Review of Drake’s ‘More Life’

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Jake Roedel, Staff Writer

It’s finally here. Drake’s new project, “More Life”, has finally been released after months of delay. The project, which Drake called a playlist, was rumored to release back in December. More Life” premiered live on Drake’s OVO Sound Radio March 18.

The idea of a live premiere for an album is an interesting one that could go either terribly or great. Fortunately for Drake, his live release was a massive success, as thousands of fans took to Twitter and Reddit for a live discussion of the music as it played. This turned out to be an amazing concept, as it provided a massive amount of buzz for the project on the Internet. The project is currently number one on the Billboard 200.

As far as the music is concerned, “More Life” is quite similar to Drake’s Views, which he released around the same time last year. Both projects boast a lengthy runtime. “More Life” has a hefty 22-song tracklist that lasts an hour and 22 minutes, while Views has a 20 song tracklist that lasts an hour and 21 minutes. They both contain a similar mix of music as well. Both projects contain hip-hop and trap-flavored tracks, laid-back tracks and a handful of Drake’s edition of dancehall. The most significant difference with “More Life” is the vast amount of collaboration from U.K. artists, as a number of tracks were made with help of either U.K. producers or rappers.

Drake described “More Life” as a “playlist” rather than an album, which is actually a more accurate description of what the project actually is. Rather than having a limited number of sounds or ideas included throughout the songs, Drake chose to include a wide range of moods and sounds, making the project seem more like a playlist that could be put on shuffle and enjoyed.

Fans of Drake will enjoy “More Life” for certain, but people who dislike or are indifferent toward Drake will probably not change their minds. The project starts off with the simplistic but heavy-hitting “Free Smoke,” which includes Drake reminiscing on the beginning of his career as well as addressing his past feuds with multiple rappers. Drake also shows that since he’s collaborating and hanging out with British rappers, he’s not afraid to throw in a little British accent in his songs. He does exactly that in “No Long Talk,” which features British rapper Giggs. After the first two songs, the project takes a turn towards the soft side. “Passionfruit” is a laid-back summer jam with a low-key instrumental with Drake’s smooth vocals on top. “Blem” has a tropical-sounding instrumental with minimal drums. On this song, Drake addresses a past love with whimsical and unique auto-tuned vocals. The songs that follows, “4422,” features an astounding and emotional performance by Sampha, an artist that Drake has worked with in projects past. On the ninth track, Drake comes back with “Gyalchester,” a hype track in which he indirectly claims that he is the top artist in the hip-hop industry, saying “I know I said top five but I’m top two / And I’m not two and I got one.” He follows this up with “Portland,” a trap banger with an interesting recorder melody on the instrumental. The song also features auto-tune geniuses Quavo and Travis Scott. Then, the next song “Sacrifices” has a 2 Chainz feature and a surprisingly coherent feature from Young Thug. Following this, the project takes another turn toward the soft side with songs like “Lose You” and “Teenage Fever,” which samples the Jennifer Lopez song “If You Had My Love.” Then the song “Glow” has a passionate and memorable feature from Kanye West. The last track of the project, titled “Do Not Disturb,” is an appropriate closing track, with Drake concluding the playlist with the lines “Maybe gettin’ back to my regular life’ll humble me / I’ll be back in 2018 to give you the summary.”

Drake definitely came through with a more impactful project than his last. This project introduces sounds never heard before from a hip-hop artist, something that Drake has become known for doing. While not every song is amazing, the long tracklist provides plenty of material. “More Life” will go down as one of Drake’s most ambitious and collaborative projects.