Album: “Certified Lover Boy”

Artist: Drake

Release Date: Sep. 3, 2021

Our Rating: A-

Genre: Rap/Hip-Hop

Drake has been the showman of rap for a decade now, and “Certified Lover Boy” puts a stamp on that title. Drake digs deep and achieves a level of maturity for this album that we haven’t seen since “Scorpion.” He reaches new depths with confessional tracks like “Champagne Poetry” and “The Remorse.” On the contrary, these did not stop Drake from dropping party bangers like “Way 2 Sexy” and “Knife Talk”.

He has never been afraid to experiment on his music. Drake unexpectedly keeps a more traditional sound on this album, following his stints with Reggae on “More Life” and Drill on “Dark Lane Demo Tapes.” Even with Drake maintaining a more traditional sound, he manages to assemble a superstar cast of features, with names like Future, Travis Scott and many more.

This album puts Drake’s versatility on full display with different types of tracks, none sounding the same as the one before. Below are some of the highlight tracks on “Certified Lover Boy.”

N 2 Deep

Best track on the album, “N 2 Deep” is the ninth track and it begins with an ominous tone that sounds as if it was off of an old Drake album, “Nothing Was The Same.” Two minutes and a half into the track, there is a beat switch into a more aggressive beat and Future comes in for a featured verse. Drake and Future have been quite the dynamic duo for a decade now, both showing out on “N 2 Deep”. Future provides one of his best verses of the year and outperforms Drake on his own song. “N 2 Deep” is a perfect song to get in your feelings with Drake’s first verse before the beat switch while Future’s verse has a more “in your face” tone for you to emotionally bounce back after Drake’s emotional verse.

“The features on this album went off. Everyone from Travis Scott all the way to lesser known artists like Yebba,” junior William Beardslee said.

Champagne Poetry

The intro track, titled after Drake’s Instagram handle, is a five minute confessional where Drake discloses the troubles that come with being the best. He brings up loved ones that can never be repaid, carrying his hometown’s misfortune and family troubles. He opens up to the audience behind a beautiful sample that repeats the phrase, “I love you.” This sample is a testimony to the incredible production on “Certified Lover Boy,” with the original sample originating from “Navajo” by Masego which he sampled from The Beatles. This was the perfect track to open the album, outlining everything expected from Drake: great production, great music and great delivery.

Way 2 Sexy

Behind a catchy beat and a timeless Future chorus, “Way 2 Sexy” will be a party anthem for years to come. Future and Young Thug are both featured in this song; Future singing the chorus. The track gets us right in the action with the chorus, and Drake follows up with his verse. After the chorus is repeated, Future and Young Thug deliver their respective verses. The recurring theme of the song is the artists being too attractive for certain people or things, such as being too sexy for your “girl” or too sexy for “this world.” With this song being No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 get used to hearing that catchy chorus.

“Certified Lover Boy has a song for everyone, and that’s what makes this album great,” senior Damian Reyes said.

Rap fans have been blessed with a ton of new music recently including the long-awaited “Donda” by Kanye West. Debates comparing the two albums have sparked all over social media. Fans on both sides have been diving headfirst into heated internet arguments. Our opinion: “Certified Lover Boy” is infinitely better than “Donda.” Sorry. Men and women lie, but numbers don’t.