With his last surprise drop, If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, Drake took a noticeably more “hard” hip hop tone, abandoning his “I can sing and I can rap and it’s kind of poppy and emotional but it works” vibe. This one, though, took that new direction one step further, but I believe the angle from Future much more than I do from Drake. It’s hard to see Drake, all of the sudden, as this kind of guy, when a few short years ago he was singing “Find Your Love” and “Just Hold On, We’re Going Home.” That being said, the content and composition of the mixtape isn’t bad, per se — but it is much more Future’s vibe than Drake’s. The album, save the last song, was produced by Metro Boomin, and that likely accounts for the departure from Drake’s usual sound, produced by his OVO friend who goes under the moniker “40.” 40 produced the last song, “30 for 30 Freestyle,” which is so emotional that it almost feels ill-fitted to the rest of the album.
While some of the lyrics to the songs are quite complex, lyrics to tracks like “Plastic Bag” see the same line repeated over and over again, limiting the mixtape’s creativity. Interestingly, the best songs, lyrically, tend to feature Future dominating the song, with Drake adding verses here and there to Future’s track domination. “Live From The Gutter” is a prime example, where Future’s signature drawl overpowers Drake’s verse, which includes a bunch of “yeah, yeahs.”
Overall, I wouldn’t say I dislike the mixtape, or that I like it. It almost feels like Drake took a backseat, knowing anything he does will make money, and used this mixtape as an opportunity to let Future shine. The whole “surprise drop” thing has been done before (by Drake, no less), and while the production on “30 for 30 Freestyle” is good, it doesn’t match Metro Boomin’s production of the rest of the album, creating a distinct break in the flow of the mixtape, which makes it lose production points. Lyrically, it’s also a toss-up, with some songs really lacking creativity and, literally, only containing one repeated line, while others balance them out with more complex storylines and verses. Long story short, I’d only download a specific few songs from the mixtape, and leave some others on iTunes (the mixtape is also an iTunes exclusive, which feels like a business deal and takes away from the “hard” vibe they’re trying to sell us).
Listen to “Jumpman” above, and buy the mixtape on iTunes here.