The Self-Conflict Zone

The Toronto rapper and singer Drake got his big break in 2009, back when describing someone as both a rapper and a singer still seemed like a way to undermine his credibility. That year, he released “So Far Gone,” a mixtape that showcased him as a one-man distillation of modern hip-hop and R. & B. In the past, the impassive outlaw rapper and the gushing doe-eyed singer crossed paths only as a way of combining their genres’ respective charms for a hit single. Drake cracked the code: he collapsed the distance between these archetypes, seeming equally comfortable rhyming about dodging bullets and baring his insecurities in a come-hither hook.