Release Date: March 18, 2017

Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap

Length: 1 hour, 22 minutes

Description: “Drake proudly presents ‘More Life’ (2017); a playlist dedicated to the human desire to live forever. Cultures blend, emotions rise, regrets are confessed, truths fall and passion flows in this new and unique playlist by the one and only, Drake.”

I thought that Drake’s previous album, “Views” (2016), was annoying and repetitive, so when I heard that Drake had something new coming out this year, I was a little skeptical. After hearing all of the hype surrounding it, I finally decided to listen to “More Life” (2017). While I can say that it is not nearly as bad as “Views”, I can not say that it is perfect for the following reasons:

1. The songs do not work well with each other and feel random. Each song holds its own unique style and theme, which is as creative as it as perplexing. You will listen to a song that has Drake’s familiar hip-hop/rap style, but then the next song will have a dancehall theme and the next one will be influenced by South African music. What this lead to was me scratching my head, wondering what genre and style Drake was going for in this “playlist”.
2. Drake uses a wanna-be Jamaican accent in some of the songs (EX: In “No Long Talk”, instead of saying “talker”, he says “tahka” and instead of “things”, he says “tings”). I have never heard Drake use this accent or pronounce words like he does in “More Life”, so when he does it, it comes across as confusing, annoying, distracting and unnecessary.
3. This playlist is WAY too long. There are 22 songs on “More Life”. These songs easily could have been split into two albums/mixtapes, but Drake instead chose to overwhelm listeners with a “playlist” that is nearly the same length of a feature film.
4. Most of the songs are very “meh”. There are some gems on this album that I will discuss later, but the majority of this playlist is fairly mediocre. There are not many songs that showcase Drake’s talents and the whole playlist feels very rushed and muddled.

With that being said, I can not say I hate “More Life” for the following two reasons:

1. The theme of this playlist is very relatable and “human”. I loved how Drake chose to focus “More Life” on the human desire for more time on this planet. I think this is a very creative and fascinating topic to focus on because it is something almost everyone strives for, which makes the playlist more relatable.
2. Drake knocks it out of the park with the tracks “Nothings Into Somethings”, “Can’t Have Everything”, “Glow” and “Fake Love”. Many are saying that “Passionfruit” is the best song on the album and one of Drake’s best songs; while I enjoyed the song, I did not think it was that great and believe it to be very overrated. My favorite track, “Can’t Have Everything”, I found to be much more personal and powerful because it depicts a harsh truth; we want everything, but can not have everything. Kanye West’s collaboration with Drake on “Glow” was also very well done because it reflected the power of ambition and determination in life. “Nothings Into Somethings” is one of the most passionate tracks on the playlist; you can truly feel how much soul Drake is putting into the song and are able to connect with all of the emotions he is displaying. The highlight, “Fake Love”, is a relevant and relentless track that attacks society’s tendency to express fake emotions towards people; the entire song feels like an emotional bomb that has been ticking inside of Drake forever and has finally exploded. These are the tracks that kept me from condemning the album and made me realize that although Drake is not a perfect artist, he is a more than capable one.

Drake’s “More Life” is going to get a “B+” from me. It is not as bad as “Views” was and has some gems on it, but I do not feel as though it is amazing nor deserving of a Grammy nomination for “Best Rap Album”.

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