For those of you who know me well, or know somewhat of me, you know that I love Drake. He is my idol with a passion. This is the guy who I want to serve as my mentor as I navigate through the hip-hop game, and make an impact. I look up to him, and his music gets me through bad times, good times, exciting times and even hurtful times.
He is my inspiration for getting into music and telling my life story. I do not know where I would be without Aubrey "Drake" Graham's music. There are casual Drake fans who listen to his music on occasion, and then there are those who live vicariously through his music. Those are the fans I love. I am one of those fans. But despite what side you are on, even if you are not on any side, everyone's opinion is valued to a certain degree; however, your knowledge will be a determining factor in how you rank his albums.
After a deep, simply, reflective, listening experience with his commercially successful albums, I would strongly say that More Life is his No. 1 album to date. Now for those of you, who are "Take Care" lovers, just read and understand what I have to say about this album. I do think there are things you may have missed with this masterpiece. Let me unpack these layers.
The More Life "playlist," consists of 22 organically mixed tracks. I still consider it an album for certification purposes and to make comparisons, but it is great nonetheless. It ranges from hip hop, rap, dancehall, pop, afrobeats and R&B(rhythm & blues). For me, this album really exemplifies who Drake his. I feel like with this album, he was able to articulate his emotions in a more calm, relieving way. There was no bravado of trying to prove to his predecessors and hip-hop constituents that he was the top dog in the hip-hop compound.
People who recognize what hip-hop is knows that he's the bar and he sets the standard every opportunity he gets. I feel like this is the music he really wanted to make all along. And nowadays with rap/hip-hop not having a vivid picture to imagine, it is open season for anyone to set the precedent of what is expected. I can remember a post that I saw on one of Drake's Instagram fan pages. It articulates how a random guy from Seattle Washington, made a sign that says, "More Tupac, Less Drake."
And at first glance, Drake wanted to tear it down, but then he thought about it through a different perspective. He goes on to say that, the guy who loved Tupac so much, made that sign because he recognized where hip-hop was going. And where hip-hop was going, was towards Drake. But that is an inspiring story for me and, I want to set the same precedent in the years to come. But I ramble on too much, including in this article.
But the More Life "playlist," is eloquently sound and the rhythmic structure is one of the best I have heard since his quadruple platinum album, "Views." In previous albums, he had this "back against the wall" type of mentality where he was defensive, and dare I say, insecure about who he was becoming and what it was like in his preliminary years. But this album exemplifies that there was no insecurity ever present, all his emotions were on his sleeves and there was very playful storytelling. His play on words and articulation was well spot on and very easy to understand.
Sometimes when I listen to More Life, some of the verses can become redundant. But that is the beauty part about it. Even though I know verbatim every verse on every song in More Life, I am able to seep into Drake's souls and see exactly what he was talking about. Based on Drake's previous albums and cryptic Instagram posts, he is a very private guy. He will never show his hand to the other players at the table,(i.e. the world); but he has opened himself up even more on this album.
There were times where I did not want to put this album number one, because "Nothing Was The Same" set the precedent of what your previous life was like, what it will be in the present and what you want it to be like in the future. On that album, he came to everyone who ever doubted him and he one-upped them.
To all the naysayers, critics and women who didn't want him, they will fade into the back; because he was coming to take his place on the throne. But on "More Life," it was a reflection time for him to just sit back and look at all that he accomplished, along with his contemporaries and close-knit family. As he stated before through multiple interviews, this was an album to just chill in the studio with or be in a secluded room with your homies, boys, girls and people who love you for who you are.
Even though this album didn't have the commercial success and certification recognition as his preceding albums, 'More Life" still did well on the streaming charts. He broke the streaming record for streams in a week with over a billion streams. He produced the music that I was patiently waiting for him to create and he did just that. He articulated how I was feeling. I was overjoyed at what I heard. He has the best Intro/Outro combo of "Free Smoke" and "Do Not Disturb," which both are in my top five. "Passionfruit" was the music for the ages that any person can listen to, no matter your style of the genre.
"Ice Melts" brings the "trappy, lower your windows down" type beat that makes you want to dance and express your emotions. "KMT(Kissing My Teeth)" brings a connotation of teeth-grinding, cutthroat vengeance that I wanted Drake to possess. And expressing your emotions, dissing your contemporaries and humbling is what "Do Not Disturb encompasses." It just puts a bow on the present or the icing on the cake, if you will. And through this track, he puts the exclamation point as to why this is his best work and also puts an exclamation point on his career. And it was worth the wait. But in the end, all of his music is great and I would rather keep all of them for safekeeping.