This CD has been anticipated for almost a year now. I’ve had a promo copy for about a month but held off on a review hoping new tracks would get added. Or production would change. Or something. I was wrong. They were the same tracks, same flow, same singing. Don’t get me wrong this is not a bad album. It’s just not what you would expect from a highly anticipated album and not in a good way. Not like Lauryn Hill when she came out with an R&B album instead of a rap album. That was a great surprise. This not so much.
There are some sure fire hits:
Fireworks w. Alicia Keys
Show me a good time
Up all night w. Niki Minaj
Fancy w. Swizz Beats & TI
Light Up ft. Jay-Z
The Album has three parts:
Slow Singing: Example
Most of the songs where Drake sings sound forced with the exception on Shut it down ft. The-Dream. But I think that is due to the great production and the talent that is The Dream. Drake has great flow so this 808& Heartbreak singing needs to stop.
Singing mixed with nice flow: Example
Unforgettable ft. Young Jeezy opens with a sample of Aliyah’s Let me know. Sounded so surreal. I expected some deep flows but alas it was not meant to be. The sample was only used for the intro and the flows are to be expected by Jeezy. The beat was suspect. Such a waste of a sample. The producer of this song needs to go apologize to Aliyah’s Estate.
Pure Fire (wish it was the whole CD was like this): Example
Light Up ft. Jay-Z felt like a passing of the torch. Jay gave Drake some advice about the industry. This track is pure fire from start to end.
I am not a hater. I use to watch Degrassi back in the day and heard his old mix tapes when he use to rap super fast and off beat. Drake has grown up and plans to take the industry with him. But I don’t think the industry is ready to go there just yet. So thanks but no thanks Drake.
Review in one sentence:
Good album but not great.
Buy or Download:
Neither, get the singles off iTunes
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