Last name Rated, first name Over

The world may never know how 23 year old Canadian hip-hop sensation Drake spent his day at Plymouth State, but it certainly wasn't spent preparing to give its' students  the best show he possibly could. Maybe he was busy plotting what platinum chains or cars the $75,000 payday he was netting was going towards, or maybe he was drinking the "assorted Vitamin waters" and "assorted herbal teas" his rider called for. He could have been burning his four dozen packs of natural scented incense or individually putting on and taking off the two packs of extra large Hanes white t-shirts he asked for. Whatever Drizzy Drake was doing, other than becoming the first Spring Fling performer to ever flat out deny The Clock an interview, it must have been pretty important.

Before Drake graced PSU with his royal presence however, there were opening acts. Francis & the Lights were up first, and the band kicked off the dark and dreary evening with their dark and dreary brand of 80's dance rock and modern doom and gloom. The band took the stage dressed to the nines in black suits and sunglasses. Unfortunately their tunes neglected to live up to their dapper appearance.

The New York-based band was largely motionless for the duration of their set, save for the sporadic thrusting and yelping of poetically coiffed front man Francis Starlite, who at least provided some entertainment with his questionable dance moves. The slowly growing throng of onlookers seemed nonplussed at best by the band's meandering surf rock/Robert Palmer posturing hybrid, and no one seemed sad to see them exit the stage. Francis & the Lights seem to be under the impression they are the Prom band in the remake of a John Hughes film, and perhaps that would be a better venue for them then Plymouth State's Spring Fling celebrations. Hopefully they keep their eyes peeled for casting calls.

Next up was Canadian hip hop artist K-OS, who provided the lone source of aural relief for the evening. He dominated the stage, using every inch of available space to showcase the energy and passion he brings to a set. K-OS brought on the first crowd surfers of the evening, all the while rapping and singing furiously as the bodies flew. Utilizing only a DJ and one guitar player, K-OS and his backing musicians created a pleasant wall of sound the crowd seemed to enjoy. After a few clever samples, including Rush's "Tom Sawyer" and a brilliant crowd sing along of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing," K-OS picked up an acoustic guitar and showed off his pipes during an excellent cover of Rihanna's "Umbrella," before segueing into the set closer, a cover of Phantom Planet's "California" that was expertly modified and molded to the N.H. audience, as the rapper peppered in references to Highway 93 and Plymouth State itself before taking his leave of the stage and the crowd.

Before Drake took the stage to serenade the masses, The Clock polled a few random students about their feelings towards his impending performance. "I am not excited at all" said first year student Colby Avery, when asked how excited she was.  First year student Jennah Stone remarked "I don't ever listen to his music, I just have nothing else to do right now." When asked how he felt about spending an evening with Drizzy Drake himself, Junior Zach Brown simply made a gesture like he was putting a gun to his head and walked away. Clearly, not all spirits were high before the curtain fell.

    After an extended wait for the main act, the man formerly known as Jimmy Brooks of Degrassi High dragged himself onto the stage in black jeans and a grey Plymouth State University hoodie and launched into his hit "Forever." Not long after taking the stage, Drake promised the Plymouth crowd a "night you'll never forget." To a bunch of broke college students, the idea of listening to someone their own age talk about how much money they have for an hour plus probably doesn't seem like so much fun but, hey, there was a beer tent too.

Drake made use of only about 10 feet of the stage, pacing back and forth nonchalantly and stopping once in a while to repeat his own name several times or say something profane or ridiculous. "I know its cold out here, but hard nipples have never been a bad thing," he remarked at one point. Everyone knows Drake has played a High School student on TV, but after his Spring Fling performance it remains unclear as to whether or not Aubrey Drake Graham has himself ever set foot inside a classroom.

 Credit shall be given when credit is due however, and Drake certainly knows how to appeal to the lowest common denominator. With song topics ranging from his bank account to the number of women he has slept with, and lyrics like "I just want to f*** every girl in the world," Drake will surely be r

emembered within the grand pantheon of pop music as a true trailblazer of sorts.
It wasn't just Drake's general demeanor and attitude that brought down his show however, his set as a whole was a mess. What was apparently meant to be an expertly woven quilt of cut up verses and choruses from his most popular songs and songs he has participated in came out looking more like a raggedy old afghan. As he stumbled from 30 second verse into chorus into the odd full song from either his EP "So Far Gone" or his upcoming opus titled, get this: "Thank Me Later." The choppy set lacked stability as well as coherent stage banter, although the crowd seemed to enjoy popular cuts like "Houstatlantavegas" and of course "Best I Ever Had," which had seemingly every girl within eyesight climbing onto the shoulders of the nearest guy, trying to get Drake's attention.

After some puzzling shout outs to Thomas Edison and James Naismith, Drake addressed a truly imperative world issue: the jailing of his mentor Lil Wayne. Drake started several "Free Weezy" chants and railed against the New York City Police Department for their role in arresting his comrade, who of course in no way deserves jail time for having an unregistered .40-caliber assault rifle on his tour bus. The show appeared momentarily as if it was going to close out smoothly; with Drake completing and entire song and exiting the stage gracefully. However, after rhyming his way through his hit "Over," the rapper instead chose to leave Plymouth State with three things: "Young Money all motherf***ing day" for one, "Free Weezy all mother***ing day" for another, and a third thing that seemed to slip his mind before he broke out into one more nonsensical freestyle.

When all was said and done, Drake surely wasn't all bad. He was entertaining, if not exactly a thought provoker, and he did provide some danceable beats and good laughs. He shines the most rapping a cappella, without a beat to hide behind. As with most big hip hop shows, Drake basically performs karaoke versions of his songs and hops around yelling his own name repeatedly. This does not make him a bad musician, it makes him an uninteresting performer; a lesson Plymouth State students found out the hard way on Saturday night. Drake may not have the utmost respect for women or law enforcement, he may have the vocabulary of an 11 year old and he may not have put on anywhere near as good of a show as bands that cost a fraction as him much might have, but at least he probably smells good with all of the incense, lavender soap and candles venues are demanded to provide for him before he performs.

Standing near the sound tent in the rain towards the end of Drake's set, The Clock catches up with Jennah Stone to see if Drake has changed her mind about him over the last hour. Before she turns around to make her early exit from Spring Fling, The Clock asks Jennah how she feels about Drake's performance now that she has experienced most of it. "This is the biggest waste of $10 ever," she says before walking away. After his performance at Spring Fling 2010, it seems Drake turned out not to be the best that Plymouth has ever had.