The first part of More Life is especially influenced by grime, dancehall and afrobeat and Drake’s affection for London in particular is clear as day with features from high-profile U.K. At this point in his career, he’s a globally recognized megastar selling out international arenas and that sense of experiencing different cultures outside of North America is really what informs the sound of this project. The major difference between More Life and a lot of Drake’s previous catalogue entries is that it sounds grander and more expansive than anything he’s ever done.
It’s kind of funny really, it seems like a lot of Drake’s best work comes when the hype dial is set to minimum and this release is reminiscent of his 2015 surprise mixtape If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late in that sense. Sonically and spiritually, More Life feels like a full-length follow-up to Views and one that hits higher notes than its predecessor in so many ways. Make no mistake about it: More Life is very much a Drake album. Was it going to a showcase of OVO acts like PARTYNEXTDOOR, Majid Jordan and Roy Woods with the occasional feature from the 6 God himself? Perhaps a collection of songs from international artists like Skepta and Wizkid he was really feelin’ at the time? Could it be a Firm-like supergroup with Drake assuming the role of Don Nasir Jones? Drake is a teacher to many, but he’s still a hungry student, too.Following the lukewarm critical, but commercially scorching, reception to last year’s uber-anticipated Toronto love letter Views, Drake wasted little time getting right back in the booth to put in work on what was marketed as some sort of OVO-branded “playlist.” But even at this more advanced level, he is still scavenging for the latest sound, as heard on “KMT,” where he borrows the jaunty staccato pattern found in the current viral hit “Look at Me” by XXXTentacion. Increasingly, Drake is as much ethnomusicologist as outright collaborator, a shift from the days when he would wield his influence by helping shepherd artists like Migos and Future out of regional acclaim into something wider by appearing on a remix. His range is as musically meaningful as the one demonstrated by Beyoncé on “Lemonade” - her investigation was intranational, delving into country and slashing rock Drake’s is international and diasporic, with a keen ear for how the internet has brought even closer black music from North America, the Caribbean, Europe and Africa. Instead of aiming for dull festival grandeur, he emphasizes the movement’s black roots - he’s partial to house music (as heard here on the sensual “Passionfruit”), dancehall, Nigerian Afrobeats. He doesn’t make songs for getting lost in a crowd he makes songs for getting lost in your feelings. Consider what Drake doesn’t do: He’s the biggest pop star not named Beyoncé who doesn’t traffic in the trite big-tent on-the-one dance music that’s chart-dominant and soul-killing. Mouth-to-ear transaction is the level Drake excels at. “People like you more when you working towards something/Not when you have it,” he raps on “Lose You.” Again and again, his fatigue is a theme, as on “Jorja Interlude”: “Told me I’m looking exhausted/You hit it right on the nose.” At the end of “Can’t Have Everything,” Drake’s mother shows up in what appears to be a voice mail message, cautioning her son against confrontation and anxiety. Drake is still in the paranoid and resentful mode that has dominated the last three years, but even when he’s lashing out, he feels gentler and more resigned. But “More Life” is exciting for its detours, its crevices, its relaxed saunter across the various lanes of forward-thinking hip-hop and soul.ĭrake is here, too, of course - saving his best rapping for a more formal project, perhaps, but still wound up about being let down by women and also by men. This is a lot of competing energy, and on a traditional album, it might all have to serve a common purpose. The tough grime veteran Giggs appears on two songs, shining with a hilariously lewd verse on “KMT.” Young Thug also shows up twice, delivering mystical singing on “Sacrifices” and showing why he’s the clearest modern-day inheritor of P-Funk on “Ice Melts.”
“4422” is a full song from the aching soul man Sampha “Skepta Interlude” is a more or less full brute-strength song from the British grime rapper Skepta “Glow,” a duet with Kanye West, leans heavily in Mr.