Yesterday (ed.: February 13th), Drake pulled a Beyoncé. I’ll tell you if you’re reading this review it’s too late to be called news. At midnight last night Drake dropped a collection on 17 songs on iTunes. So of course I took it on myself to inform the public of my opinions.
As we all know, to review a Drake album one must call their ex and ask why we didn’t work out.
“Quinn, it’s been like two years why are you calling at 9 in the morning and asking me about this.” But finally, “I don’t know we kind of grew apart.” Now that we have that out of the way maybe I can finally understand the heart of this music, “they don’t love you like they used to man.”
The largest debate of this crop of new music is what to classify it as. Is it a mixtape? Or an album? My favorite way of putting it was my friend Kili’s tweet:
“Drop that mixtape that sh*t sounded like an album?”
Immediately followed by:
“Wait sorry, drop that mixtape that sh*t priced like an album”.
The sudden drop and the reuse of the same melody reflect one of a mixtape, but it is definitely priced like an album.
The question of why this “mixalbum” has been dropped is on everyone’s mind. Does it have something with Drake’s newly released brooding, dark, short film Jungle? Some clips of the new music were put in the video, rendering it not worth watching, but that’s just my opinion.
Another hypothesis is that If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late it just a collection of songs scrapped from the upcoming album View From the 6, which you better believe will have more fanfare. Congratulations to Drake (or perhaps Birdman’s Cash Money Records) for the genius selling his leftovers.
Now about the music, the mixalbum is downright icy. Nothing about it makes me want to call my ex back and apologize. In my future, I see myself home for the summer, listening to these songs, holding on for dear life as my friend Dylan drives 90 mph just to watch the streetlights fly by in a poetic fashion. The album captures a lot of the hardships of being Drake: staying relevant, having fake friends, and family stuck far away (Canada). Drake manages to say badass lyrics and make them chock-full of emotion. The slow synthesizer that we have come to associate with the rapper is there in full swing, as is the hard snare that makes you want to move your hips hella slow. Many of the songs have a familiar tempo and beat to them, the sort of rounded piano melody, the long bass, and muted tempo.
All in all, I wouldn’t call this mixalbum transformative, but if this is a preview of View From the 6, color me excited.
Favorite Tracks and how to use them:
“Madonna” – getting it on with bae (or self)
“Legend” – walking in synch with squad
“Energy” – speeding
“Used To [feat. Lil Wayne]” – wherever drinks are being poured
“Jungle” – lying on your back thinking about all of your failed relationships
Quinn Ferrar / KXSU Staff Writer / @quinnoa_