Today I would briefly like to touch on Hip Hop's new golden boy...Drake.  With a flow and word play that hasn't been seen since Jay with Reasonable Doubt...hold on, let me stop myself here.  I know a bunch of you are going to get your panties in a bunch over that last line, im not saying hes better, im saying if you've checked out his catalogue then you know exactly what the hype is about.  He raps smoothe as hell, his raps are witty, and his flow is crazy.

 Im not talking about So far Gone either. Some of you cats have only checked his last mixtape out, where he switched it 180 degrees and STILL did it better than most who do that kind of stuff (Kanye)...once again, you will get your panties in a bunch over that...but ask any female what shes bumping right now.

Back to the Reasonable doubt flow....the smoothe shit....peep this:

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Still not conviced?? Peep the blog i made last year, when i perdicted he was going to blow...it has a link to a complete stream of his previous mixtape (Comeback Season)

Click that link...and check out 'The Presentation', 'City is Mine', 'Barry Bonds freestyle'....and anything else pretty much.  If your not convinced after that, either your a hater or you don't know what your talking about.  Jay has got something like 500 mil, he's not co-signing Drake for any shine, hes said it himself...this kid is dope.  Not because he raps basic metaphors like your favorite rapper, "im hot like...." but because he raps dope real shit.

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You absolutely have to tip your hat to these guys for going completely against the grain and keeping it 100% hip hop.  I wasn't getting my hopes up since  I've already had my heart broken by the 4 horsemen (remember those cats?).  However, this is officially starting to look like its going to drop, and the track they play in this video is flames.

 I just hope they make it more than a lyrical exhibition. What I mean is, we don't need 32 bars from each rapper on each song.  Have a track with just Royce and Budden, let someone have a solo track.  Let Budden or Royce do an emotional track.  Let Crooked do a grimy track.

 With the right direction, this project has the oppurtunity of single handedly saving hip hop for '09 and forever leaving a mark in the game.

I missed you guys, and because of all the emails and positive feedback...im bringing this shit back. The first order of business was to deal with all the spammers, that took a while. Then I went into my vault and pulled out one of those classic 'Making of' series that XXL is known for. I've already given you:

Making of Makavelli

Making of Ready to Die

Making of Illmatic

 Lets add another classic to that list...The making of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. This piece was real dope because Ghost talks about the mindstate they were in back in those days...talking about how he used to beat up rappers LOL (he's talking about Mase). If you missed this in '06 then definetely give this a read...it also talks about how Rae and Ghost were drinking hard which is why its so aggressive, tells you where everything was recorded....ENJOY!

 Read it inside...