Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Kendrick Lamar’s brutal takedown of Drake in his Super Bowl show had an inadvertently Maga-friendly subtext. During the centrepiece event of the US’s most insular sport, and at a time when a nationalist president is musing about turning Canada into the 51st state, the Californian ritually humiliated rap’s Toronto interloper, the first superstar in hip-hop from outside the US.It has not taken long for a response. Released on Valentine’s Day, less than a week after Drake’s Super Bowl mauling, the daftly named $ome $exy $ongs 4 U is a joint album with his compatriot, the singer PartyNextDoor. It returns Drake to the lovers rap that he popularised in the 2010s. This is his equivalent of lovers rock, the romantic genre created by British reggae acts in the 1970s. They were scorned by chauvinistic followers of roots-reggae, especially in its Jamaican homeland. Drake has faced the same disdain from the macho wing of US rap.Here he raps and sings in his wheedling way, supported by PartyNextDoor’s crooning. Opening track “CN Tower” is named after the Toronto landmark, emblematic of the album’s Canadianness. Pointedly, the women serenaded in the songs are from the US. The scenarios are not meant to be taken seriously. “I want your phone número, por favor,” he raps in a ridiculous Spanglish accent in “Meet Your Padre”. Playfulness and humour are central to the charm offensive, with a Canadian slant. “These American guys are something different, they just talk looser than us,” he raps while wooing a Texan in “Raining in Houston”.Lamar sees rap battles as sporting contests. In that sense, the Super Bowl was an apt setting. But Drake’s ladies-man schtick shifts the battleground. The aim is to twist his opponent’s barbs into a display of US big-man bluster. The plan is ingenious, but the execution is underwhelming. The 21 tracks go on for way too long, an over-literal illustration of not rushing things. Billowing melodies, smoothly pattering beats and low basslines murmur decoratively in the background like sweet nothings. Compared to Lamar’s memorable show, this is forgettable fare.★★☆☆☆‘$ome $exy $ongs 4 U’ is released by Ovo Sound/Republic/Santa Anna
