# Nothing Was the Same
**Nothing Was the Same** is the third studio album by the Canadian rapper [Drake](https://www.edgepedia.org/drake-musician), released on September 24, 2013, through [OVO Sound](https://www.edgepedia.org/ovo-sound), Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records, and [Republic Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/republic-records).[1](https://riffiter.com/artist/drake/nothing-was-the-same) The standard edition contains 13 songs running 59 minutes, and the deluxe edition adds "Come Thru," "All Me," and "The Motion."[2](https://music.apple.com/us/album/nothing-was-the-same/1440824484) Nothing Was the Same was the second-highest-selling rap album in the United States in 2013, behind Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP 2.[3](https://www.xxlmag.com/drake-nothing-was-the-same-album-essay/) • [23](https://develop.nielsen.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/04/nielsen-us-music-year-end-report-2013.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Artist and position | Third studio album by Drake, following *Thank Me Later* (2010) and *Take Care* (2011)[4](https://www.allmusic.com/album/nothing-was-the-same-mw0002572983) |
| Release | September 24, 2013; OVO Sound, Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records, Republic Records[1](https://riffiter.com/artist/drake/nothing-was-the-same) |
| Length | 13 songs, 59 minutes (standard); deluxe edition adds "Come Thru," "All Me," and "The Motion"[2](https://music.apple.com/us/album/nothing-was-the-same/1440824484) |
| Lead production | Noah "40" Shebib, Drake's longtime collaborator, with contributions from Boi-1da, Dahi, Nineteen85, Hudson Mohawke, and Jake One[5](https://drakealbums.com/tracklists) |
| Guest rappers | Only Jay-Z ("Pound Cake / Paris Morton Music 2") and Detail ("305 to My City"); no Lil Wayne despite earlier suggestions[6](https://pitchfork.com/news/52159-drake-shares-tracklist-for-nothing-was-the-same/) |
| Featured singers | Jhené Aiko on "From Time" and Sampha on "Too Much"[5](https://drakealbums.com/tracklists) |
| Commercial result | It was the second-highest-selling rap album in the United States in 2013, behind The Marshall Mathers LP 2[3](https://www.xxlmag.com/drake-nothing-was-the-same-album-essay/) • [23](https://develop.nielsen.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/04/nielsen-us-music-year-end-report-2013.pdf) |
| Critical scores | Metacritic aggregate 79/100; Pitchfork 8.6/10; Rolling Stone and The Guardian 4/5[1](https://riffiter.com/artist/drake/nothing-was-the-same) |
## Sound and production
The album was built primarily with Noah "40" Shebib, Drake's producer since his debut, working at Metalworks Studios in the Toronto suburbs; Drake said in early September 2013 that he was sleeping on the studio floor to finish the record before the September 9 deadline for delivering the masters.[7](https://www.nme.com/news/music/drake-239-1258050) Reviewers describe the result as an inward turn: Pitchfork's Jayson Greene called it Drake and 40's "most audacious experiment yet in how far inward they can push their sound," with song-to-song transitions more notional than ever, and Spin described a steely record pulling the sound "further inward to increasingly murky results."[8](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18511-drake-nothing-was-the-same/) • [9](https://www.spinmagazine.com/2013/09/drakes-never-was-the-same-keeping-it-real/) Apple Music's editorial summary frames the same character as a remarkably unified fusion of sensuality, revelry, and darkness, with songs that speak through atmosphere as much as lyrics.[2](https://music.apple.com/us/album/nothing-was-the-same/1440824484)
The opening track, "Tuscan Leather," runs six full minutes with no chorus, built on 40 flipping a [Whitney Houston](https://www.edgepedia.org/whitney-houston) sample in several different ways.[8](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18511-drake-nothing-was-the-same/) • [10](https://stereogum.com/1479251/premature-evaluation-drake-nothing-was-the-same/reviews/premature-evaluation) "Wu-Tang Forever" carries a small tag of RZA's voice before shading into "Own It," an example of the album's melty transitions.[8](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18511-drake-nothing-was-the-same/) On "Furthest Thing," producer Jake One spliced samples of two recordings, and the song's second half was built to preserve the spaciousness of a live recording.[11](https://www.nprillinois.org/the-x/2013-10-02/the-making-of-drakes-furthest-thing) The duo [Majid Jordan](https://www.edgepedia.org/majid-jordan) were brought into the OVO camp in 2013 as production on the album began and wrote song after song until "Hold On, We're Going Home" caught Drake's ear; that track became the album's poppiest moment, a synth-pop R&B groover.[12](https://djbooth.net/features/2016-02-02-majid-jordan-drake-songwriting-hold-on/) • [13](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/album-review-drake-nothing-same-212617530.html)
## Lyrics and themes
The Washington Post's Allison Stewart called it a taking-stock album in which Drake, then 26, looks at his life and career and decides he likes the view, while still carrying overshared sadness and an unbearable tug of loneliness.[14](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/drake-nothing-was-the-same-album-review-taking-stock-of-his-life-and-liking-what-he-sees/2013/09/23/b60c52e2-2238-11e3-a358-1144dee636dd_story.html) Pitchfork heard the title as a self-fulfilling prophecy, an acknowledgment that Drake was cutting final ties, and noted a "whiff of third act rot" that Drake himself dramatizes in his lyrics.[8](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18511-drake-nothing-was-the-same/) Stereogum's Tom Breihan wrote that beyond the few braggy tracks, the lyrics "practically belong on a '70s singer-songwriter record," and argued that "Started From the Bottom" rests on an obvious lie, since Drake did not start from the bottom.[10](https://stereogum.com/1479251/premature-evaluation-drake-nothing-was-the-same/reviews/premature-evaluation) Later commentary in *Time* characterized the album as colder and more paranoid than *Take Care*, stripped down to sinew, an examination of the pressures that come with success.[15](https://time.com/3709052/review-drake-if-youre-reading-this-its-too-late/)
## Cover art
The cover is a portrait by Kadir Nelson, an artist known for works engaging with African-American history and culture. It presents two side-by-side profiles of Drake: one as the adult artist, the other as a younger version of himself.[16](https://www.shatterthestandards.com/p/retrospective-review-nothing-was)
## Reception and influence
Critics placed the album high on 2013 year-end lists: [Entertainment Weekly](https://www.edgepedia.org/entertainment-weekly) and Complex ranked it second, Billboard fifth, Rolling Stone fourteenth, and Pitchfork twenty-fifth.[17](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/8003-drake-nothing-was-the-same/critic-lists/) Pitchfork later ranked it 41st on its list of the best albums of 2010 to 2014.[18](https://www.jones-massey.com/index.php/en/component/jdownloads/?Itemid=640&catid=718&id=12569&m=0&task=download.send) RapReviews judged it a good album, occasionally great, but noted the scarcity of guest singers, with [Jhené Aiko](https://www.edgepedia.org/jhene-aiko) and Sampha providing the only notable chorus assists on two of the best tracks.[19](https://www.rapreviews.com/2013/09/drake-nothing-was-the-same/) [The FADER](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-fader) observed that there are no real explosive vocal moments on the album, with the quieter, more somber parts outsourced to Aiko and Sampha.[20](https://www.thefader.com/2013/09/24/the-internet-weeps-drake-and-tao-lin)
Retrospective assessments credit the album with setting a template. RapAlbumReviews writes that it set the template for the next decade of rap-singing hybrids, from [The Weeknd](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-weeknd) to [Post Malone](https://www.edgepedia.org/post-malone) to the [SoundCloud](https://www.edgepedia.org/soundcloud) generation, and that 40's production of minimal drums and beats that dissolve song structure into mood chambers became a default sound for introspective rap.[21](https://rapalbumreviews.com/albums/drake/nothing-was-the-same/review) XXL argued that its commercial performance made Drake the face of hip-hop.[3](https://www.xxlmag.com/drake-nothing-was-the-same-album-essay/) On its tenth anniversary in 2023, Stereogum called it one of the most lavishly entertaining event albums of its era.[22](https://stereogum.com/2236741/drake-nothing-was-the-same-turns-10/reviews/the-anniversary)
## References
1. [Nothing Was The Same by Drake, Ratings & Reviews, Riffiter](https://riffiter.com/artist/drake/nothing-was-the-same)
2. [Nothing Was the Same – Album by Drake, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/nothing-was-the-same/1440824484)
3. [How 'Nothing Was the Same' Made Drake the Face of Hip-Hop, XXL](https://www.xxlmag.com/drake-nothing-was-the-same-album-essay/)
4. [Drake: Nothing Was the Same Tracks & Reviews, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/album/nothing-was-the-same-mw0002572983)
5. [Tracklists — Drake Albums](https://drakealbums.com/tracklists)
6. [Drake Shares Tracklist for Nothing Was the Same, Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/news/52159-drake-shares-tracklist-for-nothing-was-the-same/)
7. [Drake says he's 'sleeping in the studio' to finish his album on time, NME](https://www.nme.com/news/music/drake-239-1258050)
8. [Drake: Nothing Was the Same Album Review, Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18511-drake-nothing-was-the-same/)
9. [Review: Drake, 'Nothing Was the Same', Spin](https://www.spinmagazine.com/2013/09/drakes-never-was-the-same-keeping-it-real/)
10. [Premature Evaluation: Drake Nothing Was The Same, Stereogum](https://stereogum.com/1479251/premature-evaluation-drake-nothing-was-the-same/reviews/premature-evaluation)
11. [This Beat's For You: The Making Of Drake's 'Furthest Thing', NPR Illinois](https://www.nprillinois.org/the-x/2013-10-02/the-making-of-drakes-furthest-thing)
12. [Majid Jordan Describe Factory-Style Songwriting Camps for Drake, DJBooth](https://djbooth.net/features/2016-02-02-majid-jordan-drake-songwriting-hold-on/)
13. [Album Review: Drake, 'Nothing Was the Same', Yahoo Entertainment](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/album-review-drake-nothing-same-212617530.html)
14. [Drake, 'Nothing Was the Same' album review, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/drake-nothing-was-the-same-album-review-taking-stock-of-his-life-and-liking-what-he-sees/2013/09/23/b60c52e2-2238-11e3-a358-1144dee636dd_story.html)
15. [Review: Drake's If You're Reading This It's Too Late Marks a Transitional Moment, Time](https://time.com/3709052/review-drake-if-youre-reading-this-its-too-late/)
16. [Retrospective Review: Nothing Was the Same by Drake, Shatter the Standards](https://www.shatterthestandards.com/p/retrospective-review-nothing-was)
17. [Critic Lists That Contain Nothing Was the Same by Drake, Album of the Year](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/8003-drake-nothing-was-the-same/critic-lists/)
18. [Pitchfork decade ranking citation, jones-massey.com document](https://www.jones-massey.com/index.php/en/component/jdownloads/?Itemid=640&catid=718&id=12569&m=0&task=download.send)
19. [Drake :: Nothing Was the Same, RapReviews](https://www.rapreviews.com/2013/09/drake-nothing-was-the-same/)
20. [The Internet Weeps: Drake and Tao Lin, The FADER](https://www.thefader.com/2013/09/24/the-internet-weeps-drake-and-tao-lin)
21. [Drake Nothing Was the Same Review, RapAlbumReviews](https://rapalbumreviews.com/albums/drake/nothing-was-the-same/review)
22. [Nothing Was The Same Turns 10, Stereogum](https://stereogum.com/2236741/drake-nothing-was-the-same-turns-10/reviews/the-anniversary)
23. [Nielsen Us Music Year End Report 2013.pdf, develop.nielsen.com](https://develop.nielsen.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/04/nielsen-us-music-year-end-report-2013.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Albums and recorded releases › Studio albums › Hip hop albums › Pop rap and crossover albums*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license