𝑨𝒍𝒃𝒖𝒎 𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘: $𝒐𝒎𝒆 $𝒆𝒙𝒚 $𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒔 4 𝑼 - 𝑫𝒓𝒂𝒌𝒆 & 𝑷𝑨𝑹𝑻𝒀𝑵𝑬𝑿𝑻𝑫𝑶𝑶𝑹

"I like Drake with the melodies. I don’t like Drake when he acts tough." - Kendrick

Honestly, with the way things are now, that still holds true.

This album is fortunate, but its timing is unfortunate. Then again, maybe that’s the point—just like the theme of the album, sometimes timing isn’t on our side when it comes to love. If this project had dropped a few years ago, it would’ve gone even crazier, but even now, it’s got that classic Drake & PARTYNEXTDOOR vibe that always hits.

In many ways, this feels like a heat check for Drake—a test to see where he stands in the game today. Whenever Drake and Party link up, they create a cheat code for R&B-influenced rap, and this project is no exception. But at the end of the day, the music should speak for itself—not the gimmicks, not the social media games, and not the fan service.

Drake is definitely in hot water with the lawsuits hanging over him, so I get why he avoided diving into heavy raps. Instead, he had to make $ome $exy $ongs to reconnect with fans and get back to making music for women—something that has always been one of his strongest lanes. This project taps into nostalgia, reminding us why people fell in love with his music in the first place.

Still, I had a feeling he’d sneak in at least one track addressing the post-Kendrick beef fallout—and that’s exactly what we got with “Gimme a Hug.” A title and theme that, let’s keep it 100, was designed to grab people’s attention. But as the name suggests, it also frames him as unbothered by everything that went down—especially with the line:

"F— a rap beef, I’m tryna get the party lit."

PARTYNEXTDOOR’s Influence

Speaking of Party, I really enjoyed his presence on this album. His cuts set the tone with that dark, moody R&B vibe that people love from the Canadian sound. It’s been a while since I’ve really locked into recent PND music, but this definitely gave me old Party vibes—which is exactly what I was hoping for.

That said, this project feels more like a Drake album featuring Party overall. It makes me wonder if that ties into the ongoing legal battle between Drake and Universal Music Group (UMG)—where Drake is suing his label while still managing to release this project. Maybe this is a strategic loophole allowing him to drop music outside of his contract or maybe this is part of a bigger industry play to fulfill obligations while setting up his next move. There’s definitely more happening behind the scenes with the timing of this project.

I found myself vibing with the first half of the project the most because it had that classic Drake & Party feel. The second half felt more like an evolved version of their sound today which for me can be hit or miss depending on the vibe Im on, but definitely a shift from the nostalgia of the first half.

Standout Tracks

Some of my favorite cuts from the album:
✔ CN Tower

✔ Moth Balls

✔ Something About You

✔ Spider-Man Superman

✔ Deeper

✔ Small Time Fame

✔ Gimme a Hug

✔ Greedy

Final Thoughts

I already know this album is going to get mixed reactions. Some fans are going to love the vibe, while others are already on the Drake hate train.

One of Drake’s biggest mistake was how he handled the battle with Kendrick. He tried to use social media to sway people in his favor, but it ended up backfiring when those same tactics didn’t age well. And now, it feels like people suddenly forgot everything he’s brought to the game, which explains why he dropped 100 Gigs. However 100 Gigs worth of memories can't restore all the damage done after the battle.

We live in an era where opinions are easily manipulated by trends, memes, and viral hate. People don’t just dislike things anymore—they perform their hate for clicks and reactions.

Personally, I didn’t agree with the antics during the rap battle. I think it should have stayed strictly about the music, so I’m not surprised by the backlash online. But at the same time, I can’t pretend like Drake’s music hasn’t been apart of the soundtrack to so many moments in my life—and in the lives of countless others. Before the battle, we were all buying tickets to the It’s All a Blur tour just to hear his nostalgic hits.

At the end of the day, social media hate and no constructive criticism isn’t hip-hop. If anything, it’s doing more harm to the rap game than good. But I also believe that recognizing this is the first step toward changing it. Maybe one day, through the music, Drake can a have a comeback season, and we’ll look back on all of this like it was just a blur.

I give the Project a 3.5 out of 5.