This Is What XXL Thinks Of Drake’s New Cover

Everything that Drake seems to do these days brings a level of attention dwarfed by few others in hip-hop. The man is a one-man attention-sucking supernova, attracting opinions and gossip like the constant pull of gravity. On Wednesday night, Drake revealed his latest gambit to please the gossip folks. He revealed the cover of his much-anticipated new album, Nothing Was The Same, to the public that night.

Yesterday during our daily staff meeting, the crew at XXL had a candid discussion regarding our opinions on the cover. Some of us loved it. Some of us did not. Some of us wondered if Drake had an aspring water colorist as a cousin he owed a big favor, too. The staff of XXL would like to offer their opinions on the new cover of Nothing Was The Same.  Regardless, Drake had us feeling a certain type of way about it all.

"The Siiimpsooons..." — Christine Werthman, Managing Editor

"It makes me feel happy! Makes me think of childhood...  I get the vision 100%. He's reflecting on fame. Definitely didn't expect it to be so vibrant. I'm happy with that route, though!  The clouds are dope, too!" — Miranda Johnson, Assistant Editor

" I think it looks like an album cover for a Sims version of Drake. I really had no idea what the imagery would be to reflect Nothing Was The Same. I just thought it would be Drake with pursed lips. To me, he might be paying homage to Biggie and Nas and also must be feeling kinda good lately 'cause of those happy clouds." — Vanessa Satten, Editor-In Chief

"I was expecting more gold, more Versace, more lip-pursing and definitely less clouds. This is weird, but it gave me a strange sense of calmness and made me feel like Drake knew what he was doing. He's the Rocky Road ice cream of rappers, you can't help but like what he's doing. This is going to be the best Drake album. " — Dan Buyanovsky, Associate Editor

"My immediate reaction is that it looks like fan art posted on a particularly enthusiastic tenth grader's Pinterest board. To me, I think that Drake, much like Lil Wayne did on The Carter III, is consciously alluding to the covers of Illmatic and Ready To Die. He's putting himself in the same conversation as Biggie and Nas. I'm not sure what I was expecting for the cover but I pictured Drake draped in a terry-cloth robe, surrounded by beautiful women and looking like the loneliness jack-in-the-box in the toy chest." — B.J. Steiner, News Editor

"With all those  clouds, I see Aaliyah's "Rock the Boat" video. To me, he's paying homage to Biggie and Nas. If I were to guess, what I thought it would be? A baby picture of himself covered in gold chains with strippers around him." — Emmanuel C.M., Assistant Editor

"This is cover is following in the footsteps of Big, Wayne and others as someone who looks at himself as one of the greats. It's Drake featuring Drake but I kind of expected opulence on top of more opulence." — Eric Diep, Associate Editor

"I expected Drake to be standing in the middle of a coliseum, Gladiator-style, still looking at his phone and being bummed, though. One thing's for sure, my life has not been the same since I saw the album cover. " — Dan Jackson, Associate Music Editor

"My immediate thought was shock, awe, and then sort of acceptance, followed by thinking it was a cooler idea than I had thought it would be. I honestly thought it was gonna be just that Instagram he posted a couple months ago for his birthday of just a stripper pole in a dark room. I was surprised that it was so intensely light blue, which is not at all the color I associate with Drake. I'm colorblind, and I still thought there would be a lot of dark, a lot of shadows, maybe even black and white with just a single gold owl or something. So this was unexpected, and unnaturally bright. But it's a cool idea—sorta like having a caricature painted of yourself in the park or at a carnival. Not like Drake nor I have time to sit down for a caricature, but still." — Dan Rys, Senior Editor