DRAKE'S DARK DEMOS

It's been a while since I've reviewed a Drake project, we haven't been on the same page since before Scorpion released back in Summer 2018.

If you're late to the party, I hated that album, in my opinion, it was two volumes of filler tracks (although there were a few that I liked-- see past review). Oftentimes, once an artist gets to a certain level of extreme stardom, everyone around them becomes "yes men" and they'll put their stamp of approval on every track, rather than admitting when a track is below par. I feel like Scorpion is a prime example of this happening.

Drake has had NINE consecutive #1 LPs in the past 10 years, however on May 1st, Dark Lane Demo Tapes debuted at #2, ending his longstanding streak. Dark Lane Demo Tapes is a 14-track compilation project meant to hold us over until Drake drops his sixth studio album this summer. A little more of a pensive and sullen story than we're used to, it lives up to its name, Dark Lane. But the influence of his past albums still manages to shine through. To be specific, tracks like "Chicago Freestyle" and "Losses" remind me of Nothing Was The Same, while I can hear the sounds of Scorpion on "Desires" and "Times Flies."

On first listen, Dark Lane wasn't outstanding enough to be memorable. Not to be harsh, it was simply that no tracks were contagious enough to remember off of one listen. I had to go back and dig through to find the ones I liked. Although, naturally, samples like "Song Cry" on "When to Say When" and Eminem's "Superman" on "Chicago Freestyle," struck a chord in me because of the familiarity and nostalgia.

I was determined to give this project a fair chance though, so I let it sit for a few days, went back to it-- and my opinion shifted. I realized it's not a terrible project, it just takes some patience and a certain determined navigation to figure out what it is you like. If it were me, I'd reorganize the track list (make "Chicago Freestyle" the opening track), and chop a few tracks down into interludes rather than full length tracks (Deep Pockets, Pain 1993, War.) While this project is sonically a little "darker" than his past, he is still sure to deliver pristine production, witty one liners, assimilated accents, and a plethora of crooning quotables that I'm sure will make their way into Instagram captions once this quarantine is over. Is this a favorite of mine? No. Can it hold over the masses until his next album drops? Yes.

See below for my track-by-track rundown!

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