The I Like It Like This “selling exhibition” at Sotheby’s that pairs contemporary art made by black artists with songs picked by Drake, opened this past Thursday (May 7).
And like so many other wins for your boy, Drake may be in to something. In an essay for Artforum in 1991, musician and producer Brian Eno famously wrote that “Curatorship is arguably the big new job of our times: It is the task of re-evaluating, filtering, digesting and connecting together.
While he has not moved into the worlds of art and fashion to the extent of other rappers — Kanye West or Jay Z or A$AP Rocky — the pairing of sounds may be his niche.
Drake picked music for 20 works in I Like It Like This. Viewers approach a piece, throw on a big pair of headphones, and listen to a song while admiring the art. It’s not a complicated concept.
Most of the songs Drake picked come from contemporary rappers like Young Thug, Chief Keef and Kendrick Lamar. Drake did include one-and-a-half of his own tunes — “Wu Tang Forever” from his Nothing Was the Same album; he also appears to rap a verse on the Weeknd’s “The Zone” — and several tracks from artists on his OVO label, including PARTYNEXTDOOR’s “Wild Bitches” and Makonnen’s “Rumor.” There are a few throwback choices (Robert Johnson, Shuggie Otis) and a few artists from outside the hip-hop ecosystem, including Popcaan and Jamie xx.
For those fans interested in seeing what Drake put together, the exhibition will be open in NYC until June 24th.
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