Again,  I can’t get over the fact that Drake is singing and doing R&B hooks on other people’s records (see Alicia Keys’ “Unthinkable). The fact that Lil’ Wayne goes to jail and all his Young Money artists start singing (see Nicki Minaj’s new single “Your Love”, which features a very GANGSTA Annie Lennox sample)!

I mean, this video tries to be dramatic and suspenseful, but you really can already tell what is going to happen. This song is just pretty dreadful to me. Depressing, Kanye-esque vibe mixed with some Trey Songz on vocal steroids singing and some Auto-tune thrown in for radio consideration. For some reason I feel like…this isn’t hip-hop. BARELY is rap.

I’m spent LOL.

Drake had the singular conundrum of crafting a video for his first official single, “Over”, after the mini-debacle that was his “Best I Ever Had” clip.

So how does one of the most anticipated artists ever rise up against his critics and naysayers to make a great video that everyone loves?

Well I don’t know the answer to that, and neither does Drake either I’m thinking LOL.

While this clip for “Over” isn’t bad, I think it’s a bit too abstract and obtuse to really make a lot of sense to his hip-hop fans. Not saying that the average hip-hop fan isn’t smart per se, but I think a certain majority of them will immediately bypass this video thinking “What?!” He goes to the total opposite end of the spectrum in that regard.

However, the Anthony Mandler directed video has a James Bond-esque feel to it — like something you’d see at the beginning of a new James Bond movie as a theme. I’m not sure why, it just does. Drake is bombarded with images, lights and sounds, which to me can be interpreted to mirror real life as a new and budding celebrity. The images are “crazy” at times, which I am sure mirrors his life and mind right now. Overstimulated would be the word I would use. And of course, there are the women. I’m going to surmise that amongst all of this movement and ascension in his life to the top (the clouds), there’s ONE specific woman he wants that he can’t have. She’s the classy, grown and mature woman that he wants but that his crazy life won’t allow him to have.

So if you look beyond Drake sitting on a bed or just standing up doing his crazy rap/Missy Elliott ticks and moves, and look at the imagery behind and around him, this video makes more sense. Yes Drake is a crossover artist, but at the end of the day, is he really losing his “hip-hop” sensibilities? Time will tell. It’s definitely better than Nicki Minaj’s “Massive Attack”…