From Drake to J. Cole, the Attack of the Reference Track (Listen & Download)

In today's digital age nothing remains behind the scenes, including reference tracks, much to the chagrin of superstar artists. Over the last week we've had at least two major songs come out in close proximity to the leak of their corresponding reference Jamie Foxx's "Fall For Your Type" and Diddy's "I'm Coming Home". In both cases, the overall response has been the same: "I liked the Drake/J. Cole version better."

First, let's compare and contrast:

J. Cole - "Coming Home (Reference)" (Listen below)
Diddy - "I'm Coming Home"

Drake - "Fall For Your Type (Reference)" (Listen below)
Jamie Foxx - "Fall For Your Type"

Just for the record, and reading comments across the interwebs I think there's some confusion about this, there really is no Drake or J. Cole "version". A reference track is a sketch, an outline that gets puts together for the artist who buys the song to use as a, well, reference. Instead of an even remotely finished song, it's essentially an artist laying down the track's perimeters: "Rhyme, rhyme, then a slightly more aggressive rhyme, transition to the bridge, beat drops, soft hook, then boom back with a hard rhyme." The artist who will then officially record and stick their name on the track is free to follow that outline note for note or not at all.

In other words, Cole or Drake would never officially release these songs, at least not in anywhere near the form they're in now. That's be like a painter releasing his sketch book instead of a finished painting. (Sorry if that's obvious to the educated minds of Refined Nation, but you might be surprised how few people out there really understand the difference.)

For decades these reference tracks were completely behind the scenes deals. No one but the parties involved and a small circle of others would ever hear the "original" version. No longer. Now, thanks to the internet, these semi-secret maneuverings are being brought to light, and the results so far have been nothing but bad news for major artists. Now they not only have to worry about making a hit, but in outdoing the reference track, which in some cases may be impossible. For example, no matter how well Jamie did with "Fall For Your Type", and he did just fine, the legion of hardcore Drake fans will always prefer Drizzy's track, even if it's something he hastily slapped together as a reference.

Personally, I feel like this is a good thing. No longer will famous artists be able to simply buy and build off of the talents of less powerful, but probably more talented, artists. Instead they'll be forced to actually make quality music, or at least music that's good enough to beat out a reference track. It really shouldn't be that hard....unless you rap like Diddy.

Any other examples of reference tracks that were better than the final version? Hit up the comments below.