While most will take this as a careless flip of a light song, it’s nearly too much of a coincidence that The Beatles are used in the project after Drake’s infamous line from Meek Mill’s “Going Bad”, “ Back home, smokin’ legal, I got more slaps than The Beatles.”Ĭoming off of a memorable introductory track, Drake keeps the momentum going with plenty of his trademark crooning and occasional clever bars. He brings back a sound that hasn’t been heard in years with the project opener “Champagne Poetry”, which flips the timely classic “Navajo” by Masego, which was sampled in “Michelle” by The Beatles in 1965.
Right from the start of the album, the listener is thrown into the world of Drake. Other speculated reasons for the LP’s delay include the touring restrictions during the pandemic, as well as the fear of releasing alongside other titans in the rap industry, such as Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar and J. While this could have very well been a coincidence, every woman on Drake’s love-themed album looks like they grew children right alongside the growth of the album.
However after a series of release days, a fight against COVID-19 and a blown-out knee, the album was delayed a full nine months. ‘Certified Lover Boy’ was originally announced in the fall of 2020, with a video teaser and release date of Jan. All our journalism is independent and is in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative.īy clicking on an affiliate link, you accept that third-party cookies will be set.The album art quickly became a meme within minutes of its announcement.Īfter several single packs, demo tapes, re-releases and hit features, Drake is back with his first full-length album since 2018’s ‘Scorpion’ with the hotly anticipated ‘Certified Lover Boy’. This article contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if a reader clicks through and Regardless of the format, Drake closes More Life rapping: “See you back in 2018 and I’ll give you this summary.” A nice sentiment, but fans know their pied piper won’t wait on nature’s clock if he has more to say. Even if the album lacks the humor of the Views songs 9 or Childs Play – no line here bests “Why you gotta fight with me at Cheesecake / You know I love to go there” – the breadth of styles recalls his 2012-2015 Soundcloud that found space for both Fetty Wap and James Blake remixes. Instead the project is closer towards old school rap mixtapes, where unreleased tracks sat alongside potential singles and one-off tracks from crew hanger-ons. The subtitle of More Life is A Playlist by October Firm, a nod to the fact this isn’t Drake’s true follow-up to Views. Still the best look belongs to south London rapper Giggs, who appears twice and burns through his verse on KMT, where he snarls “Fingers all itching, twitching, looking all jerky / Whipping that white girl, cooking that Cersei.” But in the spirit of a playlist, his guests are given plenty of spotlight: Skepta Interlude proves why the grime star found a fanbase outside of London, and Young Thug on Sacrifices adopts a neat Lil Wayne-esque staccato flow. His influences now stretch across the African diaspora, but since So Far Gone, Drake’s melodic ability, not rap, has been his true skill.Įven if on top of the pop world, Drake remains obsessed with rap power ranking, and Can’t Have Everything, with the line “We evolved, used to think vacation meant Niagara Falls”, shows he’s fine to keeping find new fights. Even with an appearance from South African house producer Black Coffee that cluster recalls Drake’s pre-Views pop turn in the exquisite 80s R&B pastiche of Hold On We’re Going Home. Last year Drake pivoted into afrobeats and dancehall with One Dance and Controlla, and the early More Life run of Passionfruit, Get It Together, Madiba Riddim, and Blem proves that wasn’t a passing interest. More Life offers little solace for those who never bought what the Canadian rapper was selling but for his fans that gave his songs billions of streams last year, they’ll hear no issue. Views, Drake’s commercially successful, but critical maligned 2016 album saw fatigue set in with the rapper regurgitating tales of fame and ex-lovers. Initially the delays appeared odd for what was supposed to be a stopgap release, but at 22 songs this clearly wasn’t a minor project for the rapper. Unsurprisingly, that release date proved to be soft, and after numerous delays More Life: A Playlist by October Firm premiered on Saturday night on OVO Radio, his Beats 1 radio show. Last October, Drake announced More Life with a December release date along with a few songs, including the quintessential narcissistic Drake hit Fake Love.