Drake - Dark Lane Demo Tapes ALBUM REVIEW
Whether you love him or loathe him, Drake is one of the most influential artists of this generation. As of late, I think that Drake (a.k.a. The 6 God or Champagne Papi) has been on a bit of a slump. It started for me in 2015 when he dropped the track “Hotline Bling,” which would end up being a bonus track on his 2016 album Views. While this had some likable aspects, it felt too overstuffed and bloated, which I could say the same for his More Life project (mixtape, album, playlist??) and especially his last record, 2018’s Scorpion. But the highs of Drake’s career is such a milestone in rap that he’s impossible to ignore. And you can call me crazy, but I think that his 2015 mixtape If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late is one of the best rap projects of the past decade. Now, with a full album on the way this summer, he’s essentially given his fans a loose project called Dark Lane Demo Tapes, which includes some full versions of leaks and snippets that have come out over the past year. How does this measure up? Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised.
Dark Lane Demo Tapes is, of course, a rap record. This isn’t an album, in my opinion, that is going for a bunch of hits on it. The album takes inspiration from subgenres of rap like trap, UK drill, and Soundcloud rap. With ambient sounds present in most of the tracks, I’d feel pretty confident in categorizing this as an ‘ambient hip-hop’ record. On the opening cut “Deep Pockets,” I got very excited about this project. Outside of the previous singles “Toosie Slide” and “War,” there was nothing to expect from this. The slowed and sampled vocal tracks (or maybe they’re synths) on the opener were so different for Drake that this had the potential to be his best project yet. While some of the tracks still had a little of those slowed samples, it wasn’t as prominent as I hoped it would be. Other standouts include “Not You Too,” a moody sad-Drake track with heavenly backing vocals from Chris Brown, “D4L Freestyle” with Future and Young Thug, pretty much doing what each of them do best, and “Demons,” which I assume will turn a lot of American audiences on to drill, with features from Fivio Foreign and Sosa Greek.
But like all Drake records, some of it can be generic and a little boring for my taste. “Desires” with Future seems like a typical Drake/Future collab but way too melodramatic for its own good, which ends up imploding on itself. And what’s even worse is that a good amount of the tracks aren’t around enough to make a full impression on me, even if the instrumentals are pretty good. Of course, there’s the now-infamous “Pain 1993,” the highly anticipated track with Playboi Carti. What’s truly sad about this track is that Drake did better than Playboi Carti at his own game. Drake even had the same producer as Carti, Pi’erre Bourne. Yes, the Internet is turning against Carti, but there’s still a part of me that his next project, Whole Lotta Red, is a return to form.
As a cohesive project and album, Dark Lane Demo Tapes is a middle of the road rap album. As a Drake mixtape, it’s pretty good. Compared to the last 3-4 years of Drake music, Dark Lane is his best project since If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late. Personally, I’d want Drake’s next project to lean more on the ambient side, but as of now, this has me excited for Drake’s next full-length album.
7/10
Stream Dark Lane Demo Tapes here
Dark Lane Demo Tapes is, of course, a rap record. This isn’t an album, in my opinion, that is going for a bunch of hits on it. The album takes inspiration from subgenres of rap like trap, UK drill, and Soundcloud rap. With ambient sounds present in most of the tracks, I’d feel pretty confident in categorizing this as an ‘ambient hip-hop’ record. On the opening cut “Deep Pockets,” I got very excited about this project. Outside of the previous singles “Toosie Slide” and “War,” there was nothing to expect from this. The slowed and sampled vocal tracks (or maybe they’re synths) on the opener were so different for Drake that this had the potential to be his best project yet. While some of the tracks still had a little of those slowed samples, it wasn’t as prominent as I hoped it would be. Other standouts include “Not You Too,” a moody sad-Drake track with heavenly backing vocals from Chris Brown, “D4L Freestyle” with Future and Young Thug, pretty much doing what each of them do best, and “Demons,” which I assume will turn a lot of American audiences on to drill, with features from Fivio Foreign and Sosa Greek.
But like all Drake records, some of it can be generic and a little boring for my taste. “Desires” with Future seems like a typical Drake/Future collab but way too melodramatic for its own good, which ends up imploding on itself. And what’s even worse is that a good amount of the tracks aren’t around enough to make a full impression on me, even if the instrumentals are pretty good. Of course, there’s the now-infamous “Pain 1993,” the highly anticipated track with Playboi Carti. What’s truly sad about this track is that Drake did better than Playboi Carti at his own game. Drake even had the same producer as Carti, Pi’erre Bourne. Yes, the Internet is turning against Carti, but there’s still a part of me that his next project, Whole Lotta Red, is a return to form.
As a cohesive project and album, Dark Lane Demo Tapes is a middle of the road rap album. As a Drake mixtape, it’s pretty good. Compared to the last 3-4 years of Drake music, Dark Lane is his best project since If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late. Personally, I’d want Drake’s next project to lean more on the ambient side, but as of now, this has me excited for Drake’s next full-length album.
7/10
Stream Dark Lane Demo Tapes here
(Author's Note: I think I've decided that I'm going to write mainly hip-hop/rap album reviews because I simply find them the most fun to write about, and who can't stop me from doing something I love?)
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