While Drake has mostly focused his late career path on the singing lane, we have received occasional tokens of focused rapping excellence on recent projects with tracks like ‘Middle of the Ocean’ and ‘More M’s’. With only a few breadcrumbs sprinkled until now, frustrated hip-hop heads can now claim his passion for the genre that made him is stronger than ever. From the moment play is pressed, Drake viciously spits with a never-ending rhyme-scheme on ‘Red Button,’ constantly taking shots and reaffirming his place in the game. On ‘Stories About My Brother,’ legendary producer Conductor unites with Drake unite once again to bring one of the smoothest rap beats and partnered flows this year. When the Canadian rapper so skilfully flaunts his extravagant lifestyle and cultural status with simple wordplay and no lack in braggadocio, it is oddly difficult to nonetheless connect with it and imagine yourself reminiscing on a millionaire’s career while on a five-star cruise holiday when you’re actually a uni student budgeting on pasta for the thirteenth time.
Drake also works with production from the likes of Vinylz and Alchemist for more unusual spacious effects, which our artist nonetheless flows over effortlessly. Lil Yachty also cements himself as an ever-increasingly prominent artist with his excellent producing efforts on the song ‘The Shoe Fits’, allowing Drake to deliver more sombre storytelling about the shortcomings of jealous men and the degradation of loyalty in an age of social media with emotion and conviction. First Person Shooter from FATD has only grown as an adrenaline-boosting anthem among fans of J Cole and Drake, so to see the two pair again so soon on ‘Evil Ways’ is a surprise in of itself. However, when the two continue to trade bars at an equally engaging rate over a nostalgic string-heavy beat, especially considering Cole’s domination of the previous collaboration, the highs just keep giving.
While Drake’s pen game nonetheless finds occasional low-ground greatly prominent on his last few projects (‘John Cena wouldn't know emotions I wrestle with’), the amount of vicious triple-entendre and one-liners are also found in much-better abundance here. For instance, he snappily plays on reflecting the overwhelming insecurities his status projects onto others when they should be focusing on their closer loved ones with ‘What's your baby's shoe size? Could tell by the laces, they tight. Or are you only focused on the steps that I'm taking in life?’, only to expand on this curse of jealousy in others with lines like ‘Actin' Hulk tough, but you only turn green because your necklace is gold-plated.’
Drake has found a recent creative contentment with the bitterness and toxicity within himself
With long verses comprised of such clarified lines, you could say Drake has found a recent creative contentment with the bitterness and toxicity within himself that has fuelled so much of his recent music. He well understands the festering insecurities and irrationalities within others as he himself is human and confronts them as much as he seems to have confronted himself with his newly focused penmanship and willingness to cross new territory with styles and production. As we end on the glamorous banger ‘You Broke My Heart’, which’s explosive sound equates to that of a final Mario Galaxy stage in the best way possible, we may declare that Drake is newly hungry once again. Let’s hope he continues this road of bars and builds a larger, more substantial project of the same raw quality in the future.
