americana

3y

I’ve listened three times:

What I wanted: I didn’t really need much from this project. I didn’t need concise ideas or some complex topic. All I really wanted was for him to bar out (I’d missed it for a while) and for there to be cohesion in the sound, maybe through transitions or through common producers. I also wanted some new features!

What I expected: I expected for this album to be more R&B/dance focused with a bar-out here and there. I thought he would make a shorter album this time around too

What we got: This album is 90 minutes long and 23 tracks, spanning all kinds of genres that Drakes covered before. We have bangers across much of the beginning half, even dipping toes into the rage sound. The midsection of the album really slows down, with a few drumless R&B joints and downtempo bangers before picking back up with some dance tracks and faster joints featuring SZA, Bad Bunny, Sexyy Red, and Yachty. The album closes out with two pretty slow tracks as well. There’s samples, sound bites, transitions, cameos, and beat switches everywhere

What I Liked: I loved the diversity here. Drake spent a lot of this album trying styles I hadn’t heard him on before, especially on Rich Baby Daddy, Gently, IDGAF, and Calling for You. Some of the singing tracks, like BBL Interlude and Members Only, were great. Daylight’s Adonis feature actually hard. Basically all the features showed out and did their things. The production was pretty interesting, but I’ll have my criticisms.

Drake also had some good writing on parts here. The tongue in Cheek lines, his references to Rihanna and Universal, nods towards other beef, the absolute masterpiece of 8am in Charlotte, very nice very nice. The bounce on songs like Another Late Night, What Would Pluto Do, 7969, Away From Home and Rich Baby Daddy immediately put them in my downloads. Some of the narratives in this tracks remain entertaining and engaging.

What I Don’t Like: This album lacks exactly what gave HNVM and Her Loss their charm, which was a sense of identity. Even if the sound wasn’t uniform, attitudes and sequencing gave the albums a sense of direction that this album lacked to an extreme amount. Why was the Bad Bunny song here? Why did the album end on an R&B track that could’ve been in the midpoint? What exactly is the reason for a Yeat song being here? WHY IS BARK RADIO ON TWO SONGS FOR THIS AND NOWHERE ELSE? It all makes no sense, there’s no narrative or idea that helps this project move forward. Drake said this was an old drake album, then a summer sounds album, then an r&b album, and yet it’s none of those things because it tries to be all of them. It’s the same hole that CLB fell into

However, CLB was not nearly as cringe and as half-baked as some of the moments here. WHO is DJ POOPERSCOOPER and HOW did he get a minute on the song that had Chief Keef for 8 bars? WHY is there a DJ Screw song shoved in here, especially in the middle of the R&B segment? WHY is there a minute long interlude in the middle of Calling Your Name? WHY did they choose to use the word “gangy” on Members Only, which sounds TERRIBLE when they sing it 16 times in a row? WHY was this Bad Bunny collab picked by anyone to be on ANY project? There is no reason any of these things couldn’t have been eliminated or improved on to increase the project quality.

My criticisms of the production and performance by Drake continues. Calling Your Name’s beat it terrible, I’m tired of beat switches, especially when drake had the opportunity to go toe to toe with Cole on the same track . I’m tired of Drake bringing bland and terrible Melodies for 15 minutes straight on tracks with little to no drums . I’m tired of producers trying to sample flip like 40 and not coming near to flips like Virginia Beach.

Conclusion: Idk, I didn’t want much. Drake’s inflections and energy were getting more interesting even if his bars became a little less focused. 8am really excited me, and the features all did a great job. The production kinda fell flat for me and drake sounded so bored that even the good lines passed through me. Maybe I’ll come around

6/10 / C+

DJMCC93

3y

Never forget all the Pusha T fans having a breakdown cause they saw he named his intro Virgina Beach

And it turned out to be nothing about him

hoopsplayer21

3y

couldn’t label it exactly. just to work with some outside people and notable people in the game. pierre, metro, etc etc. i sound super hype beast rn, but considering cole’s never really leaned into other artists for his own projects, i think it would be a nice bow tie to his career if he really does call it after that. bring in all the features, drake trav etc, all the producers, metro, pierre, etc, yet still deliver his clinical verses as always and still standing out as the highlight of his own work. if that makes any sense lol

Skinn Foley

3y

They're in America

CertifiedLoverGirl

3y

After her loss it’s great to get some good ass drake singing hooks

THEREALHNDRXXFREE

3y

Gave my 45th listen to the album in the gym

My gains were triple the normal and got a PR

OVOJersey

3y

I mean no matter what your skin color is the fact that your profile is from drake and Josh has to be the whitest thing I've ever seen on this site lmaoo :chanlaff:

SlamGod

3y

I literally seen the reception to every drake album lmao. I know what mfs were saying on release

He always got some hate on even albums like take care and NWTS. But it’s nothing like it is now

RICKY 2320

3y

how the f*** is this project ambitious lmao it’s literally Views/Scorpion/CLB 2.0

NWTS was an ambitious project, this is Drake over the same modern/trap production

You could literally put these songs on Scorpion or CLB and they wouldn’t feel out of place

That doesn’t mean it’s bad music, it’s solid like everything Drake does but he doesn’t surprise us anymore

orangetcovid

3y

he's not sir

orangetcovid

3y

getting likes in drake sxn too easy blud @Mmm_Hmm

2words

3y

I’m impressed by things like the Frank collab and how great he was utilized as part of the instrumental

DJMCC93

3y

Never forget all the Pusha T fans having a breakdown cause they saw he named his intro Virgina Beach

And it turned out to be nothing about him

lioned

3y

Tell em free

jumbotron

3y

didn’t expect slime you out to be top 3 on the album before first listen but it really is

Impossible

3y

i been using it too frequently for my own good bro imma get popped soon

SUPER BOWL SOSS

3y

hey

Mmm Hmm

3y

Ez dopamine chamber

2words

3y

I don’t think you understand the kind of work that would go into beats like this

To call this production just some modern trap production, with all the pianos on here, all the switches, and just the vocal effects alone

Compared to looping a record and rapping on it

RICKY 2320

3y

how the f*** is this project ambitious lmao it’s literally Views/Scorpion/CLB 2.0

NWTS was an ambitious project, this is Drake over the same modern/trap production

You could literally put these songs on Scorpion or CLB and they wouldn’t feel out of place

That doesn’t mean it’s bad music, it’s solid like everything Drake does but he doesn’t surprise us anymore