I like to regard myself as a Tier 1 Drake fan. I’ve listened to every single one of his albums. Start to finish. Numerous times. And for the past year, I’ve been anxiously waiting for Aubrey’s long-awaited album ‘Iceman’ to drop. The rollout was perfect. Teasing the album and tracklist on Instagram, a ginormous block of Ice in downtown Toronto with the release date inside, livestreams on YouTube with snippets of the beats, and more. All of this led up to midnight on May 15th.
It was the last day of AP Exams, where I had to decide whether or not I was going to study or get on FaceTime with my friends at 12:01 to listen to the album that I thought would change my mind.
I went with the latter.
I remember refreshing Drake’s page for an hour with one hand, and taking a NotebookLM review quiz with the other. Finally, I saw the post, went on Spotify, and started listening. My friends and I had full expectations that this album would be as good as CLB, but in all honesty, it was no better than ‘Honestly Nevermind’. A solid album, but not as good as the album was advertised. I was heartbroken. It was 2:00 AM at this point, with AP exams in six hours.
Then that’s when I refreshed Instagram again to see two other albums on his page. He dropped three. In one night. And not one of them was good.
After my AP Exam that morning, I decided I would do as little work the rest of the day and solely listen to the two albums: Habibiti and Maid of Honour. That was a massive mistake.
Habibiti was an R&B album, some shades of Take Care, but Drake’s sound has changed so much from then that it seems forced. The songs were a universal 5-6/10. That used to be unheard of for Aubrey.
But now it is.
Maid of Honour was even worse.
The album was something indescribable. Not in a good way. I couldn’t figure out what version of Drake was coming through. Some songs felt like an attempt to serenade me – off the cloth of Daniel Caesar. Yet others, in the span of three minutes, felt like a song that was Industry Plant music. The best way to describe this? These are the first four songs on the tracklist. Notice anything?
- H** Phase
- Road Trips
- Outside Tweaking (feat. Stunna Sandy)
- Cheetah Print (feat. Sexyy Red)
Now here are the first four songs on the tracklist for Take Care. Drake’s Best Album. (Argue with a wall)
- Over My Dead Body
- Shot for Me
- Headlines
- Crew Love (feat. The Weeknd)
The difference? The song titles. This lower list is when Drake solidified a name for himself; he didn’t conform to the industry standards; he put out genuine music. That’s what made him so popular. He created new sounds, authentic lyrics, and entendres that went over people’s heads. Yet, now he’s doing the exact opposite. Focusing more on feuds with people like Rick Ross and Kendrick Lamar in his music, which is good for the industry. But not for his fans, who are yearning, not for the old Drake back. But for the Old Drake’s style of music to be back. We don’t want Sexyy Red features. We want people like Rihanna, Alicia Keys, SZA, Jhené Aiko, and more. Real musicians.
I fear Drake has fallen into the industry trap. Prioritizing monetary and numerical values rather than our, his fans’, ears.
Our GOAT is?
Washed.
My final ratings:
Iceman: 6.8/10
Habibiti: 5.7/10
Maid of Honour: 3.2/10
