Nostalgia is a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. One thing that a lot of people tend to have nostalgia with is music, and that’s why we celebrate the anniversary of classic albums and mixtapes.

On Feb. 13, 2009, Aubrey Graham, also known as Drake, released his iconic mixtape “So Far Gone.” The third release of his discography, it’s heralded as a tape that cemented his eventual stardom and his role in a new generation of hip-hop. On Feb. 14, Drake released his breakthrough record on all streaming services for all of his fans, old and new, to listen and reflect to the tape that changed hip-hop.

In my early childhood years, my older brother would put me onto the music he had been listening to at that moment of time, and it turns out that “So Far Gone” was one of those mixtapes that he had shown to me. It was a breath of fresh air for me, as I had been mainly stuck with radio hits at the time, consisting of too much Flo Rida and Black Eyed Peas. This mixtape was my early introduction into my understanding of stars with women, the nightlife in Houston, the music industry and wealth.

In an interview with Complex, Drake explained, “The whole tape extends from one of my closest friends, Oliver. One night we were having a discussion about women and the way we were talking about them, it was so brazen and so disrespectful. He texted me right after we got off the phone and he was like, ‘Are we becoming the men that our mothers divorced?’ That’s really where the cover comes from, too. It’s just this kid in pursuit of love and money. We’re good guys, I’m friends with some real good people and for him to even text me after we got off the phone it just showed we have a conscience. But sometimes you just get so far gone, you get wrapped up in this [stuff].”

The tape ranges between the aforementioned topics of women, the nightlife in cities such as Houston and Toronto, Drake’s growing ego and wealth. Songs such as “Houstatlantavegas,” “November 18th,” “The Calm,” “Successful,” “Ignant S***” and “Uptown” on the tape really defined the sound Drake used to provide. From the DJ Screw homage, to the constant overload of lyrics and singing, the tape has a lot of cohesiveness and nothing felt out of place. It’s a lot better than his recent projects, “Scorpion,” “More Life” and “Views,” so that makes the tape sound that much better to my ears.

Overall, I’ll be listening to “So Far Gone” like it was 2009. It is a great mixtape, and one of the projects that started kicking off our newer generation’s sound. For all of Drake’s fans that started listening to him when he was starting to kick off his career, they’ll love this re-release on streaming services. For all of his new fans who probably didn’t know he has any music outside of songs from 2018, they’ll be in for a treat as well.