A man who doesn't need much of introduction, Aubrey Graham aka Drizzy aka Champagne Papi aka the 6 God, Drake has a new project well playlist as he said. My relationship with Drake's music has been quite rocky at times. Sometimes he can win me over with albums like Take Care or If You're Reading It's Too Late but projects like Thank Me Later or Views I can't stomach. Speaking of Views it did quite well for Drake breaking a lot streaming records with Spotify and Apple Music but I was with the group of people who didn't like Views. I didn't feel like Views was trash but I was very disappointed, I felt like Drake took a step back from his 2015 run and Drake to me didn't sound confident, struggle bars, generic dance hall music, and some terrible singles. After that release he dropped a few tracks and announcing later on that a new project was coming out titled "More Life" and said its a "playlist" and pretty much this will be if OVO Sound Radio was an everyday thing and new music dropped each and every day, so my interested peaked quite a bit. Sure we weren't getting a concept or a theme to this "playlist" but there's a chance we can get a whole mix of drake styles or maybe a new sound Drake will dip his hand in.
And that's pretty much what this project is. It's pretty much mixed Drake's sound and influence from Take Care, If You're Reading This It's Too Late, Views and also mixed in with Drake rapping alongside with Grime artists and even hopping on some synth pop. "Free Smoke" kicks this right off with a pretty beautiful sample from Nai Palm and the beat drops and gives me vibes from "If You're Reading This". I also find quite funny Drake takes more shots at Meek Mill, man poor Meek that ordeal is gonna haunt him forever. He also takes a little dig at Jay Z and many others who came out. "No More Talk" comes up next and it's a pretty solid banger. At first, listening to this I laughed quite a bit, with Drake rapping with a English accent but it grew on me a little bit. Giggs who features twice on this project is a fellow Grime artist and he's pretty decent with guest verses, it reminds me and sounds like a British version of Trae The Truth with his very low key, skeletal voice, and flow.
Passionfruit at first I didn't like this with the whole tropical vibe and was like oh no more generic dance hall but after awhile I can vibe to this. Drake sings about dealing with a long distance relationship which to be honest I have dealt with being in a long distance relationship and I do have a soft spot for this like this and if I had a few drinks in me I would probably dance like a fun idiot to this. Then up next we get an interlude here and it's basically a "Doing It Wrong" 2017 edition with the sample, I wished this song was a bit longer but its cool little interlude. '"Get It Together" I didn't like cause it's a four-minute track that shouldn't be this long with not much lyrics being sung here. I do think the production is pretty decent but overall just drags on for too long. "Madiba Riddim" and "Blem" are two of my least favorite tracks with more Drake doing his "best' impression of his Jamaican accent and it doesn't go over well for me.
We get to the eighth track here and we get another change of pace with "4422" with Sampha returns to work with Drake and man this track had me in my feelings. I like the theme has relation with 44 being the country code for the UK and 22 being the code for Sampha hometown in Sierra Leone. Lyrics mentions Isiah 44:22 which notes about forgiveness and repentance and I love the production it gave me a chill down my spine. "Gyalchester" is a term of patois if in case you are wondering. Drake's flow is pretty half baked where he would say one line take a pause and spit another line, its one of those songs where the hook is more memorable and maybe one line or two will stick, it's a decent banger. Skepta interlude is one of the main highlights here and one of my favorite tracks here. I love the production here and I'm trying to figure what the sample is either from a Zelda game or one of the Pokemon games not too sure.
"Portland" and 'Sacrifices" are pretty good tracks mainly where I feel like the features artist outshine Drake and make his verse on both tracks feel a bit short. "Portland" beat to me sounds a bit amateurish and it is nice to continue a trend of rappers using flutes since Mask Off was the first this year to use it. Quavo and Travis contribute to Portland were the main highlight and give us the taste of the Huncho x Cactus Jack collab album that's coming soon. "Sacrifices" I really the beat switch from the hook to verses with piano to this upbeat production. Young Thug had the best verse here, it's the first time where he can make out what Young Thug is saying and probably, in my opinion, Thugga best guest verse, 2 Chainz verse was good too I did have a chuckle when said " pretty girls like trap music, so I woke up with my wood hard". "Nothing Into Something" is a pretty short track where I have a feeling it was supposed to have a feature but maybe it was cut off last minute, mostly it is just two short verses and the hook with Drake going "Sha Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah". I feel this track it's just background music and would work perfectly when you are at one of those parties when every high off they mind and just vibe or a late night drive around the town. "Teenage Fever" even though is basically a remix of Jennifer Lopez "If You Had My Love" but it's another favorite track of mine, its give me a lot of that Take Care era sound. I do it funny instead of having J-Lo sung the hook, they just sampled her smash hit and the track it is about Rihanna, oh Drake you sneaky bastard you, but overall good track nonetheless.
"KMT" was a pretty controversial track cause when this track was previewed sparked a huge debate if Drake did or not ripped the flow and rhyme pattern from "Look At Me!" by fellow up and coming Florida rapper XXXTENTACION. Even the beat do sound a like a bit but overall I do like this and I give credit for the producers here sampling "His World" from Sonic 06, that game still haunts me at night. Giggs appears again here once again and nice verse but I can't give him a pass when the ended the verse with "Batman, da na na na na", I guess to the UK people he makes many references to Batman in the past so yeah maybe we need to get him in the new Batman that would be nice. "Lose You" has that vibe of those insert random time in random city tracks and sounds like a 30 for 30 part two track. Drake address to his friends, family, and his lover if he lost a connection to them to how huge his career got and being there for them when the time is needed, this type of Drake tracks are my personal favorites of mine. "Can't Have Everything" has a southern Drake vibe which was a heavy influence on the If You're Reading This mixtape, his flow, and the smooth production is a match made in heaven. Drake does drop little diss to Pusha, Torey Lanez, Meek and many others who challenged and at the end the day you can team up and take him down but it won't bring him down and he will laugh at ya, Drake's mom skit at the end of the song was quite funny saying she's quite concerned with his tone lately in his music and gives some advice about people trying to bring him down, its cute in a way. "Glow" give us a taste of that now scrapped collab mixtape Drake and Kanye that was in the work due to Kanye's rant on Drake in November, so I have feeling this was recorded before that rant happened. Drake and Ye go back and forth with each line and in the hook also and the theme about they rise in the music, the two have quite the chemistry on here and I love the beat change up at the end of with the Earth, Wind, and Fire track "Devotion" live version.
As we wind down here "Since Way Back" and "Fake Love" are two more tracks here that I didn't like at all. PND featured on "Since Way Back" is unbearable and a hard listen and "Fake Love" sounds like a bootleg version of "Hotline Bling" and Drake's on the hook is super annoying. "Ice Melts" is decent but I feel the mixing needed some work here with Thug's vocal and Drake also sound all over the place and the production isn't polished at all. 'Do No Disturb" is where "Lose You" left off at and Drake in a rare form of being very open and vulnerability. It give us what was going behind the scene since Drake dropped Views and talks about his relationships, rap feuds, and personal issues he's being dealing with. At the end of the track, that he's been surrounded by the competition and money that maybe it is time for a well deserve a break and live a regular life and we will see him again in 2018, a perfect track to end this "playlist".
Overall to me, this playlist is pretty much a lot of vibes and each track has a mood for everything in everyday life. I feel this was a way more enjoyable listen than Views despite More Life not having much of concept, theme, and short little ideas on a few tracks here. I do think they more die hard Drake fans will like this a lot cause all his sound in one full project, but I think some of the casual fans of his like me may enjoy some of the raps cut and a few of the other themes he was doing here. So after this project, I am curious if Drake is gonna take a break and see where he does from here and sees what other sounds the six god is gonna dive in next. I do enjoy this overall and I'm curious if this will grow on me as the year progresses, we will see.
Favorite Tracks: Lose You, Do Not Disturb, Teenage Fever, Skepta Interlude, 4422, KMT, Free Smoke, Glow, No Long Talk, Can't Have Everything, Portland, Jorja Interlude, Gyalchester
Least Favorite Tracks: Since Way Back, Fake Love, Blem
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