July 15, 2016

Frustration is the word that comes to mind when thinking about PartyNextDoor and his impending album, P3.

H
Contributor

Frustration is the word that comes to mind when thinking about PartyNextDoor and his impending album, P3. It was December of 2014 when we last got a full project from PND, though I wouldn’t really count his Colours EP as a standout effort from the OVO signee. If you go back further to his last really notable project, it was earlier that year in July when he released PartyNextDoor Two, a well-rounded and impressive showing as his first studio album under the OVO umbrella.

Since then, we’ve gotten a handful of random singles from him, a few leaks and features, but nothing really concrete or consistent. Most recently we got a slam dunk record from the trifecta of Party, Jeremih and Lil Wayne, which doubled as the announcement for PND and Jeremih’s joint album, Late Night Party. There’s no set date for either, but with Views out of the way, it looks like it’s about to be PNDszn.

If you’re wondering where Jahron has been the last couple of years, look no further than Drake’s album credits. He was all over Views (as both a credited writer and ghostwriter), and undoubtedly wrote or helped write other singles for Aubrey. More than that, he wrote the entirety of Rihanna’s part on her smash hit “Work,” which has been dominating charts and radio waves since it’s release.

His skills as a songwriter and artist are obvious, but it’s time he broke off of the OVO tree and re-planted himself as his own sequoia. Out of all the artists Drake has signed or co-signed, Party arguably has the most potential of them all. His knack for beautiful hooks and melodies combined with his illustrative, passion-filled songwriting makes him a dynamic artist, and a star that should’ve been shining much brighter by now.

While he doesn’t have any sort of crazy punishment stories like Birdman, there have been tellings that Drizzy runs a boot camp-esque operation over at OVO, using his signees as his own personal hitmakers more than anything. This is more relevant than ever with Party, as he’s had a hand in some of Drake’s biggest records as a solo or featured artist. While he’s gained much notoriety and surely got a king’s ransom as payment, I believe he would be best off doing his own thing at this point.

With P3 on it’s way and what is sure to be an impressive project from himself and Jeremih also queued up, Party should use the success from those to really launch himself as the stratospheric star he’s meant to be. It’s not to say he shouldn’t show respect and thanks for what Drake has done for him and his career, but he needs to see that he will always be in the shadow of the 6God as long as he’s on OVO. Maybe he’s okay with that, but I wouldn’t be.

Drake is a mastermind when it comes to running OVO, and I’m sure he’ll do all he can to keep Party on the train, but that certainly doesn’t seem like the best look for him. Given that Roy Woods has had two releases with the label in just under a year, whereas PND has had just one more release than that in three years with the label, it’s very possible that Drake doesn’t even really plan to let Party grow into a superstar and compete for the world’s attention. With Woods on the come up and one or more signees sure to be added before long, it’s very likely that PartyNextDoor could get lost in translation and have his prime pass before he ever really reaches his peak.

Back before he was doing songs with Kanye, The Weeknd was Drake’s right hand man. They made great music together, but Abel realized that Drake wasn’t the type to let someone else’s light shine brighter than his own, and made the smart choice of graciously collaborating with him without ever officially signing to OVO—he got all the juice, but didn’t have to squeeze any oranges, and it’s paid off incredibly for him.

PartyNextDoor has the talent and status to detach himself under from the owl’s wings and successfully fly free. Whether he’ll do it or not is one thing, but I don’t think there’s any denying that he could definitely make some shit shake on his own.


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