More Life - Album Review
More Life is Drake’s newest studio album. Well, I mean playlist. On October 23, 2016, Drake went on OVO Radio to announce his new project, More Life. I find it interesting that Drake chose not to call it an album. Maybe it is to distinguish this project from Views. Views was a highly anticipated album, while More Life was a surprise, because he did not announce he was dropping it. Even though there was little to anticipation for this album, it is number 1 on the Billboard 200 charts. On Billboard, More Life earned 257,000 units, largely driven by streaming equivalent album units of 384.8 million stream of songs.
The term More Life is an ode to Dancehall legend Vybz Kartel. Drake has been making Caribean inspired tracks like “Controlla” and “Work since” last year. More Life is a compilation of all of the flows Drake has used over the years. Songs like “Passionfruit” and “Teenage Fever” show a sensitive side of Drake that we are used to seeing, along with the rapping/singing flow that we are used to hearing. Whereas “Free Smoke” and “Portland,” show the side of Drake that we got when he released “What a Time to Be Alive” with Future. “Sacrifices” and “Can't Have Everything” show Drake’s actual rapping skills and prove that he does not have to lean on an 808 laced beat to make an amazing song.
Favorite Songs: “Sacrifices,” “Portland,’ “Can't Have Everything,” “Glow,” and “Since Way Back”
These five songs where the main tracks I had to listen to on repeat. “Since Way Back” with PartyNextDoor is what I would call a new-school R&B track. It has a very slow beat and is about missing an old lover. “Portland” is a “What A Time to Be Alive” inspired tracked. The 808 is bumping in this track and it is very upbeat. Verses from Quavo and Travis Scott make the song an instant hit. “Glow” with Kanye West is about how both artists glowed up. Both rappers are singing in this track which sounds amazing. It is sort of a change of pace for Kanye, even though he has done it before. Lastly, “Can't Have Everything” is a self explanatory track. You can't get everything in life but that will not stop Drake from trying.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
I give More Life a 3 out of 5 for two reasons. One, it’s too long. Some artists release so few songs that you crave to hear some new music. An example of that is Frank Ocean. Drake does the opposite of that. Views was released last year and not even a year later, he releases a 22 track playlist. Not to mention that Drake has done a lot of features recently. It's good to dominate the airways but people will get tired of hearing his music. He might need to limit the supply of his music so he does not overwhelm listeners.
Secondly, the album is all over the place which is both a good and bad thing. It's good because you see many different sides of Drake. “Teenage Fever” and “Since Way Back” display Drake’s flow that I referenced earlier. While, “Free Smoke” and “Portland” show a side of Drake that inspired “What a Time to Be Alive.” The bad thing about it is a lack of central theme to this playlist. When you look at a playlist there is usually a theme, but it is hard to find the theme of More Life. In all, give More Life a listen as it is a good playlist, just not Drake’s best.
