Well, this album rollout did have a lot up and downs if I say so myself. From Drake playing fortnite with popular twitch streamer Ninja, the whole saga with Pusha T, and that he has a child. Drake fifth studio album is here and it's a double disc this time around, his last couple of projects were pretty long in length. One side is the rap side and the other side being the r&b side of Drizzy, which could be a good thing for his die-hard fans but for some of his fans this could be a bad thing. In this review, I'm not gonna review the whole album track by track cause I think everyone here doesn't wanna read a novel. So, I'm just gonna give yall the summary for both sides. So without further ado, let's get right into this.
SIDE A: I am honestly impressed and surprised how great SIDE A is, Can this just be the entire album instead and pretend Side B doesn't exist? This side gives me a lot of great memories and vibes from "Nothing Was The Same" and "If You're Reading This, It's Too Late" mixed with a few elements of his debut and "Take Care". There are a few lines here and that is a bit of eye roller, like the light skin but a dark skin, which every time I giggle a little bit but I digress. "God's Plan" and "I'm Upset" were two of three singles that dropped and these two were growers for me, They were very minimal when it came to the production and they're both overplayed up to this point but both those of these tracks are very infectious and catchy, which Drake has a great history with that. The opening track "Survival" is a great opener, Drake dives into a lot his past and current beef history since his rise in the game, this track and others like this reminds me of the loosies Drake drops, Those insert random time in random cities songs, two of my favorites lines is the Mt. Rushmore line and you pop molly, my mali's pop you saying he got Somali goons to back him up.
"Emotionless" is the track where he mentions his son, so I am curious if this track and some other were rewritten after the whole Pusha T saga. I love the sample on this track, drums are pretty nice on here too, and Drake's vocal has passion as well. "Mob Ties" paints a great picture of Drake being a mafioso type of guy with the people he affiliates with, "Sandra' Rose" has a very soulful sample that loops over and over and I love the beat drop. Hearing Drake on this type of production makes me want more cause he sounds great here, and the references of being his mother's rose and her running a flower shop is a nice added touch, a lot of Instagram captions for the next two weeks for people. "Talk Up" is my favorite track, a track that has DJ Paul from Three Six handling the production with a nice NWA sample and a Jay-Z verse, so it seems that "beef" is done with. it is surprising to hear Hov on this song since he doesn't hop on this type of beats but he flowed well on here, I like the XXXTENTACION line, I wonder if Jay wrote this verse last week or something. "Is There More" ends this side of the album and it's a great closer and transition to side B. The beat is very spine-chilling, I love that too many Disney characters bar and it seems like he no longer with cash money, so hooray.
Overall Side A is great and Drake raps are top notch and the best he has sounded to me since 2015. He didn't sound bored or lazy, he sounded motivated as fuck to record this. Like I said earlier I am not sure if the theory is true this was rewritten after the Pusha saga but if it was then I am fine with that. with Side A review, let's dive into Side B, the R&B Drizzy.
Side B: *sigh* this wasn't really it chief. I know fans wanted that R&B Drake album and sure "Views" was the closest to get that experience but this was a rough listen for me. One thing I am grateful about this Drake that phase of dancehall and Afrobeat pop is gone and we get Drake diving his toes into his old sound and modern r&b with a trap flavor. The songs that stood out how the most are "In My Feelings" and "Blue Tint", "Blue Tint" has a cameo from Future and track does remind a track that could've been on their collab album. I think what impressed about these tracks that blend of trap and r&b works perfectly, "Nice For What"is another great explanation to this perfect blend, wished Drake had this whole New Orleans bounce sound on Side B. The last two songs "Final Fantasy" and March 14th" were good highlights for me, I like the transitions from both tracks were first verse is Drake rapping and the second verse him singing. The production on "Final Fantasy" is very luxurious, I don't think any of the Final Fantasy games were sampled sadly.
"March 14th" funny enough was not the only date Drake played Fortnite with Ninja but also founding he was the father. Drake gets personal comparing his current situation with his baby mother to his parent's situation and how he also challenged his parents on a lot of his records but he ended up like them and also labeled as a single father bothers him a lot. He raps about meeting his son once around Christmas and he introduced him into Santa Claus and got you gifts and despite a lot of the clothes didn't fit at the end of the day I had to still get you something. He also tatted the number eleven which has been rumored it was for Jorja Smith but it was for the son's birthdate October 11th, it's overall a great closer for the entire album.
As for the rest of side B though, It was very sloppy, forgettable, and boring. "Summer Games" and "Ratchet Happy Birthday" are easily the two of the worst songs I've heard this year and also from drake thus far. I agree with Akademiks, "Summer Games" sounds like a Fortnite type beat that you would find on youtube. "Ratchet Happy Birthday" has some nice drums but he sounds like the worst version of PND and I would rather have PND on this track maybe it would've made it passable. the song with Micheal Jackson didn't deliver at all and it is a fucking mess, I don't think that was MJ himself but if it was, Drake could've picked a better MJ track and the mixing on his vocals was terrible. "After Dark" had Ty Dolla steal the whole show and made the track his song, it has a major throwback vibe and it was an r&b song should be.
Final Thoughts are pretty what I said earlier, Side A is great and Side B is a mixed bag. If Scorpion was just Side A plus maybe four or five of the songs I enjoyed from Side B I think I would've loved this album a lot more but where I stand with this is he barely passed the test. Slightly better than Views and More Life but compare to Nothing Was The Same and If You're Reading This, It's too Late, Scorpion it is very average at best despite this the best Drake has sounded somewhat motivated in a while. At this point, I just want short albums no more long albums, please everyone.
Favorite Tracks from Side A: Talk Up ft Jay-Z, Survival, Emotionless, Nonstop, Sandra's Rose, God's Plan, I'm Upset, Mob Ties, Is There More
Least Favorite Tracks from Side A: Can't Take a Joke
Side A Score :
Favorite Tracks from Side B: Nice For What, Blue Tint, In My Feelings, Final Fantasy, March 14th
Least Favorite Tracks from Side B: Rachet Happy Birthday, Summer Games
Side B Score:
Overall Score:
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