More Life leapfrogs from dancehall and grime to moody R&B and beats built from elementary school recorders.
But perhaps the difference between the poorly reviewed Views and More Life, which Twitter welcomed as a return to form for the rapper, has as much to do with its framing as with its songs.ĭrake deliberately labeled his latest project a "playlist," and while the difference may be in name only, More Life makes way more sense as the artist's sonic Pinterest board as it does a proper album. Of course a Drake mixtape would include his frequent collaborators and favorite influencers, with his verses often taking a back seat to contributions by Kanye West, Young Thug, Travis Scott, Quavo, 2 Chainz, Skepta and PARTYNEXTDOOR. However, excluding its minor gaffes, More Life cements a place for genres long-overlooked by mainstream media dancehall, grime, Afrobeat, house, trap and, of course, rap, and takes Toronto on a world tour to celebrate life - More life.Drake's new project More Life, which premiered Saturday night on his OVO Sound Radio on Apple Music, boasts the exact same runtime - 1 hour and 22 minutes - as Views, his sprawling studio album from last April.Ĭonsistency is a lot to ask for a 22-track collection, and like Views, More Life is too packed with ideas to make for a unified aesthetic. "Ice Melts" eerily resembles D.R.A.M.'s "Cash Machine," "Since Way Back" is hardly interesting enough to take up six minutes and the Sampha-featuring "4422" seems out of place, despite its candid beauty. Boi-1da's booming production on "Free Smoke" and "Do Not Disturb" encourage Drake to deliver equally roaring bars, while "Lose You" and "Passionfruit" find Drake grappling with romantic insecurities.ĭespite Drake's careful efforts to create a sonic mosaic that mimics Toronto's own cultural patchwork, at 22 tracks, there's bound to be a few missteps. Drake also calls on UK grime artists Skepta ("Skepta Interlude") and Giggs ("No Long Talk," "KMT") for near-flawless features, and taps Atlanta's Quavo and Travis $cott ("Portland"), not to mention Young Thug and 2 Chainz, the latter of whom delivers an immaculate verse on "Sacrifices," for all-around gentler takes on trap music.ĭespite this being a "playlist" rather than his own album, it's still Drake who shines brightest here, especially at his most honest, when the spotlight is only on him. Producer Nineteen85 samples South Africa's Black Coffee on the effortless-sounding "Get It Together" before transitioning into the Nelson Mandela namesake, "Madiba Riddim," reflective of its homegrown roots. Much like his current "Boy Meets World" tour, Drake pulls from all corners of the world to complete the playlist. While VIEWS served as an ominous soundscape to a never-ending winter and reflected a booming hunger in the city, his newest release, More Life, presents the fruits of that labour in a sunnier, more celebratory arrangement.Īs Drake pays tribute to the GTA by acknowledging places like Galloway, the Skydome (aka Rogers Centre) and even Palazzo Nightclub, he continues, more importantly, to speak in a coded language only certain communities fully understand, as on the high-powered "Blem." However, More Life doesn't stop at Toronto. Since the beginning of his career, Drake has followed one simple blueprint to make music that reflects the season Toronto finds itself in, literally and metaphorically.
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