Drake - More Life: My track by track review

Cover Art for "More Life"

Drake. Does this man even need an introduction at this point? Even if you've been marginally aware of popular music in the past 7 years, then you have heard of this man before. To put in perspective how famous this man is, even my 74 year old grandmother knows who he is. Now, you may be saying "Well, just because she's older, doesn't mean she can't keep up with the times!" and if you are saying that, you have to understand something. My grandmother comes from a 3rd world country called "Belize" (as does the rest of my family), she spends the majority of her days cooking food, looking after kids, and watching movies on the lifetime television network. The closest she gets to current technology is the house phone and flip phone she uses when she's out and about. She is literally never near a radio, or watches anything related to what the current, popular music is on TV. Just lifetime network movies and cable news...and even still, a 74 year old immigrant from Belize knows who Drake is...

Rare footage of Drake backstage

It still amazes me. Drake, a rapper from Canada, who's only really been popular, at best, 9 years, is known by my 74 year old grandmother. If that's not telling of how well-known Drake is, I don't know what to tell you. Point being, you should already know who Drake is, I shouldn't have to give you his entire backstory, but there's always that one person who won't know, or would be lost if some context wasn't given to the artist. So, here are a few facts about Drake:

~ Drake is a hip hop artist from Toronto, Canada. (Or as it's sometimes called "The Six")

~ He is known for easily switching styles to make different types of songs (there's "Rap" Drake, there's singing "R&B" Drake, there's Jamaican accent having "Dancehall" Drake, and more recently on this project, there's British sounding Drake)

~ If you've listened to any hip hop radio station in the past 8 years, odds are, you've heard Drake's voice. He is known for having multiple hit songs on the radio such as "Hotline Bling", "One Dance", "For Free" (a song by DJ Khaled), "Fake Love" and more.

~ Since the beginning of 2015, Drake has been the subject of much scrutiny regarding authenticity within the hip hop community. Drake has also been the subject of many controversial topics such as ghostwriting, stealing entire songs, stealing flows, being a culture vulture and more.

Fast forward to 2017 and Drake is back with "More Life", Drake's self proclaimed "playlist" ("playlist", meaning a glorified for-sale mixtape) which is designed to (in Drake's words, not mine) give me (the listener) "More chune for [my] headtop" and because of his generous...uh...giving of...chunes???? I'm now supposed to "Watch how [I] speak on his name. You know?" which is one of THE most corny things I've ever heard. "I'M GIVING YOU MUSIC. RESPECT MEEEEE!" is what Drake is essentially saying, and it's lame, like a rich kid who goes to another country and then comes back doing their best impression of that country's dialect.

*Listens to 'More Life' once*

Even though I know Drake has grown up in an area where patois is spoken. When Drake attempts it, it simply doesn't sound natural. Compare the way Drake normally speaks in interviews to the way Rihanna speaks in interviews. Rihanna, almost has to fight her strong, Barbadian patois when in front of a US audience. But the patois still slips out from time to time (notice how she pronounces "Wednesday". That's the accent of a person who is used to talking patois but has to somewhat suppress it). Drake, on the other hand, has to force words like "Ting" into his vocabulary and raps. It's not natural sounding at all in his interviews, Drake only seems to channel his inner Jamaican when he needs to make his dancehall records for the billboard charts, which is lame.

Written by Joseph Sanker II on 3/31/17

Anyway, enough of Drake himself, how does the music itself on "More Life" sound? Well, let's find out...

1. Free Smoke

One thing I'll always give Drake props for are his intros and outros. This man knows how to kick off his projects and this intro is no exception. This song "bumps in the whip", as the kids say (meaning the song sounds really good on a nice speaker with lots of bass). Content wise, Drake is on his "teflon don" swag on this song and is essentially saying he's untouchable. Drake wants everybody listening to know that nobody in the music industry can truly end his career and if you want to test that claim, to see if YOU can end his career yourself than go ahead and try to do it. You can come at him disrespectfully free of charge (hence the term "Free Smoke" or as Drake says on this song "Free Shmoke"). Great intro, I must say, I don't think Drake is untouchable (nobodies above anything) but he sells it so well here, you can't help but nod your head as Drake is firing shots in the air and at certain other artists. I like this intro.

2. No Long Talk (feat. Giggs)

A rare British Drake has appeared! It used fake and forced British accent! It was super effective!

In "No Long Talk" Drake and fellow UK rapper "Giggs" (who's apparently really popping overseas) talk and boast about...I don't know what. This song was boring and forgettable as all get out. Drake becomes British for a hot second, says nothing memorable. Leaves. And Giggs...I'm not a fan of Giggs. This is my first time hearing him, and if I never heard Giggs rap again, for the rest of my life, I'd be fine.

Boring song, that's fortunately short (it's not even 2 and a half minutes). So, it has that going for it...next!

3. Passionfruit

Picture a nice, summer's day. The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, it's warm outside, but not too warm. Your significant other wants to go shopping at the mall. Well, you oblige, fast forward, you're in the mall and you are approaching your local H&M (a clothing retail store that's typically located within malls). You walk inside the H&M and what do you hear over the loudspeakers as light background music? You guessed it. This song right here.

This song will be a huge hit, there's no doubt in my mind. And you know what? I see why, cause I enjoy this track immensely...for now. I say "for now" because as soon as this song hits the top of the charts, I'm going to get sick of it being constantly played on the radio. But yeah, a nice song to just let your mind wander off to wherever your mind wants to wander off to. Songs like this are what keeps Drake's female fans satisfied and it's what keeps Drake himself ahead of the competition cause he can switch up, go full Sade, and drop a easy listening track that couldn't offend, even the most sheltered suburban mother. A nice, pleasant song that I will get sick of the moment I hear it on the radio cause I'm hipster like that.

The ideal scenario to play "Passionfruit" in

4. Jorja Interlude

I didn't know who Jorja was prior to this album playlist but then I saw in the next track "Get It Together" that it was featuring "Jorja Smith" so naturally I googled her and not for nothing, but that's a fine woman. Anyway, how is this interlude? Well, it's very forgettable, much like "No Long Talk" was but less British and less corny. It sounds good, but the length of the track make it so the track never really amounts to anything but Drake doing his sad, introspective raps to light, airy beats. Passable, but nothing noteworthy or special going on here. This "interlude" is really an extended bridge to the next song.

5. Get It Together (feat. Black Coffee & Jorja Smith)

Wow, Drake really isn't trying to rap on this project. He wants the words "pop star" to be stamped on his name for real. Yeah, this track is okay, and within the context of the project it's a cool radio single. But it's honestly not my style of music, not my cup of tea at all if I'm being honest. It's not a bad song, but I feel like if I wanted house music then I'd be reviewing different artists and an entirely different genre of music. This website wouldn't be called "Hip Hop and Other Things" it'd be called "Dance Music and other things". This song is something you'd hear at 2 AM in a gay bar (Not that I'd know what they play at gay bars...haha...ha). I can't see myself ever listening to this ever again unless it was in the context of this "playlist". This is passive, background music at its peak. A high energy, danceable beat, mindless lyrics and some airy melody for good measure. It's alright. No replay value for me though.

6. Madiba Riddim

Remember "One Dance" from Drake's last project "Views"? Of course you do, it was the number 1 song in the United States at one point. Well, here's One Dance's more aptly named, Caribbean twin "Madiba Riddim" AKA "2 Dance" cause that is what this song feels like. Another attempt at radio, follows the same formula as most pop hits. Easily accessible, easy to sing along to, and if I hear it at a social event, I might bust a move. But as far as personal listening for me? Not a chance. I can bump "One Dance" if I'm feeling like hearing "Chunes 4 [my] headtop". Yawn. Boring, forgettable, and generic in terms of the formulaic Drake song. On to the next song on the albu- er, I mean playlist.

7. Blem

Rare picture of Drake finding the inspiration for "Blem"

Rihanna changed this man's life. Ever since Drake did the song "Work" with Rihanna. He's been inspired to be Jamaican Patois Drizzy bwoy. And here's the thing. I actually don't mind it. If it means Drake is a bunch of people's introduction to Dancehall, than so be it. I compare it to Eminem and hip hop. Eminem was a lot of people's introduction to hip hop and eventually those same people, who got into hip hop via Eminem, eventually went on to falling in love with the hip hop genre as a whole. And there's nothing wrong with that! That's what I'm hoping will happen with Drake here. He'll (hopefully) be a lot of people's stepping stone into more traditional dancehall music. I, for one, love the influx of new dancehall influenced hip hop that has been prevalent in the past year. A lot of rappers, from Travis Scott to Mick Jenkins, have tried on the Caribbean influenced sound. Sometimes it works (Mick Jenkins's "Fall Through") sometimes it doesn't (Travis Scott's "guidance") but if it means that somehow people will stumble upon more established dancehall artists like Sean Paul, Vybz Kartel, Beenie Man, or even Shabba Ranks, then I'm all for it.

It's a decent song, but I like the more authentic sounding dancehall that I'm used to hearing. Like THIS song is what I think of when I hear dancehall. Not this "dancehall lite" music Drake is making. Not for me, could be for you though.

Written by Joseph Sanker II on 4/2/2017

8. 4422 (feat. Sampha)

"4422" AKA "Sampha's Interlude" is a great song and I enjoy it a lot. I haven't heard a bad Sampha song yet. For those not in the know, Sampha is a UK born singer who has provided hooks and additional backing vocals for artists such as Drake, Kanye West and Solange Knowles just to name a few. Drake is nowhere to be found on this track. This is strictly the Sampha show and it works to Sampha's advantage cause this will definitely mean more people will check out his music when they hear this track. A definite highlight on "More Life". Be sure to check out Sampha's latest project "Process" here as well.

9. Gyalchester

Drake goes back into rapper mode on here. You know, heavy bass, catchy hook and catchy braggadocios raps.

On the song, Drake says "I don't take naps" and I'm reminded of the student athlete memes I've seen on twitter.

Drake as a student athlete.

Drake: Nap?😂 I don't know that word😴 while you taking Z's 💤 I'm making W's🙌🏆U snooze you lose😤🤘

Oh how's the song you ask? Boring and forgettable, Drake was literally counting ceiling tiles while he was recording. The hook is solid, but that's about it. The feeling of indifference is very present on "More Life" and that's not a good thing ting.

10. Skepta Interlude

Shoutout to Skepta for being my favorite non-american rapper. I heard Skepta's "Konnichiwa" last year (I even reviewed it, might post a throwback review on here one time, stay tuned chuned) and I was thoroughly impressed. If anyone is going to crossover to the United States. It's going to be Skepta. I know Dizzie Rascal had some success in the states back in the day, but Skepta is going to kick down the door for UK rappers in 2017 while Dizzie just opened the door and the door kinda closed behind him. Skepta's the one, and as for Giggs? Well, I'll expound on him more when I get to his second feature on "More Life".

But yeah, one of my favorite tracks on "More Life". Good interlude. Look at that, another song where Drake is nowhere to be found that just so happens to be a favorite of mine? Coincidence? Absolutely (I'm not a Drake hater, saw him in concert last year and he puts on a GREAT show).

11. Portland (feat. Quavo & Travis Scott)

Behind the scenes of "More Life"

I never knew how much I appreciated flutes until I heard them in hip hop beats. The flute is LIT ('Lit' meaning when something is turned up or popping for you nerds not in the know) and yeah I appreciated the production more than anything on this song. However, I feel like Quavo and Travis should've kept this song for themselves. Drake feels tacked on to "Portland". Quavo and Travis have the real chemistry on here (Apparently Quavo and Travis are dropping a collab project together so that's great news) and it shows heavily on here. Drake is like the 3rd wheel on a date here.

Still, a good song, would've been improved with Drake's removal from the song to be blunt.

12. Sacrifices (feat. 2 Chainz & Young Thug)

Transition from "Portland" to this song was extremely smooth, I appreciate good transitions, I feel like they're under appreciated in music today. Anyway, Drake makes a passive, bass heavy hip hop song. The lack of energy on this song is palpable. It's like everyone was lying back in their bed at 6AM when they were recording their verses...well, for 2 Chainz and Drake that sounds like the case cause their was a certain lack of enthusiasm on their parts. That's what allowed Young Thug to shine like he did on here.

Young Thug, who was first introduced to the masses through his song "Lifestyle" with Rich Homie Quan, was singled out for this nearly inaudible hook. On the song "Sacrifices" Young Thug sounds clear, crisp and most of all coherent. It's like Thug has been hiding this and just decided to debut this new lucid style on here. I want Young Thug to rap more like he did on this song cause it surprised me in a great way. He wasn't saying anything of substance lyrically, but it's like when the bad kid in class who people don't think is smart, starts paying attention and starts correctly answering all the questions the teacher asks the class in addition to acing the test. That was Young Thug acing the test on here, and it was great.

Another "meh" song though. Take it or leave it. I'm going to leave it though. Thug's verse couldn't salvage the song for me.

13. Nothings Into Somethings

Me falling asleep listening to this snooze fest of a track

Drake has always sung over these types of spacey, ethereal beats, but this song right here, just lacks any sort of character. First Drake goes into how he heard one of his past women has gotten engaged and then he trails off and the track doesn't amount to anything but a simple, airy "vibes" instrumental. It's not exciting or even that relaxing, it's boring. Drake should've called this project "Apathetic life" cause it simply sounds like Drake is going through the motions on here. Next!

14. Teenage Fever

Alright now THIS is what I'm talking about! R&B, "Heartbreak Drake" is back in full effect on this track! Drake's vocals have THE most emotion in them since the intro. The production fits the mood of the song perfectly as well as the Jennifer Lopez sample in the chorus (Shoutout to Drake for having a whole romantic relationship just to end up finessing a sample clearance, I see you Mr. Chune4yaheadtop).

There's always been a running joke that Drake's songs will make you want to call your ex significant other and I can see where that joke comes from cause this song will make you want to...want to...well, I'll let Bigquint demonstrate what I'm talking about...

Don't worry, the chair consented, it's all good

But yeah, I really enjoyed this song, it was nice. Might put it on my own playlist if you know what I'm talking about...my sleeping playlist haha...ha.

Written by Joseph Sanker II on 4/4/17

15. KMT (feat. Giggs)

There is a controversy surrounding this song and that controversy is this: Drake has been accused of stealing a rap flow from a song called "Look at Me" by a soundcloud rapper called XXXTentacion who used an extremely similar flow on the said song "Look at Me". Drake, of course, has denied this but certain people (mostly fans of XXX) say otherwise. My thing is this, nobody "owns" a flow. There are originators of said flow of course. But no one has a "monopoly"on a flow. Otherwise Lord Infamous would be collecting checks from the Migos and everyone else that use that triplet type flow. 

But beside that situation, Drake's verse should've been the only verse on here. Because Giggs...man Giggs should've NEVER been on this track. His verse does not match the beat at all. It's like he spit that verse acapella and Drake decided to put it to this instrumental. But a few lines in particular I want to point out are the following...

Keep in mind, this is Giggs saying this and he's being completely serious when he's saying this too...

"Clap man, dominant murder

I'm a black man, government earner

Could've just slapped man, but he wanted it further (why?)

Batman, da-na-na-da-na"

"Batman, da-na-na-da-na"

"BATMAN, DA-NA-NA-DA-NA" 

Rare footage of Drake & Giggs running the city

That was just...awful. Giggs had a chance to make a good impression to the American audience that would be listening to "More Life". Instead he goes "you know what? Not only am I going to rap with the energy of a tranquilized elephant on a song that's SUPPOSED to be hype. I'm also going to shoutout my old song, but I'm not going to do it smoothly and naturally. No no, I'm going to completely force and shoe horn in BATMAN Da Na Na Da Na. Yeah, that'll go hard." And Drake AKA Mr. Chaining Tatum said "Yea Bruv that's a good idea bruv" and then they clinked their teacups and had a toast to "More Mediocrity Life".

Suffice it to say, I don't like this song at all. Everytime I hear Drake's verse, I'm reminded of that XXX song and all the nonsense surrounding it, and Giggs was awful on this song. So yeah, automatic skip from me.

16. Lose You

You know, Drake never blames himself, it's always someone else's fault, it's always "Everybody is out to get me" but it's never "hey maybe I'm the problem, maybe it's all my fault" but I digress. He takes yet another shot at Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill on here, and it's like damn, I think the beef that Meek and Drake had affected Drake just as much as Meek cause it seems like Drake cannot rap at all without being defensive and angry.

Let it go Drake, you won. Why the need to come at Meek? But yeah, solid song here. Not great or anything, but decent. Just wish Drake would be himself on here, instead of constantly being on the offensive, like he's ready to just fight the world.

17. Can't Have Everything

Like I said before, Drake's raps lately have been on some "Yeah I'm better than you, I'm so tough, look at me, I'm such a tough guy" and I don't get it because it has been decided by the general public that he won the beef with Meek Mill but he's rapping like he has something to prove to the world. Drake keeps boasting about how he has nothing to prove, but his insecurity is still very much unmistakeable. It's like he got into his first fist fight, came out the victor, but now he wants to fight everyone. 

Drake's mother, Sandi, really sums it up the best at the end of this song. Listen all the way through to the end of this song and you'll see what I'm talking about when I mention Drake masking his insecurities through mafioso raps.

The song itself is nothing you haven't heard before. If you liked Drake's 2015 project "If You're Reading This It's Too Late" then you'll most likely enjoy this song. I didn't however as it felt like "Lose You" part 2 to me. More of the same "I'm tougher than you" raps from Drake and I'm not a fan. Would rather have a song like "Say What's Real" from Drake. A more, candid, sincere song from Drake.

18. Glow (feat. Kanye West)

(In the picture, Kanye's daughter, North West) 

Kanye tweeted "GLOW" back in August of 2016 and apparently it meant that he and Drake recorded a song.

I like this song a lot. I found myself singing it in my head the other day. Makes me sad that Kanye and Drake will never drop a full project like they were hinting at a few months ago. All because Kanye said "For Free" (a song by DJ Khaled and Drake) was overplayed on the radio (which was true). But Drake is so quick to cut ties with anyone who even doles out the slightest of criticism toward him. It's part of the reason I don't like how Drake moves as a person, cause he seems so petty. Like, it'd be cool to meet him, but you always gotta watch how you speak about him cause even if you didn't mean offense, Drake will take it AS offense. And cut you off completely, which sucks.

More importantly, this song is great. Kanye and Drake go back and forth between vocals. Kanye raps and then Drake comes in with the "WATCH OUT FOR MEEEEE I'M ABOUT TO GLOWWWW". It works well, and you can tell this song could've been more had Drake and Kanye fully realized a project together. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen now because of politics and hurt feelings. Tragic. But that's how the dice rolls sometimes.

Oh, and the sample at the end is PHENOMENALLY placed.

19. Since Way Back (feat. PARTYNEXTDOOR)

My reaction to "Since Way Back"

What? This thing's still on? This listplay or whatever it's supposed to be called is still playing? Jesus Christ, Drake, you're why track by track reviews are sometimes a pain. If you're still reading my review, I appreciate you. 

Anyway, this song is boring, bland, forgettable, stiff, corny and simpish. PARTYNEXTDOOR needs to stay in the OVO sweatshop and continue penning Drake's hits. Drake is on full "Hey girl, I miss you" mode and it's boring, there are no vibes to be found on here except, "let's completely ignore the song and do our own thing" vibes.

Glorified interlude is what this really is. Next track, cause I can't keep my eyes open for much longer talking about this audio NyQuil.

20. Fake Love

Heard this song a billion and one times on the radio. Never cared for it. Drake doesn't do enough to make me viscerally hate him. He's just around, like furniture. Just there, taking up space, in this case, taking up space on the radio.

Lol, I'm talking all this crap about "Fake Love" but watch me go through the slightest adversity with someone and be like 

Yeah, it's not a bad song, but don't expect anything spectacular or great when you first hear this song either. Drake is in the business of making pop hits, he's not really into rapping anymore. He wants the words "POP STAR" to be associated with his legacy. So, go into this expecting a simple, yet catchy pop song, not a rap one. I don't care for it though. On to the next one!

21. Ice Melts (feat. Young Thug)

I would rather this song be on the radio than "Fake Love". This is basically the rap version of "Fake Love" anyway. A fun, tropical vibe from Drake and Young Thug that'll have you nodding your head. But all in all, it is forgettable like a LOT of the other songs on here. No wonder Drake insisted that this was a "playlist" rather than a actual album cause this project is not only disjointed but it feels like a project filled with throwaways, which I know was basically the intention with "More Life" but my point is, these songs shouldn't feel like throwaways. I'll always direct people to Kendrick Lamar's "untitled unmastered." for an example of a project filled with throwaways done right.

But for what it's worth, I did enjoy this song and it is a favorite of mine. Even though it reminds me of a "Jeffery" leftover ("Jeffery" being a solo project from Young Thug). 

22. Do Not Disturb

Remember on the first track "Free Smoke" how I always gave kudos to Drake for his intros and outros? That's because they always stand above and beyond the middle portion of his projects. "Do Not Disturb" is as close as I'm going to get to the "Say What's Real" on 'So Far Gone' Drake that I admired. Drake's not being fake tough on here, he's not trying to convince you that he's better than you in any sort of capacity. He's simply saying what's on his mind, and that, I think, is what drew a lot of people to Drake in the first place. His unflinching honesty and self awareness toward himself and the people around him is what made him so relatable. Drake's 2nd album "Take Care" I believe is the last time Drake was truly just being himself and not trying to put on any sort of facade. 

You'll get glimpses of it here and there in his subsequent albums following "Take Care" but those days of Drake being as candid as possible are long gone. And it's not completely his fault, there's a reason why older artists are typically jaded. It's because everyone changes as time goes on, and sometimes that change is for the worse. It happens. That's life, and Drake will be back next year with more music, hopefully that music is more lively than "More Life".

OVERALL THO...

"More Life" is more mediocrity. More averageness. More "It's alright"

"More Life" is another bland, disjointed album playlist. Let me make this perfectly clear, I don't hate Drake, but it's clear that Drake is slowly gravitating away from rapping all together. I don't think Drake will ever put out another project with more than 6 rapping songs on it ever again. In fact, during the making of Drake's last project "Views", he stated that he considered taking off all the rap songs on it, but he didn't because he still wanted to appeal to the hip hop heads who knew him for spitting bars.  One thing I realized though is that Drake wants to cement his legacy as a pop star and with "More Life" he made it very clear. Tracks 3 through 7 will ensure that Drake will live on the radio for the rest of 2017 easily.

This project is virtually a carbon copy of his last project "Views", just with the added in UK hip hop influence and more interludes. If "Views" is the main video game. Than "More Life" is a really big DLC expansion pack that the game company releases a year later.

Basically, "More Life" is a dressed up, updated views. Same formula. He does that "little bit of everything" where he's rapping, singing, being fake Jamaican and everything in between. The problem is, Drake wants to be everything to everyone. He wants to literally appeal to every type of music listener out there and as a result he ends up stretching himself thin. This ends up in his music being bland and mostly characterless. I can recognize a majority of the songs on here, but I can't tell you what makes any of them special or unique. I can't tell you what makes a lot of the songs on here memorable. Just that, they're alright or okay, but that's it.

I feel like Drake should just drop a 100% R&B/dance music album. Don't even bother with the rapping cause I feel like Drake just isn't into rapping anymore. He only raps to sound "hard" or to not completely alienate his hip hop head fans, but it's not doing anyone any favors if Drake's heart simply isn't into rapping

The Good:

~ Drake knows how to kick off and end a project very nicely.

~ A lot of the features on here bring their A game, most notably Young Thug, Skepta and Sampha.

~ Definitely better than Drake's last project "Views".

The Bad:

~ Too many flavorless, nondescript songs on here that are meant to appeal to literally anyone, which is cool, but it makes for too many dull moments.

~ The project is wayyyyyyyy toooooooooooooo longggggggggg. No excuse for this to be 22 tracks other than to get those streaming numbers up. This project is designed for cherry picking your favorite tracks and discarding the rest.

~ This "playlist" is fundamentally the same as his last project "Views" but with more UK based sounds and artists thrown in and as a consequence, it shows no artistic growth for Drake.

Closing Words:

This project is like if a group of people ordered 1 pizza, and bought a pizza with every single topping that the pizza shop has. Everyone in that group who eats that pizza is first going to pick off every topping that they don't like on their slice of pizza before they eat it. And that's what "More Life" is. Something with every single style Drake has. It's up to the listener to keep what songs they like from the playlist and remove what songs they don't. 

Drake stretches himself thin by trying too hard to have as big as an appeal as he can. It's like fast food places like McDonalds that try to serve everything. From Burgers and Fries, to Salads and Brownies. Sure, they might reach a wider audience but it makes it so that McDonalds doesn't make anything particularly well, just okay enough to satisfy the average person. And that's what Drake's music has been as of late. Drake is not doing anything particularly well on this project and it shows. He becomes a jack-of-all-trades yet a master of none. Which is quite damaging to his artistic growth cause with each release since "Views", Drake has been sounding more and more stagnant. He is not progressing, he's found a lane and wants to stay in it.

It makes sense, financially speaking. He'll be making money with pop hits for the rest of his life, but his music, outside of a few key songs won't be worth remembering in the long run, other than for a quick nostalgia trip to that time when Drake was on top of the rap game. 

Favorite Track(s): Free Smoke, Passionfruit, 4422, Skepta Interlude, Portland, Teenage Fever, Glow, Ice Melts, Do Not Disturb

Least Favorite Track: KMT (BATMAN! DA-NA-NA-DA-NA)

Score: 5.5/10

Listen to Drake's "More Life" here.

WHEW! Finally got Drake out of the way! Look out for the next installment of the "Very Velocious Verdicts" series. There were a few projects I've been listening to that I've really enjoyed that unfortunately would take too long to review track by track.

For those not in the know. Kendrick Lamar, popular Compton rapper, has announced that everybody has until April 7th, 2017 to get their metaphorical feces together. What does that mean? Well, everything in terms of what Kendrick could be talking about, points to an album release on April 7th, 2017. He just dropped a single called "HUMBLE." and it appears from fellow rapper ScHoolboy Q's snapchat that Kendrick is indeed dropping an album. I wanted to get this Drake review out before that date too.

So this means, another Very Velocious Verdicts installment and THEN a review on the new Kendrick Lamar project. Cool? Cool.

Stay tuned my friends

~ Joe

Written by Joseph Sanker II on 4/5/17.