After the insecurity of The Resistance Drake begins Over with similar sentiments ("what am I doing?), but once those Boi-1da drums kick in, Drake has found his moment of verification. He finally realizes he is cut out for this lifestyle and hasn't become a new person entirely (" That's right I'm doing me"). It's the most triumphant fucking moment on any album since Cudi Zone, but without The Resistance it wouldn't be nearly as effective.