Canadian Singer/Songwriter Drake, aka Aubrey Gram, has recently released his 11th studio album, Iceman. The album was rolled out amidst legal battles and massive PR stunts from Drake. This marks his first solo album since the massive 2024 rap feud with Kendrick Lamar. With so much of rap culture being hostile towards Drake, fans and critics are interested to see how Drake has changed his music in light of such a massive feud.
The album starts off with its best two tracks and then fizzles out over another hour. For the first 20 minutes of the album, I was engaged by solid writing, but also decent delivery and melodies. “I don’t take psychedelics because I’m scared of unpacking”. It’s not perfect, with some bars being laughably self-unaware, or downright weird, such as “I’m not taking [my therapist] seriously because she’s very attractive.” But it was engaging enough for me to keep listening.
But then the fifth track begins, and the album takes a nose dive in quality. “Ran to Atlanta” is such an ear-melting dud of a track and is ruined by low effort features. Then the album slowly winds down into risk adverse filler. To no one’s surprise, 21 Savage has a feature that feels like mandatory attendance on a Drake album, and he puts in a lower effort than ever before. Drake also squeezes in an obnoxious amount of beat switches and
Drake’s two main song themes still cover this entire album. First, about how fame is hard and it brings out bad in his friends and how he’s better than them; and Second, all of these women are only in love with him for his money and don’t trust him. As formulas go, it’s taken him extremely far commercially, and as long as his songs still crush charts, it’s unlikely to ever see change in a big way from Drake.
On a positive note, there are songs scattered throughout this album that I could see myself returning too. Dust and Whisper my name are both solid with actual effort. But it’s disappointing to see Drake flounder and disappoint on such a crucial moment in his discography. While it’s unlikely that this will be any kind of stopping point for Drake, it does raise genuine questions about when he’ll finally give our ears a break.
