Cordaveon Carter

‘Certified Lover Boy’ has arrived and it was very underwhelming. 

Drake’s sixth album was very highly anticipated and very hyped. It had features from huge artists like 21 Savage, GIVEON, Jay-Z, Future, Travis Scott, Young Thug, Lil Durk, Lil Wayne, TyDolla Sign and Rick Ross. 

Despite all the hype, I just felt disappointed. This whole album just felt forced — not made for the love of music, but for the money. Even some of the features disappointed me, like Lil Baby and Jay Z. 

I think the album was not finished and rushed out because of Kanye West’s ‘Donda’. When ‘Donda’ started doing excellent numbers and getting great reviews, Drake felt the pressure to release ‘Certified Lover Boy’ way too early. It doesn’t help that it was automatically put in competition with Kanye’s album, which was fantastic. 

I am not saying Drake’s album was all bad. He had some great songs on there, of course, and most of the features were great. Some songs that did stand out to me were “Champagne Poetry”, “Papi’s Home”, “Way 2 Sexy”, “TSU”, “Yebba’s Heartbreak”, “7am on Bridle Path” and “Fair Trade”. 

But I expected a lot more than what we got. This was nowhere near one of his best projects, and I feel it will just be another album that will be forgotten overtime. The only reason why the album was and is overhyped is just because Drake.

Overall, it was a 7/10 to me.

Koby Moore

After many pushbacks, trailers, snippets and leaks, ‘Certified Lover Boy’ was finally released on Labor Day Weekend. 

This is the sixth album from the Toronto rapper Drake, and first his official album since he dropped Scorpion in 2018. Even though he’s released singles, EPs, mixtapes, features and even some old music over the last few years, many were hyped to hear new music from him.

Like every other Drake album that came out in the past, this one was widely anticipated, as it included features from music heavyweights like Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Kid Cudi, Lil Baby and Travis Scott. It also was in direct competition with Kanye West’s ‘Donda’, which dropped a week or so before ‘Certified Lover Boy’.

Going into this album, I didn’t know what to expect. Many people assumed with the title that Drake was going to drop an R&B album. But, with Drake, you can never really guess what direction he’s going in. The great thing about this album is that it had a lot of variety, from the lyrical tracks, club songs, slowed down songs, dancehall songs and more.

The main thing about this album I didn’t enjoy was its lack of focus. It felt more like a playlist than an album. I also felt some of the songs could’ve been left out, like “Way 2 Sexy” and “Fair Trade”, but they could eventually grow on me. 

With that being said, I did enjoy this album. I liked Drake’s rapping and I appreciated some of his verses in songs like “Champagne Poetry” and “7AM on Bridle Path”. He threw a lot of subliminal disses at Kanye West this album, which I expected due to the extracurricular banter between them before their albums dropped. I enjoyed singing Drake on this album more, too, especially on tracks like “TSU” and “Get Along Better”. Also, it had a lot of samples I enjoyed on songs like “N 2 Deep”, “Champagne Poetry” and “TSU”. 

I think I will give this album a 7/10. Standout tracks to me were “Champagne Poetry”, “TSU”, “N 2 Deep”, “7AM on Bridle Path” and “Get Along Better”. Though there are some parts I don’t like, Drake’s songs tend to grow on me with time, and this album could potentially do the same.