Artist: Drake
Album aka Playlist: More Life
Label: Young Money Entertainment
Rating:
On Saturday March 18, Drake finally unveiled the oft-delayed More Life, the project he has been teasing since October.
While I usually skim over the track-list and jump to the ones that sound most interesting or have the best features, I wasn’t given the opportunity with this one. It aired on OVO Sound Radio so I had no idea in which the songs were coming at me and the ability to pause, skip or rewind wasn’t available so I just sat back and took it all in.
Since Drake reiterated over and over that this was only a playlist and not a follow-up to the critically acclaimed Views, I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I ended up with was the perfect balance of pop and rap, a blend that only Drake can successfully pull off.
Keeping with the spirit of the playlist format, Drizzy delivers 22 tracks and a plethora of features. These range from big names like Kanye West and Young Thug to artists from London’s grime scene, Skepta and Giggs. With these nods to London’s rap scene it proves once again that no one is more in tune with new music than Aubrey. He shows this again by putting Jorja Smith center stage on a track with the South African DJ, Black Coffee.
On the playlist’s closing track, “Do Not Disturb,” we get the classic Drake outro. He’s thinking retrospectively, reminiscing on his days when he first started rapping and how far he’s come. He also hints that he may be going on a post-“Take Care” hiatus as he says “I’ll be back in 2018 to give you a summary.”
While More Life was the inspiration of Views overflowing into this loosely-related playlist, it goes above and beyond his latest album. More Life ties together his best sides effortlessly, from rap Drake, to dance-hall Drake, to Caribbean-flow Drake and that singing Drake that hardcore rap fans love to hate him for. Overall the only complaint I have is that after the signature lighter flick, there was no Lil Wayne verse to follow. Solid album from Drake.