Album Review || Drake 'If You're Reading This It's Too Late'

In a very Beyonce manner, last week Drake decided to drop a surprise album/mixtape on the world with zero promotion, zero release date and no warning of any kind. All he had to do was post the cover for If You're Reading This It's Too Late on his Instagram and wait for the world to catch on. This came completely out of nowhere because we weren't expecting any new music till later on in the year with his fourth album Views From The Six (this still might happen btw).

I love when artists take this kind of risk because it means I am going to listen to it with no expectations and I can allow the music to speak for itself so that it was I have done for the past few days.

If You're Reading This It's Too Late opens with a very bold statement which continues throughout the mixtape as an ongoing theme. Drake makes it clear that he knows he is one of the best rappers/artists of this generation and he has garnered so much success that he believes he has what it takes to be a legend.
The confidence, borderline cockiness, displayed in the opening track Legend is felt on the majority of the mixtape and can sometimes feel overplayed and irritating.
By the time I had reached track 6 I was beginning to ask myself 'where is the sensitive, humble rapper with his occasional singing', I missed him.
His success is built on the image of 'emotional rapper' and although he may find the meme's and comments tiring, he cannot deny that it has been much of the reason for his fame and fortune. It was original, exciting, refreshing and often relatable.
This mixtape only seems to suggest that Drake wants to try something new and it just doesn't always work for him.

The production on the album is sub-par with only Madonna and No Tellin' offering some originality and a familiar Drak-esque sound. The rest of the tracks feel lazy and the beats are all pretty much mid-tempo underground sounds with little instrumental value.
Unfortunately the features don't add anything to this mixtape either especially PARTYNEXTDOOR who's trying way too hard to jump on the autotune fad that only T-Pain can get away with.
Even Lil' Wayne's appearance on Used To is disappointing which is a first for the two who normally bounce off each other with ease.

Don't get me wrong, there are some welcoming moments of humour and vulnerability that we expect from Drake particularly on You & The 6 where he pays tribute to his city and his mother for making him the man he is today. However, these moments are few and far between and they are laced with so much boasting and lacklustre lyricism that they can sometimes get lost.
The stand-out track, in my opinion, is 10 Bands with its heavy bass, strong beat and catchy chorus that could surely be club worthy with a bit of a remix.
6 God, a track which leaked weeks ago, comes a close second for favourite on the mixtape because of the aggression in Drake's verses. It brings an energy that hasn't shown its face on the rest of the mixtape.

Aside from those two tracks, there is nothing on this able that excites me or gets me hyped for Drake's promised fourth album later this year. My fingers are crossed in the hopes that this mixtape was just an experimental means of creativity in order to bridge a gap in the long silence between the last Drake album the one yet to be released.
If that is the case then all hope is not lost, in fact, that may mean the album could be even better since he has released all of his aggression and smugness.
Even so, I am still and will forever be a massive fan of both Drake as an artist and a person - one mediocre mixtape is not enough to tarnish the long list of brilliant music he has created.

Rating : 2/5 (and only because he has some great lyrics and I am judging this on a mixtape standard)