What do you think of Iceman, Habibti and Maid of Honour?
I think they saved his legacy. Itās a contextually poetic series of albums, the most significant piece being that after all that big 3 talk, heās become the first musician to literally occupy the top 3 album chart with individual debuts. As of right now the big 3 in mainstream music is literally Drake, Drake, and Drake.
Iceman in particular is like, his best rapping performance ever. Better than Her Loss, than NWTS, especially IYRTITL. Iām still catching these legitimate quadruple entendres after the fact, and when you really sit and listen you note that heās casually dropping these S tier bars rappers would normally build an entire verse around. The album is so good that the ongoing criticism doesnāt even pertain to the album itself but contrived infractions against Drake as a public figure. I just saw like eight separate youtubers drop actual maga allegations at the same time.
And something about all three albums that no oneās really talked about is that itās mixed sublimely. My main critique when it came to the Drake music of today is that it isnāt usually mixed as well as it had before. Thereās a lot of songs on CLB, Her Loss, and For All The Dogs that donāt hit as hard in my earbuds as they do out of a speaker. Rappers in general only mix for the car test rather than the headphone test, but 40 seems to have taken over for Noel full time as the engineer so I could not be happier. Shit like Plot Twist hits hard as fuck no matter what Iām playing it on.
Thereās also less than a handful of features on all three and thatās what makes Drakeās performance stand out more strongly. Unlike pre beef albums, he isnāt contending for space with guys Lil Baby or Lil Durk or Ty Dolla Sign or Rick Ross or some other random ass feature to drag down the music. I remember hearing that in like, the early 2010s he used to get criticism for collabing with whoever on the road but being ultra selective with who he actually let on the albums. If anything else, the rap beef has once again revived that selectiveness.
Iceman in particular strikes me as a decisive reckoning. He didnāt let anything ago (and why would he?), and the hype demonstrates that he doesnāt have to. The whole album being a series of elaborate disses, things that his contemporaries will be made to hear before the next album cycle because theyāre simply that catchy sums up why so many people tune ināhe can fit these complex feelings and actions into something you wanna just play over and over and over. The album is one big stylish fuck you to his label, to the rap game, to everyone that got ready to see him fall the last two years.
When I opened twitter and saw that it dethroned Not Like Usā spotify record on arrival, it was like in Endgame where everyone came back from the blip. Everything was once again back to normal because what seemed lost was never gone to begin with.
My favorite songs off the album is either Janice STFU, Plot Twist, or Ran To Atlanta. But Bās on the Table and Shabang are always catching me off guard. Make Them Cry is probably Drakeās best intro thus far, and the same goes for Make Them Know as an outro. I didnāt expect him to get so poignant on the latter.
My one criticism is that I donāt think Conductor is an interesting producer, and I couldnāt get into Make Them Pay or Firm Friends. The kicks, the bass, even the snares are all too soft, and my impression of Conductor as a producer is that heās a lo fi producer that opened the wrong door and ended up in a rap session.
Now, Habibti and Maid of Honor are like If Youre Reading This Its Too Late in the sense that theyāre side projects very plainly meant to fulfill his contractual obligations as quickly as possible. Icemanās been the one I spent two years waiting on, so while I enjoy both albums, they havenāt made the impression that the main one has. Imagine if all of Destinyās Child released individual projects at the same timeāthatās what itās like.
I will say however that Habibti represents an ongoing development in Drakeās RnB musicāheās getting more candid, more emotional, and a little more dramatic as a singer. The Drake of 2011, with all his hurt feelings, would not have sung about dying in someone elseās arms like on Gen 5. And he so rarely gets into his feelings of outright isolation as he does on Slap the City because heās usually rapping about his friends and his inner circle.
At the end of the day I think Miles Morales compels me because he resents the responsibility of being Spider-Man but also needs it to prove to himself that he isnāt a spindly coward.
People donāt read stories to build comprehension anymore. They read to build up a brand of the author behind it, and then judge the material on that alone. Contemporary criticism in this day and age is āX is bad because John Doe is Y,ā or āX is good because John Hancock thinks Z.ā Itās a low stakes and reductive way to critique things and yet this is the feedback that affects what comes next. This is why 2020s creative work is generally so sloppy.
It slips out of her one night like poison. Sat at the edge of a rooftop overlooking a Brooklyn street, Ms Marvel beseeches Miles with a question that startles him a little.
āDo you think Iām a bad person?ā
He blinks. Then, turns his head to peer at the girl beside him. She looks to him openly, eyes blown wide in a desperation sheād only hinted at this past hour. It makes him a little uncomfortable almost, how pleading her gaze is, like the wrong answer could send her into a spiral.
āWellā¦ā Miles begins delicately. āNo? Why would I think that?ā Immediately, she blinks herself, and the cloud hanging over her drifts away somewhat. She turns away now, surely a little embarrassed.
āI donāt know,ā She lies. āPeople tell me Iām mean, I guess.ā
āI donāt think youāre mean.ā
She stares at him very pointedly from there, saying the obvious through lips pursed shut.
āOkay, maybe you come off a little, indelicate, sometimes, butā¦I mean, Iāve worked with Captain America, yāknow? Heās like that, and I donāt think heās mean.ā
āWhat do you think he is?ā
Miles stops then, quietly considering their former president. He remembers quite vividly the way heād yelled at him in front of his soldiers, yelled that Miles was too young to do what they do, too childish to comprehend the severity of what was going on in the world like the Spider-Man before him.
He was right, of courseāMiles had just snuck onto the most heavily guarded military base in the country and hastily asked when heād be shipping out. But there was another side to Captain America. One that betrayed how strongly he felt for keeping everything in line, everyone safeāeven if he had to be blunt about it. Heād been there when Peter Parker was shot, and before that incident, personally blamed himself for what happened to the boy after he lost track.
He canāt think of the manās intensity without remembering what it was laid uponāa foundation of deep and profound grief for what happened when he wasnāt strong enough, or fast enough. That is what makes up Milesā understanding of Captain America, the hero of World War II, wartime president of the United States. And though he doesnāt know what it may be for Ms Marvel, he knows itās like that for her too.
āI think heās passionate,ā Miles decides. āI think he feels so strongly about keeping people safe, that things like, uh, pleasantriesāitās all negotiable. Heās focused on so many different things that he just doesnāt have time to be nice. But that doesnāt mean he isnāt kind.ā
He glances beside him, and meets Ms Marvelās searching gaze. Her eyes flicker all over him, trying to discern through his body what his mask could hide from her.
āOkay,ā she says quietly, leaving Miles to wonder what shadows haunt her beyond what meets his eye. He wants to say more. He should say moreā¦but what could he say?
āI feel like a bad person sometimes,ā he tries. Ms Marvel squints at him.
āWhen?ā
He tries to dig deep, but has never been good at compiling lists on the spot. When he explains that sometimes he swings off before the people he rescue are finished talking to him, she makes a noise that sounds like a scoff and an octopus being choked out.
Sometimes I think about how millennials personally watched the patriot act get signed into law just to grow up and volunteer nonstop cctv feeds inside their own homes lmao
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