Toronto rapper and singer Drake has a lot to prove. Even saying that might be an understatement. Following his notorious beef with West Coast rapper Kendrick Lamar, a severely tarnished reputation, and multiple subpar releases, the pressure has never been higher. Despite Drake’s recent controversies, he has remained in the spotlight throughout ICEMAN’s over-the-top rollout, whether it be through hit singles, various YouTube livestreams, a 3500 block ice pyramid, or “freezing” the CN Tower. However, the rollout’s climax appeared less than an hour before ICEMAN’s official release, where Drake announced he was delivering not one, but three full-length albums: ICEMAN, MAID OF HONOR, and HABIBTI.
ICEMAN
7/10
ICEMAN feels like a breath of fresh air in Drake’s discography. Earlier releases such as Nothing Was The Same and Take Care showcased Drake’s introspection and lyricism mixed with his ability to create catchy, replayable tracks, solidifying the style that fans came to admire. However, this spark began to fade following 2016’s Views, as Drake shifted his attention from creating art to monetization, delivering soulless hit after soulless hit. While these songs aren’t inherently bad, they often lack the motivation and vulnerability that marked Drake’s earlier career.
However, ICEMAN sees Drake eager to reprove himself, displaying the hunger fans once knew him for. While admittedly, it isn’t perfect, it stands out as Drake’s most consistent and focused project in the past decade. Delving into themes of betrayal, legacy, and relationships within the industry, Drake remains confident throughout the album.
In the opening track, “Make Them Cry,” Drake takes on a reflective attitude, touching on a variety of subjects, including his feud with Kendrick Lamar, a fallout with a close friend, and his father’s battle with cancer. His vulnerability is backed by a mellow, soothing instrumental featuring two beat switches, reinforcing his introspective mood. “I’m still healing my own traumas, I’ve barely adapted,” Drake raps, encapsulating the track’s essence.
The following song, “Dust,” starts off slowly, with the first half feeling redundant and basic. However, following an abrupt beat switch, Drake shifts his attitude, arrogantly rapping about his status in the industry accompanied by a fitting, aggressive synthesizer. “Go blow the dust off your plaques,” Drake repeats in the chorus, boasting about his continued relevancy.
While the intro of “Dust” still feels somewhat catchy and engaging, it begins to highlight a bigger problem within the project: Drake can’t seem to fully abandon the soulless, generic sound he cultivated over the past couple of years. Songs such as “Little Birdie” and “Don’t Worry” are perfect examples. Aside from a terrible microwave-sounding vocal quality, “Little Birdie” consists of an uninspired flow and rushed delivery that sounds like an unfinished demo. “Don’t Worry” adds another song to Drake’s long list of sleep-inducing R&B tracks, offering little beyond its atmospheric instrumentation.
At some points, the album feels boring. On “Firm Friends,” Drake reflects on J. Cole’s absence during his feud with Kendrick Lamar. While the track conveys Drake’s sense of disloyalty thoroughly, sonically, it’s uninteresting. Unlike “Make Them Cry,” the laid-back beat doesn’t feel catchy, instead coming across as repetitive throughout the song’s five-minute runtime.
However, ICEMAN still consists of club bangers. In “2 Hard For The Radio,” Drake doesn’t take himself too seriously, instead delivering an energetic and lighthearted performance. Heavily inspired by West Coast hip-hop, Drake’s infectious flow paired with bouncy instrumentals creates one of the best moments on the album. “Now I’m too hard for the f*ckin’ radio,” he playfully sings, paying tribute to Bay Area rapper Mac Dre’s song “2 Hard 4 the F*ckin’ Radio.”
“National Treasures” showcases Drake’s bold mindset as he throws shots at both Kendrick Lamar and professional basketball player DeMar DeRozan. “We must’ve been dealin’ in spur of the moment / Cause why did we think you could get us a ring,” Drake cleverly raps, reflecting on DeMar DeRozan’s trade from the Toronto Raptors to the San Antonio Spurs. The simplistic synth leaves room for Drake’s aggressive flow to shine, and the second beat’s dynamic sound creates an entertaining track. It is another standout performance.
Overall, ICEMAN is a reminder of what made fans fall in love with Drake in the first place. Drake sounds hungrier and stronger than he’s sounded in the last decade, largely living up to the album’s hype. Sure, the album has its flaws, but it sounds definitively like the Drake that fans remember.
MAID OF HONOR
2/10
What an absolute disaster. If you feel positively about Drake after listening to ICEMAN, throw your opinions out the window and prepare for the most corny, uninspired, corporate-sounding slop you’ll ever hear from Drake. Forced accents, boring instrumentals, extremely shallow sexual lyrics—basically everything bad about Drake combined into a single, grueling, 45-minute listen.
“Road Trips” and “Princess” are the only listenable cuts on the album. On “Road Trips,” Drake leans into a disco vibe, letting a bouncy, rhythmic instrumental do the heavy lifting. While his vocals are generic, they’re catchy, creating a decent house track that people could dance to. “Princess” features an odd, heavily distorted sound that takes over the first half. Accompanied by Drake’s solid singing, the experimental beat works surprisingly well. “I found my princess layin’ in the bathroom, layin’ in the bathroom, she got too lit,” Drake sings in a punk-inspired tone.
On the other hand, “Cheetah Print” is one of the worst songs Drake has ever released. While the upbeat sample-heavy beat shows potential for a club banger, Drake drops a trainwreck of a verse that immediately taints the entire track. “First thing, can I consent? / I am a gentleman / Girl, your face an eight and your *ss is a ten,” Drake awkwardly opens. In the chorus, he plays into his over-sexualized and braggedocious persona, something that feels out of place coming from a 39 year old. American rapper Sexyy Red’s contributions only worsen the track. Terribly remixing the Cha Cha Slide, it’s impossible to listen to her verse without laughing out loud. “One cheek this time, two cheeks this time,” Sexyy Redd yells in her irritating, uncharming voice. It’s one of those tracks you actually have to listen to in order to understand how truly awful it is.
“Amazing Shape” is another dreadful track that makes you wonder what the point of Drake’s music even is. The corny, overly raunchy lyrics, Popcaan’s forgettable feature, and the clunky beat: there’s no situation where you’d ever play this song. At least “Cheetah Print” is humorous enough to trend on TikTok. “Amazing Shape” isn’t experimental, isn’t a hit, isn’t remotely enjoyable, and provides nothing to Drake’s discography whatsoever.
On tracks like “Which One” and “New Bestie,” Drake’s forced Canadian accent proves more cringeworthy than anything. “Which One,” the album’s lead single, sees Drake compensating for his subpar lyricism with shallow Canadian slang over a lifeless, predictable club beat. “Play this for the gyal dem party, dun,” Drake raps. It sounds more like an imitation than a natural accent. “New Bestie” somehow manages to sink even lower, feeling like a watered-down version of “Which One” that drains all of the remaining energy that “Which One” had to begin with.
If you weren’t a fan of Drake’s 2022 album Honestly Nevermind, don’t worry, because Drake has made sure to mix in low-effort house tracks that feel like leftovers from that already disastrous project into MAID OF HONOR’s messy, unfinished tracklist. The album functions purely as club-playlist music, lacking any central themes. While this isn’t inherently a flaw, it becomes a problem when you realize the album contains practically zero replay value and barely any hits.
While ICEMAN reminds fans why they loved Drake, MAID OF HONOR reminds fans why they left Drake in the first place.
HABIBTI
3/10
Drake isn’t the same artist he used to be when it comes to R&B, and he needs to understand that. Even ICEMAN’s lone R&B cut, “Don’t Worry,” feels underwhelming when compared to the rest of the tracklist. These tracks used to be soulful, memorable, and creative, especially on projects like If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late and Take Care. Now, what used to make him stand out as talented and versatile makes him remarkably boring. HABIBTI is an unsuccessful attempt to reignite that flame, muting the sense of depth that characterized Drake’s earlier works.
The album opens with easily its worst track, “Rusty Intro.” Over an acoustic guitar, Drake delivers a robotic-sounding mess, singing about re-entering a past relationship. Midway through the track, producer DJ Frisco954 awkwardly interrupts the song with an out-of-place producer tag, killing whatever the song was attempting to build towards. “I’m a little rusty, I’m a little rusty,” Drake sings. We can tell.
Luckily, the album quickly improves. The third song, “Slap The City”, serves as a perfect record for a late-night car drive. The slow beat, which changes in the second half, is weirdly addictive. UK singer Qendresa’s feature is a clear highlight, her soft vocals adding to the song’s dreamy vibe.
However, while “Slap The City” is sonically pleasing, it falls behind lyrically. “Two hundred girls filled the crib, who summoned ‘em? / Spade or Astral, it must be one of them / Better find love ‘fore we slap the whole city in and there ain’t nothing left,” Drake raps, feeling far removed from reality. His attempts to be vulnerable often come across as out of touch—a problem extending throughout the entire tracklist. Especially on an album focused entirely on relationships, Drake’s shallow view of love isn’t exactly a selling point.
This is evident on tracks such as “Hurrr Not Thurrr.” “Got you a spot, pulled off the lot, brand-new Mercedes / I’d rather you keep your integrity, really, you go at your pace,” Drake unemotionally sings, using his love story to flex his wealth in a way barely anybody can relate to.
For the remainder of the album, the tracks seem to blur into one. It’s not necessarily unpleasant, but it’s formulaic and rushed. The features, including common collaborator PARTYNEXTDOOR and American rapper Sexy Redd, feel extremely redundant, blending into the same boring R&B soundscape that Drake has recycled over and over again.
On “Fortworth,” Drake perfectly encapsulates this reprocessed energy. Featuring a sluggish piano, he recites the exact same song he has made a million times before. “My AC is broken, my hotel, it’s hot as hell / Runnin’ outta sodas, I might walk to Circle K by myself,” Drake sings, walking listeners through his eventful day. How inspiring.
Although HABIBTI is more tolerable than MAID OF HONOR, it falls into the same, dull-sounding trap. The entire three-album drop feels more like a marketing scheme than a genuine attempt to create art, and ICEMAN stands out as the only project worth revisiting. Do yourself a huge favor: listen to ICEMAN and forget the other two ever existed.
