Free Smoke: A song that starts with a piano melody and some really strong, soulful vocals from Nai Palm, this song sees Drake basically address his haters, and challenge anyone to try to take his crown as a top rapper. While I think his flow is fine and his performance is not bad, either, the song just kinds of bores me. Maybe it’s the hook? It might be, I think “free shmoke, free shmoke, ayy” is just pretty boring, and while I don’t think it’s a terrible song (in fact, I think it’s an appropriate opening to the project), I feel like it’s just nothing I want to go back to after this review. Also, while Drake is no stranger to using patois in his music, Baka’s outro just feels like an attempt at forcing it into the track.
No Long Talk (ft. Giggs): I’m sorry, but Drake’s patois on this song just feels really silly to me. I don’t know what it is. Still, I like his flow on his verse, and the beat really adds to the fun factor. However, I think it’s the verse from Giggs where the song really comes alive, because his flow is extremely fun and catchy and, while I’m not sure if I’ll be going back to this in the future, Giggs really made the song a whole lot better for me. This one might grow on me in the future, though, we’ll see.
Passionfruit: A song that fits perfectly in Drake’s wheelhouse, in that it’s about the idea of trusting your significant other in a long-distance relationship, I really love the catchy and bright instrumental on this one, and I feel like it really plays to Drake’s musical strengths (his singing voice) and it sounds great overall. I also really like the hook on this one, and I like the way it stays bright and catchy, even though it’s got some kind of sad lyrics. I like this one a lot!
Jorja Interlude: A short interlude featuring a singer named Jorja Smith, this track doesn’t really leave a lasting impression on me, because Jorja’s very filtered, hardly-there vocals don’t really amount to much, and Drake’s verse is just kind of boring to me. It serves its purpose as an interlude and not much else.
Get It Together (ft. Black Coffee and Jorja Smith): A very funky and uptempo track, this one also features Jorja Smith very prominently, which makes it feel a lot more like her track than Drake’s. And honestly, it just plays as a pretty cheesy ballad to me. Despite the uptempo beat on this one, Jorja’s performance is kind of boring (again, the filters really take away from her admittedly strong vocals) and, what little Drake we do get on this track is nothing close to his best, in that he just sounds kind of bored to me. Definitely one of the weaker tracks on this record.
Madiba Riddim: This one leaves me kind of conflicted. I like the bouncy production and Drake’s vocals, and the lyrical dissection of his own fame is pretty interesting to me, but I can’t help but feel like this just sounds like a B-side from his last album “Views.” In fact, the instrumental just felt a bit like a copycat version of “One Dance,” and while it’s nice on the ears, I don’t feel like I’ll be going back to it all that much.
Blem: I love the instrumental on this one, and again, Drake’s vocals are quite good on this more Caribbean-inspired song. It’s definitely quite nice on the ears, and while it also sounds kind of like a B-side, I definitely had some fun with it. Drake’s flow is a little boring on it, but all in all, it’s a pretty decent track that might grow on me in the future, though Lil Wayne’s random outro just kind of confused me.
4422 (ft. Sampha): Instrumentally, this piano-driven song does feel a bit sad and nice on the ears, and while I do like Sampha’s vocals on the track, I can’t help but feel like it really doesn’t fit on this project, seeing as how Drake is nowhere on it. While I do think it's a pretty-sounding track, I feel like there might just be something I’m not getting with it. Maybe I just need to listen to it a few more times to really get it?
Gyalchester: I like the way the last track leads into this one so perfectly. Even so, I just honestly feel so indifferent about this song as a whole. Nothing about the song really leaves a lasting impression on me. The hook is genuinely forgettable, Drake’s flow is nothing special or exciting, and while I liked the instrumental at the beginning, I don’t find it really all that fun after the whole “feel change.” I don’t know, it just bores me!
Skepta Interlude: Another song that has absolutely no Drake, instead featuring UK rapper Skepta, and I have to say I really like his flow on this one! His lyrics are really braggadocio, but his performance is passionate and exciting! And while I found it hilarious that he kind of “sampled” the Victory Road theme from "Pokémon Gold" on this song, I think that really helps make the instrumental even more memorable for me. There’s not much of a hook on this one, and again, it feels strange that this is on Drake’s project considering that he’s nowhere on it, but all in all, it’s a good track that might even get some repeat listens out of me.
Portland (ft. Quavo and Travis Scott): This track is just flat-out boring! There is nothing memorable about this song! I’ve sat down and tried to listen to it multiple times and it literally just leaves my memory after each listen! Drake’s verse is really boring, Quavo’s hook is definitely one of his weaker featured appearances of the year, and while Travis Scott’s verse and “drowning in autotune” vocals were kind of fun, they were not enough to save the song from being a crashing bore for me. Not even the flute was able to win me over.
Sacrifices (ft. 2 Chainz and Young Thug): I like the piano-driven intro on this one, which is why I wasn’t as happy when the feel changed so much on Drake’s verse. And while his flow on said verse is pretty solid, his hook was pretty boring to me. 2 Chainz and Young Thug are also featured on the track and, unfortunately, I feel like 2 Chainz’s performance on this one doesn’t have the charisma or energy I usually expect from him, and even if Young Thug shows some of that energy and charisma, his verse just feels a bit repetitive and too long. Yeah, wasn’t all that crazy about this one.
Nothings Into Somethings: A much shorter track, I like Drake’s vocals on this one, and I think the hook is pretty fun, and while the instrumental is a bit cliché, the song itself does have a pretty solid, sad vibe to it. My only big gripe is that it feels like Drake has so much more to say on this one, and I think the fact that it ends with a minute of instrumental is honestly a bit unsatisfying. Even so, it is a solid track.
Teenage Fever: A much slower song, I like Drake’s vocals and flow on the verse of this one, and sampling Jennifer Lopez’s “If You Had My Love” adds to the catchiness of it. It definitely just feels like standard Drake stuff, and it is very reminiscent of a B-side, but I don’t know, I guess I kind of like the downer vibe of this track, and I feel like it’s a song that I might be willing to go back to a bit in the future.
KMT (ft. Giggs): The song that caused a huge ruckus because it was allegedly a copycat version of controversial rapper XXXTentacion’s “Look at Me,” I think I’m more interested in the fact that he sampled “His World” from “Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)” on this track. But still, I do like Drake’s sound on his verse of this one, and the “His World” sampling really makes the song a lot more interesting to me sonically. And honestly, if this really did copy X’s song, it’s a rare case where the copycat is better than the original because I think this song is much nicer on the ears than “Look at Me.” Giggs’s verse isn’t as interesting on this one as his verse on “No Long Talk,” but I have a feeling this is gonna be one of those tracks that ends up being very earworm-y for me.
Lose You: I feel like this track is one of Drake’s more personal and mature songs, in that it talks about how his success caused him to question if he’s lost his family and friends. It’s a really interesting personal journey from Drake, and I like his flow throughout the verses on this one. Not really much of a hook on this one, but I’m really digging this track and I feel like it’ll definitely get repeat listens out of me.
Can’t Have Everything: Unfortunately, I’m not all that crazy about this song. Sure, Drake’s flow on the verses and the catchy, punchy beat are quite solid, but his lyrics about wanting everything but not being able to have them just aren’t really that interesting to me. Some of the lyrics even border on cheese for me, to be honest. It’s not a bad song, I just feel like I’m pretty indifferent towards the track.
Glow (ft. Kanye West): I really like Kanye West and Drake’s vocals on the hook of this one, and I like their chemistry on this one. Even if they talk again about how successful they’ve become in the music industry, I find the song to be too fun and great on the ears. I love the punchy and bright instrumental, and I feel like I’ll end up giving this one some repeat listens, for sure.
Since Way Back (ft. PARTYNEXTDOOR): This track features PARTYNEXTDOOR, and I feel like they kind of mesh together nicely on this track. The fact that they talk about a relationship going sour just kind of feels very much in Drake’s wheelhouse, and both their vocals are quite nice on this one. The instrumental is pretty minimal and hardly all that noticeable in the first part of the song, but on the second part, it ends up being really infectious and memorable. I actually really like this track!
Fake Love: This one definitely grew on me a bit. I initially wasn’t all that crazy about it, but even if it feels kind of like a “Hotline Bling” B-side, it’s kind of a really catchy, fun beat, some solid vocals from Drake on the verses and a hook that, while I didn’t love it at first, I ended up growing to have a lot of fun with. I also like Drake’s lyrics talking about the people that act fake to him. Definitely grew on me a bit, I really liked this track!
Ice Melts (ft. Young Thug): Another track that features Young Thug, I’m honestly not all that crazy about his hook on this thing, and while Drake’s vocals are nice on his verses, I can’t help but find the song to be a bit repetitive. Drake talking about a love interest is obviously nothing new, and honestly, I don’t mind that as much as others, but just in the context of this playlist, the instrumental and Drake’s flow just come off as too much of the same. It’s not a terrible track, but it’s definitely not all that memorable.
Do Not Disturb: I like the sampled vocals from "Time" by Snoh Aalegra on this track, and while I do think this is an appropriate track to end on, I feel like it’s just nothing I’ll want to go back to in the future. It’s just Drake spending about three and a half minutes taking shots at numerous different people and talking about some of the crazy things he’s been involved with, and then an extra minute of instrumentals. It’s an appropriate end to the playlist, especially considering that he alludes to taking a much-needed music break, but it’s just not the most memorable track on this thing, or a track I’ll really want to return to in the future.
Overall, I don’t really know how to feel about this project, to be honest. I was genuinely pretty bored throughout the first half, but I ended up having a much better time with a number of the tracks on the second half of this thing. Even then, though, I found it to be an overly-long, kind of inconsistent project that just feels wholly “so-so” to me. While there were definitely some tracks that I enjoyed (and you’ll see on my list of “favorite tracks,” there were quite a few), there were honestly even more moments that I didn’t enjoy on this thing, and a lot of the tracks just felt really “whatever.” It felt like Drake was trying to make a record of B-sides and hiding it as a “playlist” just to make it feel unique and hold people over until his next major release, although I’m not sure why he would feel the need to hold people over because “Views” wasn’t even a year old when this dropped. It just felt like he had some ideas on the cutting room floor that he wanted to put on that album but couldn’t quite do it, so he just haphazardly threw them together on this “playlist.” The result is a project that just goes on way too long, and can’t help but feel like an exercise in gimmicky marketing.
Not a terrible project, just nothing special.
Favorite tracks: Passionfruit, Skepta Interlude, Teenage Fever, KMT, Lose You, Glow, Since Way Back, Fake Love
Least favorite tracks: Get It Together, Gyalchester, Portland, Sacrifices, Ice Melts
Rating: Okay
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