After a few push backs, Drake, the 6 God, Champagne Papi is back with his follow-up to the slightly underwhelming Views with his debut “playlist”(or his 6th mixtape) More Life.
Drake stated on Apple’s 1 Beats in October that he was off mixtapes and wanted “..to give you a collection of songs that become the soundtrack to your life..” He then gave us 4 new songs and 3 shades of the modern day Drake (If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late onwards).
The first is the mellow super reflective Drake we now all used to – Fake Love. The second is the lyrical Drake who isn’t really afraid of anyone – Two Birds One Stone.The third is the hybrid Drake who is capable of delivering catchy hooks but also braggadocios flair – Sneakin.
Now that I’ve given an overview of how we got to this point, I’ll get to the tracks!
1.Free Smoke
Drake is literally swinging for people’s head on this song. I was just falling into the soulful intro at the beginning of the song and then BAM! (Fire emoji).
Free Smoke!
Free Smoke!
AY!
I’m not sure who the indirect line is at, Kid Cudi/Meek maybe? “how you let the kid fighting ghostwriting rumors turn you to a ghost“.
2.No Long Talk (ft Giggs)
This is probably the most Canadian I’ve heard Drake sound on songs cadence wise. He has definitely been influenced by the likes of Smoke Dawg and Mo-G. I can immediately hear Mo-G ft Smoke Dawg – Still. It almost has a Drake – 6 God feel to it.
Giggs though! this is his box for real, wow he actually ran laps on this tune.His legendary adlibs will never get old either “UMMMMMM”!
3.Passionfruit
*Tempo switch up alert*
Drake has put his light skin Keith Sweat hat back on. The best way for me to describe this is deep house elevator type of music. It’s easy going but distant at the same time, it just sways.
4.Jorja Interlude*
As short as it is this is my favorite song so far, easily. The vocals from Jorja are pitch perfect, the subject is relatable to pretty much anyone and the production with the Doing It Wrong segment = flames.
You know the songs which make you reflect on life?
no?
plug into this for 1 minute and 48 seconds.
“Worried about taking my lane, they ain’t even got on the road..“
5.Get It Together (ft Black Coffee and Jorja)
After a snippet of the house sound on Passionfruit and One Dance previously the playlist has gone in fully VIBEY. It takes me back to 2009 and the Donaeo Party Hard era.
I think I’m beginning to understand the playlist element. Drake is not just featuring with people but really embracing their wave and allowing them to shine. The transitions of the songs as well is very DJ like opposed to; song – > stop -> next song.
It’s a nice little touch hearing artist at the end of the songs.
6.Madiba Riddim
Same kinda wave as the other two tracks Passionfruit and Get It together. I guess he didn’t want to put them all together as it would sound too house-ish. I’m expecting some dancehall vibe next on the basis of hearing Popcaan at the end.
7.Blem*
I have no idea what Blem means..let me go to Google…High on marijuana according to urban dictionary.
As much as enjoy this song but it’s missing Popcaan and Drake’s patios flow is a bit meh. Tory does the whole yard flow better to be honest (ahem Controlla).
8.4422(ft Sampha)
Ah..I actually wanted another dancehall song man. I thought there was a theme going on at least two songs per genre and then another sound. The mellowness may have been better suited towards the end.
9.Gyalchester
This is lazy from Drake, to be honest. I’m bored of him using this flow over and over and over again. This is part of the reason I don’t play songs like Grammys anymore.
10.Skepta Interlude
GREEZE, Grime on a Drake project, it was only a matter of time. This following Gyalchester is random though the cohesion is off.
11.Portland” (ft Quavo and Travis Scott)
It’s funny that part of the hook is “never let a n**a ride your wave” but that’s exactly what Drake is doing on this song. It sounds like a left over Travis had from his album, Drake wasn’t even needed.
So far I’m not 100% sold on this project.
12.Sacrifices” (featuring 2 Chainz and Young Thug)
Sacrifices, this is a better performance Drake handling the hook and delivering a verse. All of them pretty much stay on topic and 2 Chainz takes it.
13.Nothings Into Somethings
We are slowing down with this song, it’s the typical Toronto distant sound. Only around 1 and half minutes so it’s pretty much an interlude to an up-tempo song I guess?
14.Teenage Fever
Seeing a J-Lo and Drizzy collaboration on the credits put my expectancy levels on sky high. The song has theTake Care Drake all over it, which is nice but nothing new.
Final Tory comparison I’ll make(maybe) but I can’t help but say the instrumental sounds like something out of the Chixtape catalog.
15.KMT (Ft. Giggs)*
A flip from the lover anthem Giggs and Drake come together again to deliver another banger. I knew from the initial snippet this would be hype. It’s very much a statement track with a champion anthem feel to it, very powerful collaboration.
They compliment each other very well but with Giggs delivering a Man Don’t Care esque verse. ..sorry Drake..Shutdown.
16.Lose You*
Yep, this is what I’ve been waiting for since Jorja Interlude its Charged Up, 4pm in Calabasas, 30 for 30 freestyle and so on. The type of songs when he really reflects and is clear in his delivery.
“The city gets stronger when everybody is speaking no when everybody is out here beefing”
Interesting quote from Drizzy above, let’s see if Tory stops dissing him now.There is also some Meek lines in the song somewhere.
17.Can’t Have Everything
This actually feels like a lot of tunes to listen to in one sitting ha. Hmm ok, nothing special.
18.Glow (Ft. Kanye West)
I didn’t think I’d see a Kanye and Drake feature again after he kind of sidestepped himself away from him in his Semtex interview. Maybe I’ll change my mind after a few listens but I don’t know about this yet.
19.Since Way Back (Ft. PARTYNEXTDOOR)
Quite boring if I’m honest.
20. Fake Love
I have heard this waaaaay too many times already.
21. Ice Melts (Ft. Young Thug)
I don’t understand this song at all, but I hated Draco the first time I heard it on FUTURE.
22. Do Not Disturb
Feels like I heard this song already with Lose You and Jorja Interlude. It’s brilliant either way, I think I would’ve liked the project with more of these tunes.
“I Told You that I’m in this b*tch for eternity” – haha another Tory dig.
Drake is unquestionably the biggest in Hip Hop right now and has been for some time. The anticipation for this project was HUGE. Drake realised this and took a leaf out of what Kanye did on Life of Pablo. He utilised all the resources/influences around him and brought it all together into one project.
The good side of this is if you are a Drake fan(or a fan of the genres he draws from) you are bound to have a few songs you like. He’s captured the now and gave you a buffet.
On the downside, it doesn’t really have all the cohesion we are used to. Some of the songs just don’t really fit in sonically. Consequently, I don’t really know how to rate this as a Drake project as its more collaborative piece.
It will be interesting what he does next, Gucci mixtape? or back to acting who knows.
Top 4 tracks: Jorja Interlude, KMT (Ft. Giggs), Lose You and Blem
8/10
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