Ok, after a few weeks, I’m finally ready to give my review/analysis on Drake’s new album, ‘Scorpion’. Out of respect for Drake, and as I would do with any album from a top tier artist, I decided not to rush to judgement, publicly, and sit with the album before forming an opinion that I could respect.
To cut out the fat, let me just say that THIS is definitely not one of my favorite Drake projects and it’s not “growing on me”. Drake has definitely figured out a way to win us over by creating these anthems that we can never get out of our heads. In that case, he’ll never miss. He has a formula that the two other TOP TIER rappers (Kendrick Lamar & J. Cole) have yet to master, and with that, he will remain relevant for as long as he has vocal chords.
I want to start with the structure of this album. I went into the listening of this album with zero expectations, other than great music (which he gave me). I like doing that so I don’t place unnecessary pressure on an artist to provide me with a project that I WANT rather than what THEY WANT. Learning that it was going to be a double-sided album excited me, though. Although my favorite Drake is the Drake raps and sings on the same records (i.e. “Elevate”), I felt like it would be a different experience.
I was not impressed by the structure. This album felt more like a playlist than ‘More Life’ did. I find myself revisiting ‘Scorpion’, but not listening to it straight through as I do with most rap albums. I find myself jumping back and forth through my favorite songs, and not really caring for some of the other records, no matter how good they might be. I enjoy Drake a lot for his intros to all his projects. Let me just say, "Survival" might be Drake's weakest intro dating all the way back to his 'Room For Improvement' mixtape. That song didn't set a great tone for an "album".
I feel like a lot of this lack of cohesiveness came from the Pusha T attack. Listening to this project, you can tell that from May 29th to June 29th, Drake did some rewriting and restructuring to address a lot of the conversations that were surrounding his name. Did he have to? No, but he did it anyway. But, because Drake threw those verses into the project (“Survival”, “Emotionless”, “8 Out Of 10”, “Mob Ties”, “Can’t Take A Joke”), it made Side A feel like a frustrated response, rather than a rap album.
I was also not lyrically impressed by Drake on this album very much. When Drake raps, I know for sure that he is going to provide me with endless quotable lyrics that are mad relatable (also known as caption rap). He did that, but if we’re going to call Drake the best rapper, ghost writing aside, I want him to RAP. I don’t feel like he challenged himself lyrically on this album. Not much use of wordplay or metaphors. He did manage to use some different flows, but nothing that wow’d me. Other than on “Sandra’s Rose”, I didn’t feel any effort on the rapping side.
A lot of the previous criticism is based on Side A of the album, so let me discuss Side B of the album now. As a whole, it also missed the mark. Drake has some HEAVY records on this side, but there are surrounding records that literally mess up the experience of the Side B records. The strong points on this side are easily “Jaded”, “Nice For What”, “Ratchet Happy Birthday”, “Blue Tint”, “In My Feelings” (shoutouts to Shiggy) and “After Dark”. I also believe that “March 14” would’ve been an AMAZING outro to the album if Pusha T didn’t ruin the surprise and if Drake didn’t call himself a “Da Da” all over this album before reaching this point.
When it comes to R&B Drake, he rarely misses as far as subject matter goes, but he doesn’t really make ME emotional as true R&B does. He never has. The songs are fire and they’re sometimes reflective, but I never want to text my ex after I listen to certain songs. Vocally, I’ve accepted long time ago that Drake isn’t Luther Vandross, and I’m completely fine with that, but he’s gotten better for sure.
My concern with this Drake album is that it won’t age well, at all. It’s a very CURRENT album. When I listen to ‘Nothing Was The Same’ it doesn’t remind me of 2013. I feel like it just dropped. Same thing with ‘If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late’. Also, the features on this album didn’t stand out at all. When you see names like JAY Z and Michael Jackson, you anticipate way more than what was given, and Ty Dolla $ign ended up stealing the show. Songs that could’ve used features like “Nonstop” and “Finesse” feel like there could’ve been way more moments on this album.
I say all of that to say this, if Drake chopped this album from 25 songs to 14-15 songs and focused less on Pusha T and Kanye West, this album could’ve been super special, as a whole. Funny thing is, all 25 of these songs are good. I can’t consider this album or any other Drake album a true classic. I don’t think Drake can achieve that title until he challenges himself and creates a true, conceptual album (i.e. ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’, ‘KOD’). Drake doesn’t really ever challenge himself. He knows what will make him successful and he knows what will sell out arenas all over the country and world. He knows how to give us anthems that we recite every weekend. I, personally, need him to challenge himself. Tell us how you got here; rap from a completely different perspective. No pun intended, but, I give this album an 8 out of 10.
