Outside of a few comments on Drake's 2022 dance-inspired album Honestly, Nevermind, I have yet to pen a Drake review at all, this is a surprise as he's undoubtedly one of the biggest artists of this current generation. But here we are finally, and back with a classic album review as well, a modern-day classic but a classic nonetheless. And a return to this series as well, I haven't done a classic album review since my Oxymoron review in December 2021 just under a year ago.
As an outsider looking in at this album, the tracklist gets off immediately on the front-foot. Looking at the streams of those initial tracks I could tell that it was going to be a solid start, atleast in terms of listenability. And as expected, it absolutely was. Those first 4 tracks are stacked. From the off, Drake sounds confident, braggadocios, glossy and accomplished, and throughout the album that never really dissipates. Drake kicks off the album telling us "if I die, I'm a legend", and that bullish energy continues on the next one where Drake addresses his foes with the chorus I got enemies, got a lot of enemies, got a lot people tryna drain me of my energy, they tryna take the wave from a ni**a, fuckin' with the kid tryna pray for you ni**a." Unless you're inside Drake's mind it's hard to ever gauge who he's talking about as despite the intensity and brashness of the chorus, the verses never specifically delve into who he's talking about or address anyone by name, so I assume Drake just has enemies because he's famous, and he's Drake. Although the verses do manage to maintain the tempo of the track. It's a pretty sick song, Energy, and one of the ones I'd heard countless times before.
Know Yourself is next on the tracklist and another one I'd heard before, with that mean beat which contained ugly drums that bounced hard and eventually transitioned into some heavy bass hits as Drake delivers the infectious line, "running through the 6 with my woes". Before the switch Drake sounded fairly calm and melodic, but he switches gear properly as the beat changes, and this is the part of the song which is the hardest. Drake takes his time between bars but delivers some fairly high-tempo, fast-paced flows which as he says in the song, were pretty nasty. No Tellin has a menacing and sinister beat with again heavy drums and decent bass, and Drake sounds self-assured and though I thought the hook was bland his, verses were good fun and he rides the beat seriously well as his flows roll off his tongue nicely, "you pick the casket, I'll put the nail through it, I ain't gotta do it but fuck it somebody gotta do it, hate it if someone else did it, I may as well do it", sounded particularly good.
Madonna presented itself with a similar energy but Drake's approach to the beat was more creative and made for a really good listen. He starts off sounding indifferent to what he's talking about but still pushing some slick-ish flows, but then his vocals come in properly and I really like his cadences and inflections in his bars. He opens with the minimalist hook, comes through with the verse just mentioned which really grew on me over time and finishes the song with the hook again and then the instrumental plays out for a long outro of around 50 seconds, and the beat does evolve into something drum-less by the end. The song structure was strange but I welcomed it as something unique, shorter, snappier. I guess the song is about Drake propositioning a woman into helping her become a star, okay.
6 God was similar in-vibe to the previous songs mentioned but finished strongly with some nice melodic moments where Drake sings "I'm not new to this, coming from the motherfucking 6 side, I'm not new to this", I thought this bit was sick. Star67 starts off feeling laid-back and I love how Drake so often can incorporate melody into his verses, like on here when he says "used to flip apps now that old plug murked". The beat then changes up into something similarly laid back with a spacey soundscape but with familiar bass, however the drums that were slightly more subdued, complimenting Drakes relaxed delivery. Drake's content felt slightly more emotional here but still managed to amuse me somewhat with the line "you know when I'm mixing, I smoke when I drink, it's tradition". His shoutout to Nas was cool though.
I think Preach featuring PARTYNEXTDOOR is probably a bit of a fan-favourite. Drake does pretty well but I thought the hook was pretty wack and I didn't like the annoying vocal affects for the chorus from PARTYNEXTDOOR. Wednesday Night Interlude was another track that felt duddish and dull and really slowed down the progress of the album as it no-doubt was intended to - so yeah a slight dip in the tracklist but Drake picks it up well with Used To featuring Lil Wayne. A classic feature for a Drake album, Lil Wayne again does his thing and the chemistry between the pair is brilliant. The persistent beat provides a jumpy place for Drake to flex some of his bars with his ever-confident, braggadocios lyrics. Wasn't a huge fan of Drake's voice and delivery in his verses but he does a great job on the hook which nicely breaks up the bars.
6 Man is a short, "vibe-focused" tracks with a pulsating bassy beat that reminds me of background music you'd hear on a conspiracy video, it's all a bit cosmic and eerie. Tthe song overall itself does slap a bit. Now and Forever felt like Drake in the peak of his powers and just one of them great Drake songs. His smooth vocals make it and he brought a really easy listen with some half-decent cadences to finesse the track. The lyrics are really repetitive but given the silky atmosphere and sound that the vocals create, the repetitiveness can be forgiven.
Then we get to the final 4 tracks. I didn't feel Company and Jungle, I thought they were a bit boring, especially in the context of the album which at this point is in and around the 60 minute mark. However, You and the 6 was great and for me Drake certainly saved one of the best till last with 6pm in New York. On a nice mid-tempo beat, this is one of those '1 verse no hooks' tracks which I have previously been a big fan of and I think these type of tracks are actually some of his best, contrary to his undeniable hit-making ability. Yeah I guess other than 6PM In New York, I also really enjoy 5am in Toronto and Say What's Real as 2 standouts within this sub-genre of Drake tracks. Drake brings similar flows to others from the album but I think he really pushed his pen harder for this closer and the bars were lively and vicious with some sick punchlines and smart wordplay. My favourite bar is probably "I got a backyard where money seems to come from the trees, and I'm never ever scared to get some blood on my leaves".
To conclude, this was another good Drake album that I have now discovered. At this point, I don't think it can hold a handle to Nothing Was the Same, and probably Take Care, but on other hand, I would say it's better than So Far Gone, as well as some of his later work that I have listened to. On If You're Reading This It's Too Late there are more tracks I like than dislike, and also some absolute bangers, but for me, it doesn't have as much depth, variation or well-roundedness as Nothing Was The Same or Take Care. Let me know where you would rank If You're Reading This It's Too late amongst Drake's discography.
7/10
Star Track - 6PM in New York
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