12
The Daily Aztec
The Back Page
Sept. 15 - 21, 2021 Editor: Ryan Hardison • arts@thedailyaztec.com
The feud between Drake & Kanye has made a huge impact on hip-hop by Aaron Velasquez CONTRIBUTOR
Kanye West and Aubrey “Drake” Graham are two rappers whose careers have dominated the airwaves over the last 15 years. From the iconic songs they’ve collaborated on to the bitter sneak disses aimed at each other, the rappers have seemed to reach another boiling point in their relationship. The release of their new albums, “Donda” by Kanye West and “Certified Lover Boy” by Drake, showcases that tensions between the two rappers and their fan bases haven’t been this high since Drake’s 2018 spat with G.O.O.D. Music’s Pusha T. Criminal justice junior Javier Flores and a massive Kanye fan was relieved to hear the new album sound like Kanye’s past music. “For ‘Donda,’ I really liked it, I felt like it was very different… it really grew on Kanye’s sound from what he’s done with ‘The Life of Pablo’ and ‘808s and Heartbreak,’” Flores said. West’s album “Donda” was released to the world in the most extravagant way possible, extremely on brand for the rapper. He lived in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta enjoying soccer games and live streaming the final productions of the album. He would end his stay in Atlanta by performing two album listening parties in late July and early August, finishing with a final listening party in his hometown of Chicago at Soldier Field on Aug. 26. Following West’s dramatic rollout for “Donda,” fans felt like the pressure was on for Drake to release his long-awaited “Certified Lover Boy.” Teasers were
broadcasted during an ESPN segment, finally confirming a release date for the album, Sep. 3 — a date that would turn out to be only five days after West surprisingly released Donda on Aug. 29. It seemed like the two rappers were using their album releases as a way to battle one another, something not
contained a verse from legendary Atlanta rapper Andre 3000. While a collaboration between Andre 3000 and Kanye West is something fans have anticipated with excitement, the manner in which it was released disheartened Andre 3000. He said in a statement through a representative, “It’s
Graphic by Hemen Mesfin
Drake and Kanye’s beef for the last decade prompts many fans to compare the two.
uncommon in hip-hop. After Drake rapped lyrics aimed at West in his guest feature for Trippie Redd’s “Betrayal,” West infamously tweeted a screenshot of a conversation on a group chat on iMessage which fans speculated included Drake. “I live for this. I’ve been f***** with by nerd a** jock n****s like you my whole life. You will never recover. I promise you.” West said in the text. Adding to the drama, Drake, on a recent Sirius XM guest DJ set, directly leaked an unreleased song of West’s which
unfortunate that it was released in this way and two artists that I love are going back and forth.” SDSU students who have been following the story and albums online shared their opinion about seeing two of the top rappers in the world beefing. Psychology senior Cassandra Greene feels that Kanye West has slowly been falling off the wagon. “I would say both are legendary. Yet, I think Kanye had done some things in his career that is very bizarre and crazy,” Greene said “Drake keeps to himself and
just drops bangers.” The different paths the rappers have been on in recent years are reflected in each of their albums. “Donda” also sounds like West’s most personal album to date, with many songs focusing on Christianity, mental health and his publicized marriage with Kim Kardashian. Songs such as “Off the Grid”, “Jail”, and “Hurricane” are instant hits as they display the best of West’s production skills and his ability for getting the best features on his songs with Fivio Foreign, Playboi Carti, The Weeknd, Lil Baby and Jay-Z all providing verses. “Certified Lover Boy” on the other hand continues Drake’s run of commercially successful albums. “Way 2 Sexy” with Future and “Girls Want Girls” with Lil Baby are clear frontrunners for hits from the album. Kanye West’s “Donda” ended its first week run with 309,000 sales, according to Chart Data on Twitter. These numbers earned West his tenth number one album on the Billboard Top 200 in his career. Drake’s “Certified Lover Boy” would also go on to be the number one album the week it was released becoming his tenth number one album on the Billboard top 200, garnering over 613,000 sales, according to Chart Data on Twitter. General business major Junior Mathew Siegfried sums up Kanye and Drake’s career over the last 5 years. “Kanye’s had a longer career but I think over the last five years Drake has been far more successful,” Siegfried said. Whether you stand with Kanye West, Drake or have no interest in their beef at all, one can’t deny that their relationship has played an important role in hip-hop in the last decade.
Saint Luna is a local band with a unique sound by Sara Rott SENIOR STAFF WRITER
When it comes to major-based courses at San Diego State, individuals are surrounded by peers who share similar interests. That’s the story for a group of five
students who met in class and all had something in common: a love for music. Saint Luna Band is an alternative, indie, psychedelic modern-classic rock band based out of SDSU, featuring Bradyn Jace (singer/guitarist), Max Katz (bass/singer), Charlie Black (guitarist), Paarsa Heidari (drums) and Wick Hauser (guitarist). Heidari, Katz, Jace and Black all
Photo by Ethan Ronk
Saint Luna performing at Soda Bar at El Cajon on July 22.
met in class in fall of 2019, well before COVID-19 had changed the world. Katz, wanting a performing aspect on campus, started “Sunset House,” where he and other musicians would play small “backyard gigs.” Katz’s idea inspired the other members to get involved. Stuck in quarantine due to COVID-19, the friends started a group chat, sending videos of them playing music to one another. This is when they began to think of forming a band. “Max, Paarsa and I just played one day when we had all of our gear in the studio and something clicked,” Jace said. Having all been in bands before, they soon realized they needed another guitarist, so they invited Black to join. It didn’t take long for the newcomer to integrate into the band world. “Our fifth member, Wick, we found him on Tik-Tok, so we posted one of our songs and he covered it, ” Jace said. “Then we DM’d him a month or two later, like ‘you wanna come jam?’ and he said yes.” The members said initially, it was just something to do, just to jam together and have fun. The musical capabilities of each member brought something new to the practice sessions. After the lockdown was lifted, SDSU helped the band secure a gig at a bar in El Cajon in May, where they played in a corner of the room and students came out to support them. Since then, the band is grateful that they have the opportunity to have that “real band experience.” “We just love live music and were
happy for that to be back,” Heidari said. Saint Luna’s unique sound has them eager to showcase their talent as well as experimenting and changing the new songs they produce. with each new song they produce. “When we do play live, we wanna make sure that we’re playing things live,” Katz said. “We don’t play with backing tracks or anything fake, everything we do, we make it.” The band has gotten opportunities to produce music in actual studios through school connections and record singles with professional equipment. “Now that we’ve been to all these studios and we’ve gotten to work with a lot of really cool people and interesting equipment, we’ve been able to learn what we want and how to do things,” Katz said. Saint Luna hopes to grow with the San Diego scene, however, they say don’t get too excited about an album just yet. The band said they have many singles in the queue, waiting to be released. The band’s goal is to go on tour and to open for a more well-known band as a starter. Saint Luna already has a pretty massive following with 43.3K followers on TikTok and over 4K on Instagram. “Not only were we making music but we were proud of what we were doing,” Jace said. Their new single is coming out on Sept. 17 and a live show coming up on Oct. 2 at Soma San Diego for all ages to attend, tickets can be found on Saint Luna’s website or on Soma’s website.
