Cover of Drake's latest album "If You're Reading
This It's Too Late."
PHOTO FROM ITUNES
Currently every song on Drakes album "If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late" is on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop top 100 chart. While it had a limited free release, the mixtape-turned-album has grossed over 500,000 copies in it’s first weeks.
Drake famously said he would never do a “straight rap album." He also never said anything about a mixtape. So on the brink of a complicated feud with his label, Young Money Cash Money, Drake drops a mixtape as an album in order to expire his contract. In "If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late," Drake reveals to us what his world truly looks like after "Nothing Was the Same." Following the glorification of his arrival as rap’s heavyweight champion on an album with multiple pop hits, Drake reverts to a style similar to his days of "So Far Gone." Both albums are produced by Noah "40" Shebib. Drake relies heavily on the quality of his verse and delivery in songs like "Energy" and "Used To."
Drake declares his greatness from the very beginning with "Legend." An ode to himself, Drake proclaims that “If I die I’m a mother****** legend.” Drake knows that he’s made it to the pinicle and with the surprise drop of his mixtape turned album, he is the first of the major artists to drop in a highly anticpated 2015. "If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late" has been able to fill the void of a dissapointing year in hip-hop in 2014. So while it’s unknown how it will stack up against other hip-hop and R&B artists like Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar and Frank Ocean, it is much appreciated.
Drake makes a bold statement to the competition in "If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late," but also in the act of dropping his album first. The minimalist style of "If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late" and the instagram posts accompanied the drop that read, “how you like my mixtape?” give this album a bravado of confidence in Drake’s craft. He knows that the verses carry the potential pop hits like "Preach," "6 God" and "10 Bands."
This album contains a look into a world unexplored by the listeners of Drizzy. While Toronto has always been present in his work in the past, this album soley reflects on Drake’s return home from his odyssey to the top. While he is away, he returns to the women of his life.
In "Jungle" Drake laments, “Listen, you can hear them calling my name / I’m all over the place, I can’t sit in once place / Still findin’ myself, let alone a soul mate, I’m just sayin’ / I’m not ashamed at all.”
While Drake appears to have everything in front of him, we still leave the album wondering where does he go from here? Themes like these have always appeared in Drake’s content but the delivery here is clearly different. In this album it would appear Drake may just be warming up for what is to come with the upcoming album, "Views From the Six." "If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late" clearly stands out from a weak 2014 and sets the bar high for hip-hop in 2015.
8.7 out of 10