The Toronto MC surprised the world by dropping a new 17-track mixtape on iTunes Thursday night. But is it any good?
Drake decided to surprise his fans (and his critics) by dropping a 17-track midnight mixtape. If Youre Reading This, Its Too Late hit iTunes on Thursday, immediately became the top trending topic on Twitter, is set to end Taylor Swifts 11-week reign at the top of the Billboard charts, and was on the mind of every music fan the following morning. Drake fans have been waiting patiently for his Views From the 6 album, and amid turmoil in the house of YMCMB, that project appears to be on hold until some issues can be worked out. With Wayne making it known that hes ready to break from Cash Money, Drake cant be far behind. But with all of that dramaDrake decided to release this albumwith some fairly obvious statements of purpose that could be interpreted as him offering the public commentary on the state of his career and his precarious label situation.
If I die, Im a legend.
The opener, Legend, features an inspired and brilliantly distorted Ginuwine So Anxious sample with Drizzys auto-tuned rhymes about himself and his legacy punching through the grogginess of the production. I just cant pretendseen too much. Its too hard for me to let new people in, he rapswhich starts If Youre Reading This off on a promising-but-redundant note. It feels like weve been here before.
The production on Enemy is just as dark as the openerwhich sets the tone for the rest of the project. The unadorned beat feels perfect for Drakes flowwhich has a hint of 80s staccato a la DMC as filtered through his understated rhymes. 6 G*d was first released months ago, and its still a solid track even amongst the best stuff here, offering a much-needed bit of semi-kinetic energy on an album that can sink into lethargy in spots.
This sounds like the album you throw on when youre driving home from the club, angry at how much money you spent.
10 Bands is a highlighteven if it does feel like a Started From the Bottom sequel. He spends most of the song once again reciting his history and accomplishments, so once again, theres no new ground being broken here. But its a winner on the strength of the stars charisma and the infectious production. But the real champ is Know Yourself, a pulsing groove that sounds like the perfect soundtrack to a cold night in the city of Toronto. Pray the fakes get exposed, Drake raps moodilyagain referencing the paranoia that has become par for the course for Drizzy. My city too turned up, Ill take the fine for that, he continues, before reminiscing about his less-successful days tearing up his hometown with his woahs.
You know how that s**t go.
And 6PM In New York, a spiritual sequel to 5AM in Toronto, is Drake at his most direct and a great closer; with Drake announcing that Lil Wayne couldnt have found a better successor. But he calls out estranged labelmate Tyga explicitly: I heard a lil homie talking reckless in VIBEquite a platform he chose, he shoulda kept it inside. With salvos like Calling my name on the world stage / You need to act your age and not your girls age.
Ouch. Tell em how you feel, Drizzy.
No Tellin gets a bit lost in the mix of the entire albumits not a bad track, but doesnt do much to set itself apart on an album that gets a bit monotonous on its second half. I had to switch the flow up on you n****s, s**t was gettin too predictable. History is repeating itself, tho, Aubrey. Madonna features yet another distorted Ginuwine sample (from the same song, no less.) Its hard to tell if thats to give these songs the illusion of a thematic linkor if the OVO camp is just really into chopping up So Anxious these days. Star67 is another song that sonically ups the ante a bit, with the production switching mid-song. The sonic detour is creative, but the second half of the song fails to measure up to the first half. The sound that 40, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Vinylz, Most High, Boi-1da and the rest of the crew have put together is meant for late-night listenings. This sounds like the album you throw on when youre driving home from the club, angry at how much money you spent and wondering why youre meeting up with somebody you didnt even like all that much once you sobered up a bit. This is not the sound of the turn up, its music meant for the emotional crash afterwards.
Overall, the songs here build on the darker vibe of Nothing Was the Same Drake, and despite reports that the rapper dropped this project as a stop-gap between Nothing and the highly-anticipated Views From the 6a clever ploy to wrap up his contract with YMCMB and free him up to possibly go elsewherethis feels like a fairly cohesive project. Both aurally and thematically, its purposeful project, as opposed to a contract-filling tossed-together compilation. The downside is that it tends to run together, and not in a thematically-linked sort of way. A lot of If Youre Reading This sounds like it came from a specific time in Drakes life and career, but it doesnt have the kind of bold vision that made Nothing Was the Same the best album Drakes released since his early mixtapes.
If Drake is really planning his great escape, though, this is a better offering than the most recent releases from his mentor Lil Waynewho seems content to churn out uninspired product for his still oddly-devoted fanbase. If Reading lacks variety, it definitely isnt a lazy releasewhatever its history. But its so relentlessly downbeat that it all becomes a sea of moody grooves, with Drake alternating between his mopey side and his paranoid sideor merging them in typical Drake fashion. Heres hoping Views From the 6 is a little less monotonous, but as fans wait, this is a pretty good pacifier until whenever that project sees the light of day. Commercial mixtape or album, a fan has to be happy with that. As long as theyre okay with accepting that theres nothing new here.
Source: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/14/drake-s-moody-surprise-album-rapper-pulls-a-beyonc-with-if-you-re-reading-this-it-s-too-late.html
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