The title of this album did not age well.
It is most certainly not a time to be alive, and it’s crazy when you think about just how much has happened since this album dropped - both in my life and in the world in general.
But, in 2015, it was most certainly a time to be alive, at least for me. I was in 7th grade I think (wtf) and I definitely was not listening to drake. I was listening to 97.5 3WV, the local self-dubbed “iconic rock” station which featured all the classic rock songs you can imagine.
I hadn’t downloaded snapchat yet, but I definitely was being a menace on instagram and posting way too many self-indulgent reviews that were WAY TOO DAMN LONG.
Anyway, that was then. Now, I’m secretly a Drake stan. And every good Drake stan thinks the majority of his albums are good, not great; this is no exception.
Drake and Future are like peaches and cream. It’s crazy when you think about just how many artists Drake works extremely well with though, just look at these match-ups:
Drake and 2Chainz
Drake and Travis Scott
Drake and Rihanna
Drake and Migos
Drake and Sampha
Drake and PARTYNEXTDOOR
So many iconic songs with these duos, and it’s enough to get you excited just seeing these names paired up on an album, and Drake and Future doing an entire album together is pretty crazy. Both of them feel like they’re on top of the world with this album, and to be honest, they kind of were. Drake was coming off of what I consider to be his best work, If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late earlier in the year, and Future had just dropped DS2 2 months prior; which I also consider to be Future’s best. For an album that talks as much shit as this one does, it was definitely important in context as to when it was dropped.
“Digital Dash” is a great opener, and I’m pretty sure “Big Rings” played at every highschool basketball game I ever went to, along with “Jumpman”. Sadly, these two songs have obviously been overplayed to the point where I can’t say I enjoy them too much, but “Digital Dash” is still fresh in my mind.
“Diamonds Dancing” finds Drake in his element where I enjoy him the most: when he’s singing. Yes, he can do both, but when he breaks the song down when he says, “and you know what I need”, I get chills. Future puts in work here as well, and the back and forth between them is so solid.
“Plastic Bag”, my favorite track off the whole album, seems really introspective to me. Drake’s acknowledgement of hard work over the really subtle melody just sounds amazing. Future’s verse isn’t my favorite, and honestly you could cut him out completely and it wouldn’t matter. “I’m The Plug” is the inverse of the previous track, where I feel like Drake could’ve been dropped off completely from it with no great effect.
“30 for 30 Freestyle” is definitely a definitive end to this album, but it doesn’t fit at all and is certainly shoehorned in, but I suppose it makes sense to have these two artists have their own respective songs at the end of this tape.
This doesn’t have a bad song on it, and compared to Scorpion this looks like a masterpiece. It was definitely a fun listen, and you would definitely see me throwing some of these songs on around friends to have a good time with.
7/10
Personal Favorites:
Digital Dash
Diamonds Dancing
Plastic Bag
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