Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 11/07/2011 at 6:32 PM Reviews

The Popdust Files: drake, lil wayne, take care, track-by-track reviews

Track 14: “HYFR (Hell Ya Fuckin’ Right)” feat. Lil Wayne

Sounds Like: The kind of Drake song that Lil Wayne should be featured on, a gung-ho anthem about embracing the life, and the women that occasionally come with it. Both rappers get one verse each, where they rap about a complicated relationship they had in which their careers got in the way, interrupted at the end by Weezy playing the part of a reporter asking probing questions (“Are you high right now? Do you ever get nervous?”) and then answering his own questions in the most-emphatic titular affirmative.

Pros: “Hell yeah / Hell yeah, hell yeah / Fuckin’ right / Fuckin’ right, all right” is gonna make for one hell of a chorus sing along on future I Am Still Music tour installments, and the T-Minus (of “She Will” and “I’m On One” fame) beat is appropriately hands-in-the-air for such a statement. Not to mention that Drake makes for something of a hip-hop first by referencing George Strait’s “All My Ex’s Live in Texas” for the song’s opening lines, which might be the most unlikely cross-genre namecheck of the 2010s. Hopefully the King of Country makes a cameo in the music video.

Cons: There’s a pretty big disconnect between the chorus and the verses that precede it, and the pre-chorus of Wayne’s faux-interview questioning, while clever, doesn’t necessarily make much sense as a transition. Also, Weezy’s line of “met a female dragon, had a fire conversation” is pretty blugh.

Emo Alert!: “Damn, is it the fall? / Time for me to revisit the past.”

Drake Hashtags: Toronto, Too much drinking, Crew repping, Live fast die young, Hoes in different area codes

Previous Reviews: “Over My Dead Body,” “Shot For Me,” “Headlines,” “Crew Love,” “Take Care,” “Marvin’s Room — Buried Alive (Interlude),” “Under Ground Kings,” “We’ll Be Fine,” “Make Me Proud,” “Lord Knows,” “Cameras — Good Ones Go (Interlude),” “The Real Her”

POPDUST SAYS:
[starreview tpl=16]