Out of nowhere Drake drops off his long rumoured mixtape, If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late. A 17 track monster that comes 6 years to the day from his last mixtape ‘So Far Gone‘ and see’s Drizzy getting back to that “old Drake” sound that we’ve been missing.
The appropriately titled ‘Legend‘ starts the set, with a stuttering beat over Ginuwine’s ‘So Anxious‘ sample. Drake applies his half rap/croon flow here to boast about his status. His lack of effort really sells the message, as at this point, he has absolutely nothing to prove. The mood darkens slightly, but only slightly – on ‘Energy‘. Here Drake raps:
“I got enemies, got a lotta enemies/ got a lotta people tryna drain me of my energy/ tryna take the wave from a n__ga/ fuckin’ with the kid I pray for you n__ga’/”
The track sets itself up as a paranoid look at his life, given the menacing instrumental. The occasional talk of goons and “run up and we gon’ see” is levelled out with talk of ex girlfriends, as the full on tough talk never really rings true with Drake. It’s refreshing to listen to Drake address his detractors with this much angst On ‘Star67‘ when Drake raps:
‘Brand new Baretta, can’t wait to let it go’
It’s quickly phased out with talk about money and women. He’s aware when he spends too much time posturing, people begin to question its sincerity so he moves on to subjects he can discuss more convincingly. Sometimes the bravado does feel necessary given the instrumentals and the feel of the mixtape. Drake keeps the subject matter to money, women, his home town and haters. This is clearly a mixtape as the introspection is kept to a minimum.
However on’You & The 6‘ he discusses intimate conversations with his mother which covers everything from being set up with his mother’s personal trainer, to growing up around guns. It’s intimate, honest and a welcome break as the decadence and boasting can get a little tiresome 14 tracks in. ‘Jungle‘ follows with Drake full on singing on an almost ballad aimed straight at the ‘Hold On We’re Going Home Crowd‘. It’s been done by Drake before and been more inventive, but at this point he’s got the style down, so it’s a comfortable wind down.
Drake closes out his ‘Time And Place‘ trilogy with ‘6PM In New York‘. The instrumental is celebratory, but Drake is aggressive, even more so than on ‘5AM‘. Sending shots at the competition as well an almost stream of consciousness flow where he discusses everything on his mind that’s agitating him. Drake is on fire here.
It’s a stark reminder than this mixtape is really just set-up for his album ‘View From The 6‘. Drake changed the mixtape game with ‘So Far Gone‘ and as much as ‘If You’re Reading This…’ doesn’t reinvent the wheel, no rapper will come near a mixtape this consistent till Drake decides to drop another 6 years from now.
