More Life and “MORE CHUNES FOR YOUR HEADTOP”.

As that sample sprinkled throughout the entire project indicates, Drake has indeed blessed us with more chunes and his 7th major project titled More Life.

However, the question I’ve been wondering was if we really needed more Drake chunes? Did we really need to hear another 80 minute Drake album within a year of 2016’s Views?

No, we probably didn’t need More Life but we’ll take it and surely bump it all summer nonetheless.

In short, I think More Life is a quality project that blends various various genres and influences from around the globe into a smooth “playlist” that puts Drake’s artistic skill to great use. It’s got him going full pop star, spitting serious bars, singing (whining?) about ex-girlfriends again and everything in between. There are also some absolutely killer features on here that actually make the whole “playlist” thing work. I originally thought him billing it as a “playlist” was quite gimmicky but the heavy use of features, different moods, instrumental interludes and the various sound clips (Drake’s mom quoting Michelle Obama is fucking GOLD) make the 80 minute listen more of a meandering sonic journey rather than a cohesive album.

The first half of the tape from the banging opener “Free Smoke” to “Skepta’s Interlude” is definitely the highlight. “Free Smoke” has Drake aggressively setting the tone with the best stunt I’ve heard all year (“I DRUNK TEXT J-LO!!!”). It also features a short but gorgeous flute outro that was featured in the project’s trailer although I wish more was done with it. “Passionfruit” is the smoothest shit you’ll hear all summer and one of the best songs on the album. If one of us doesn’t get laid by a pool to that song this summer, I’ll be pissed. Same goes for “Jorja Interlude” and “Get it Together”, both great summer jams. I like “Blem” too as it continues those fun Island vibes plus I can now say that again without feeling like some stoned ass high school burnout. “Gyalchester” is straight heat and also one of my faves. That’s definitely one for you and your woes to run through the 6 to in the same vein as “Know Yourself”, “Still Here” and “The Language”.

The second half is not nearly as good but definitely still has some standouts. Some people hate on Drake’s singing but I’ve always backed it. “Nothings into Somethings” is a slow musing over a past lover that reminded me of 2015’s “Madonna”. “Teenage Fever” is probably the 100th Drake song to sit around and think about your ex while featuring an old but excellent J-Lo sample. “Can’t Have Everything” is nice, as is the PARTYNEXTDOOR featuring “Since Way Back”. “Do Not Disturb” is one of Drake’s classic 40-produced State of the Union closers.

The best feature of the album undoubtedly goes to Sampha. His solo electronic ballad “4422” could be the best song here and meets the high bar Sampha has set for himself. If you haven’t heard his debut album Process that dropped recently, I highly recommend you go check it out. Skepta comes a close second because his solo interlude is straight FIRE. Biggups to British up and comer Jorja because she killed her parts too. The Kanye collab is cool as it features his classic production style with some of Drake’s singing that I’m quite fond of. I don’t think it was the song people expected from a meeting of such high calibre but I think it signals that we will indeed one day get that GREAT Drake/Kanye song. This may anger some of the fuckboys out there but I couldn’t care less about these Atlanta rappers. It actually kind of bothers me that a guy of Drake’s stature who could probably get an unreleased verse from 2pac if he really tried chooses to put wastemans like 2 Chainz on his albums. Same goes for Young Thug, Travis Scott and Quavo. Those songs in my opinion were lacklustre. I’m just grateful that we didn’t get a 25th Future collaboration titled “Oscars” because we can all agree that we do not need any more of that shit for a while. The Grime legend Giggs came through for two heavy tracks which was cool but I don’t think those songs turned out as perhaps some had hoped. Despite some uneven and sub-par features, they definitely make the playlist a better product overall with the Brits really pulling their weight.

More Life also extends but in no way solves the ongoing debate of whether Drake is a culture vulture, a wave rider or just a bigger artist showing love and giving lesser known artists a platform. I’ve never bought the argument that he is and I think More Life provides further evidence. He literally gives both Skepta and Sampha their own songs while Jorja does the heavy lifting on the soulful “Get it Together”. I’m not going to wade too much into this debate though, I’ll let the internet figure it out…

So yes, overall, I think More Life is dope but I’m going to revert back to my original question, did we really need it?

Drake is an international superstar that is undeniably at the top of his game. We know this, he knows this, even my fucking mother knows this so what is the next step for someone like him? Someone who doesn’t need to prove much, someone who has now turned most of his haters into fans. He’s a talented artist and one of the best of our generation but he has still never made a game changing album. Kanye West has changed the rap game or at least seriously affected the mainstream sound of rap/hip hop/pop every time he has dropped. Kanye is definitely a living legend, he is a contender for that GOAT status.

Views was supposed to elevate Drake from “one of the best out” to that GOAT level but it didn’t. It was a good album but ultimately felt like a disappointment considering its familiar themes and two year build up (still mad that he changed the title from Views from the 6 at the last minute). More Life does not fix the fact that Views was a let down nor was it ever supposed to. It is a good project that is to remind us that Drake ain’t going anywhere anytime soon. The 6 god still controls the pulse of pop culture the same way he’ll be controlling our summer seventeen soundtracks.

My concern is that Drake is now passed his creative peak, that he’ll never put out something more impactful than he already has. Maybe it’s that Drake has become such a global phenomenon and I have become such a big fan of him that good isn’t good enough anymore. Perhaps my expectations for him have ballooned to unreasonable levels that could never be fulfilled but no, I don’t think this is true. I do believe he can make that 10/10 album and push the boundaries of hip hop and pop in new directions, that he can make an album to push him into that GOAT level.

Maybe he even realizes these concerns and questions of his artistic ability. After all, More Life’s final song is titled “Do Not Disturb” and the final line is “I’ll be back in 2018 to give you the summary”. Hell take another year and make it 2019. Either way, we won’t disturb. Just as long as you come back with that masterpiece of an album. MORE LIFE.

• T.A.

Top 5 Tracks:

Drake – Free Smoke

Drake – Passionfruit

Drake – Get It Together (Ft. Black Coffe and Jorja Smith)

Drake – 4422 (Ft. Sampha)

Drake – Gyalchester