Sooooo… Aubrey dropped a surprise album, mixtape, mix-album on us late on the 12th of February right before Valentine’s Day. I see you Aubrey, but it seems like it’s a lot going on with this situationship. Did he drop the project to fulfill his contract with Cash Money Records? Did he drop this in the middle of Diddy’s show out of spite? Did he want to one-up Jay Z’s baby mama? Who knows for real. I’m just going to review this album track by track. FYI…I’ve been listening to this mix-album since 6:30 am Friday so I feel like my opinion is 93% fact.
Legend (produced by PartyNextDoor): Man, listen this joint right here is dope. PND killed the production on this. Perfect for Aubrey to flow over and harmonize to. Plus, the hook is perfect for a club scene with bottles and bitches. I see the vision in slow motion. The Ginuwine sample is subtle enough but still stands out. This one is car ready.
Energy (produced by Boi-1da): I’m not feeling this one too much. It sounds like a filler track. The production is dark to me, but the sample of Eazy-E’s, Eazy-Duz-It was kinda dope. I got the vibe they were going for, but I would skip this one. This track doesn’t pass the car test.
10 Bands (produced by Boi-1da): Classic braggadocios rap from Drizzy. One thing for sure, he’s great with melodies and flows. There are some dope lines in the song that people will definitely tweet. The track’s production is cool. Nothing great but it’s worth a couple of run backs. The bridge is catchy, but the hook is very simple. Aubrey is usually good money with the hooks but was slightly off with this one. Overall it passes the car test.
Know Yourself (produced by Boi-1da): This was definitely made for his crew. A #TBT track of sorts where he reminisces about running around the city with his friends. We’ve always known Drake to have a tight circle. This feels like a throwaway track also. That’s just me being honest. I skip this one. No way that this passes the car test.
No Tellin’ (produced by Boi-1da): The flow on this track is the same flow that has been on the last few tracks making it seem like he is more worried about the flow of the track than bars. The production is good and you can hear the chemistry between Boi-1da and Aubrey. He points out that he isn’t “the same Drake from four years ago”. I like this one. It passes the car test.
Madonna (produced by 40): Drake and 40 are really a dope duo and take chances within rap music without forcing it or being weirdos for the sake of being weird. Although it’s not my favorite, the vibe on this is nice and you get another Ginuwine sample. If I smoked weed with a blonde that had a fat ass I would play this and vibe with her. Honestly all depends on what my mood is for this to pass the car test.
6 God (produced by Boi-1da): “I’m about to say a true thing, I’m about to say a true thing.” Y’all have heard this before and it’s a good record. That “You was poppin when Usher wore a ‘U’ chain, God damn you changed” line was tough and supposedly a shot a Puff Daddy.
Star67 (produced by Vinylz): The 1st couple bars of this track pose some questions. Did he take a shot at B, Bryan, Baby, Bubba, or was he just rapping? This record is cool also. That same flow.. on these spacey beats. I was presently surprised to hear a beat change halfway through the song. He does some self-reflecting on this one also. Like many tracks on the album, I feel like this one was filler. While the Degrassi reference is good to hear from him, this doesn’t pass my car test.
Preach (featuring and produced by PartyNextDoor): I have a confession. This is my first time hearing PND on a track on purpose. I think girls are going to love this record. It’s catchy and definitely made for the young and pretty. He’s talking that shit on this one. I’ve already fired off some tweets with lyrics from this song. The most impressive thing is that the last 20seconds of this track goes into a house, almost disco vibe with a version of “My Boo” by Ghost Town DJs that I wish was a full song. That is easily the best part of the track. For that part solely, this passes the car test.
Wednesday Night Interlude (featuring and produced by Party Next Door): I totally skipped over this. No thank you fiesta adjacent house. Shout to my boy Evil for that description.
Used to (feat Lil Wayne produced by Wondagurl): If you downloaded Lil Wayne and his apology for making you wait tape, then you heard this one already, so there’s no need to go over this with you. I honestly think Drake is taking shots at Puff Daddy again with lines like “Shaq posting up on niggas that I use to have posters of, Real quick you couldn’t have hated that, let’s be real man you couldn’t have made it that” – talking about 0-100. Wayne makes me wonder about him sometimes with lines like “Why you hanging with Terry that has a Blackberry”. This passes the car test.
6 Man (produced by 40): The Lou Will shout out was dope. Drake finally finds his bounce on this one. Of course he and 40 are like Batman and Robin on this track. 40 comes with the classic break down at the end and even Jill Scott got a check from this. Truth is, Aubrey floated over this track effortlessly. Turn this up in the car and pass that test with flying colors.
Now and Forever (produced by Eric and Jimmy): This track’s vibe is haunting and kinda creepy with a repetitive cadence. Imagine a Lil Jon song made with pillows and bubbles. That’s what I think of when I hear this song. It’s boring and soft. Even the gun shot in the productions sounds like a pea shooter. No thanks…Fail Whale – word to ‘08 Twitter.
Company (feat Travis Scott, produced by Wondagurl): It seems like Aubrey took a video of one his days out and watched it on DVD then wrote a rap about it. The melody is ok on this one, but when that base drops and the Travis Scott vocals slightly come in, it gets lit (as the kids would say). The vibe is dope and Travis Scott sounds good on this. The autotune is a lot but if I wasn’t a backpack hippity hop dude I wouldn’t mind. Overall this is a keeper and passes the car test….Barely
You and the 6 (produced by Boi-1da/40/Illmind): This is one of my favorite records on If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late. I’m gonna be biased and brief. THIS SHIT FIRE.
Jungle (produced by 40): I’ll be honest. I was going to shit on this record. Then, I gave it a good listen and Drake is pretty damn good wit R&B records. Emo Drake and 40 aka Jordan and Pip are going to have the ladies with this one. This is that – 1am on Thursday night, you get that, come over I wanna “talk” message and you show up and she’s wearing something sexy music. Do not, I repeat (this is for you Dwight Howard types) DO NOT listen to this with ya mans and them. All ladies everything. This passes the test for sure.
6p in New York (produced by Boi-1da): Bars on bars on bars. When Aubrey decides to rap like this, there aren’t too many emcees that can go with him. Continuing his “timed series” of songs, this falls right in the pocket. Oh, and the Tyga diss just makes this song even better. Tyga let Chris Brown out rap him, so he doesn’t want them problems with Drake. This is my favorite song on this mix-bum.
Drake sold this mixtape and I bought it. I bought into the hype. Hypebeast Trav. The project has a lot of fillers and stuff, but in all honesty I like Drake and his music. 17 songs are too long in the 140 character age but that’s fine with me. New Drake is always good for culture and in the end hip-hop (and r&b) wins. All in all, this album passes the car test.
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