Drake, Eminem, and the Somber Side of Rap

When Eminem arrived on the national stage in the late 90s, there wasn’t much room in hip hop for raw emotion and self-examination. A decade later, the genre’s biggest rising star is Drake – who spends much of his hit debut Thank Me Later questioning his newfound fame (and singing rather than rapping).

Today, New York Times pop critic Jon Caramanica tells us how new albums from Eminem, Drake, and others fit into hip hop’s changing landscape.