Drake is back to his original ruthless self on this new album; however, he also takes the listener on a deep plunge into his personal relationships with women and his son, Adonis. The prolific artist mentions a woman named “Hailey” throughout the twenty-three-track album. As someone whom he spoils with his riches, all the while sprinkling in hints that their relationship is only surface level. Hailey, who also performs on the album, mentions her dissatisfaction with Drake not buying her a first-class ticket during their Bahama vacation, a trip that on a later track Drake expresses how Hailey ruined that trip.
On “Daylight,” Drake brings his son in as a guest feature to this album for a cute father and son rap moment that puts a smile on your face the first time you hear it. Unfortunately, after listening to the song I skip past the moment I hear Adonis’ voice.
High praise is given to the studio’s production quality on this project. Every single beat sets the vibe for the song instantly and for the first time in a long time. Drake matches these vibes perfectly and does not sound bored when he hops on the microphone.
From top to bottom, the track list is filled with bangers and misses, including a few that put me to sleep throughout the album. For example, “Members Only” is an incredibly boring track that talks about this girl that Drake gets so close with, he considers her a member of his gang. This concept gets very stale after the first verse and continues to slog on for almost five minutes.
Drake pulls some very impressive features from everyone involved. One of my favorite moments on this project is when Lil Yachty and Drake team up on “Another Late Night” where the duo sounds like they are having a blast on the track where they discuss just another late night with their significant others and their dogs. J. Cole and SZA make two of the most impressive performances on the album, however, neither is able to outshine Drake during their parts of the song.
Drake’s writing on this project comes off as extremely bipolar, including one song that consists of non-stop clever bars, only to be followed up by corny bars for the entire next track. A particular theme that he uses frequently is lyrics about homosexuality, such as “We in the club with your gay friends/Always put you on a straight flight.” You can tell in moments like these that he struggled to find clever rhyme schemes on certain songs on the project.
Overall, I had a lot of fun all 10 times I listened to this project, and the hour and thirty-minute run-time flew by as if it was only half an hour long. Even some of the tracks with lazier writing are worth coming back to revisit because the hard-hitting production is candy to your ears.
