Scorpion Review

Drake is at the top of pop stardom. A single from his latest album, called “In My Feelings” just knocked another from the same album from the Number one spot. He now has the most number one singles of any rapper.

While Drake might be a superstar, the album that spawned these singles is not so stellar. I’ll break down my thoughts in this review.

SCORPION- Drake

The Good

• The Production
• Bangers 
• Drake’s X Factor

The Bad

• Filler Tacks
• Separation of Rap and R & B

The Ugly

• Drake’s struggle with paternity 

There’s a lot to like on Scorpion.

The production on this album, like every Drake release, is top notch. He as a star team of producers behind him and the beats here range from simple and snappy to deep melodic and moody.

Scorpion has bangers too. “In My Feelings” is the platonic form of a Drake hit. Cheesy yet charming bars about women over an earworm hook make this an ideal pop rack track. “Emotionless” and “Nice for What” are two other standout tracks. 

There’s also Drake’s X Factor. Drake possesses this melodramatic charm that has allowed him to rise of the top of the rap game and break all of the conventions of the genre while doing so. Most of Drake’s music is spent musings on the trials of women and fame, but he has the charisma to make the most ridiculous bars sound cool. Take the following from “God’s Plan.”

She said, 'Do you love me?' / I tell her only partly / I only love my bed and my mama / I'm sorry

I would laugh if anyone said this to me in real life, but Drake makes it sound smoother than Shaft.

My biggest complaint, by far, is the album's excessive length. It is easy to contrast this album's length with the brevity of another recent album I enjoyed, Kids See Ghosts. Every track on Ghosts seems to have a meaning or try to break some new ground. On Scorpion, half of the tracks seem to be throwaways. These songs also make the album unfocused; I struggled to find a theme that made the album a cohesive whole.

Drake’s other misstep was separating the album into two halves, one focused on rap and the other focused on R&B. Drake reached his level of popularity by being one of the first artists to combine the two genres by himself. Separating the two takes away one of his biggest strengths.

The ugliest aspect of this album is how Drake handled his new public fatherhood. Pusha T, another prominent artist, recently revealed to the world that Drake had a child, a fact Drake himself had not made public. Drake uses childish lyrics to address the issue

Thankful for the women that I know / Can't go fifty-fifty with no ho / Every month, I'm supposed to pay her bills / And get her what she want / I still got like seven years of doin' what I want

Let's not forget that Drake isn’t a kid, even if he’s handling his paternity crisis like one of the baby daddies from teen mom. Drake has been massively popular since 2009. A man that’s been at the top of music for that long should have a little more sense

Final Verdict: Recommended with some reservations. Listen to the bangers.