“I put it all in the music because if I don’t say it here, then I won’t say nothin'”
-Drake
“Scorpion”
Drake has always been the type of artist to let you know exactly what’s going on in his life. On his fifth studio album “Scorpion”, not much has changed. Drake decided to drop a double album this time around, 25 tracks in total. This album has been split into two albums: rap side and R&B side. Drake has a lot to talk about on this album and he talks about it all. From his beef with Pusha T, to his now confirmed son; Drake lets us know exactly how he feels about everything.
To be honest, I listened to the album about 25 times by now. My overall impression of the album is that it’s a great album. Nowhere near his best body of work, but it isn’t a bad listen. A lot of the feedback that I’ve seen on my Timeline and News Feed is that the album is too long. I do agree that it can be a little overwhelming seeing 25 tracks on an album. Clocking in at about an hour and a half of music, that is A LOT of music to take in all at once. The good thing about this album is that it’s split into two sides. That allows it to seem not as bad when you’re listening to it all the way through. Drake being one of my favorite artists of all time, I can sit through the whole album and not have to stop playing it. Not too many people can do that though. I think his splitting it into two albums was one of the best ways he could pull this off and I feel like other artists should do the same. “Culture II” by Migos was 24 songs long and that was a tiring album to get through in one sitting. Drake listened to the fans about us wanting a full R&B album and a full rap album. Overall, I say he did a pretty good job.
Side A
Drake always has some of the best album intros and outros on his albums. He opens up this time with “Survival” where he talks about how he overcame a lot of his past encounters and beefs. He managed to get through Meek Mill, Diddy, and now Pusha T. A lot of people say the album is trash because they expected him to come out hard and destroy Pusha T. If you listened to any of the hip-hop news lately, you would know he wasn’t gonna take that approach. J Prince (His old mentor, and the one who introduced him to Lil’ Wayne back in the day) had a talk with him after her recorded his response to Pusha T’s “The Story of Adidon” diss, and he told him not to release it. We all know how this would have played out anyways. Somebody goes too far then it becomes personal. Rap beef or not, somebody has to dead it eventually. As a result, Drake responds to Pusha T on the track “8 Out Of 10”. He basically deaded the beef and said he “settled in his role as the good guy”. Me personally I wanted to see his respond one more time and then get back to his business, but I’m not mad at the fact that he took another approach on the beef. Besides that, the A side of the album is full of the usual Drake rap hits. If you’ve been a fan of Drake, then I don’t see why anyone could not like this part of the album. This album ends with the outro track titled “Is There More”, the perfect segway to the second part of his album.
Side B
Now onto the R&B side of the album. This part of the album didn’t stick to me the first time I listened to it. I like the R&B side of Drake and I think some of his best songs are his singing songs, but for some reason, I couldn’t adapt to this part of the album right away. That changed once I got towards my third or fourth listen. People wanted this album to sound like “Marvin’s Room” or “Trust Issues” but there isn’t anything like that here. besides that, this album is a good listen. When Drake get’s into that R&B bag, he has so many different approaches that he does and you end up getting a wide variety of moods and vibes. The song “Summer Games” I didn’t like at all when I first heard it, but it ended up growing on me. That song shows more of the pop R&B side of Drake and I feel like he does a good job in that pocket. He has his hit “Nice For What” on this side of the album, along with another song “In My Feelings” which sounds like a follow-up or a Remix of “Nice For What”. This is one of the best songs on this side of the album, just for the simple fact that the beat is catchy and it sounds like a club record and Drake is notorious for making those types of joints. Another vibe would be the track “After Dark” which sounds like an old R&B song from the 90’s. Featuring Ty Dolla $ign and Static Major (RIP), their vocals along with Drakes merges together so well that I feel that Ty and Drake could do a collab project together, but that’s a topic for another day. Drake also managed to get an unreleased verse from Michael Jackson on the song “Don’t Matter To Me”, which is another song that I didn’t like at first but it ended up growing on me. This album ends with the track “March 14” where he goes into more detail about the day he found out that his “alleged” son was actually his. He planned on revealing it to the world at this time, but Pusha T ruined that for him. Besides the surprise being out already, this was a perfect way to close the album. The world wanted a for sure answer, and we got it here on the outro of the album.
The Verdict
I think overall, this is a great project from Drake. I’m not sure where I rank this as far as his other albums go, but I do like this album better than More Life and POSSIBLY Views. One thing about Drake is that like I said earlier, he has so many pockets and so many flows that he can get into, and that’s what works the best for him. It’s more than just rap and sing. When he raps, he has the sh*t talk rap, the success rap, the catchy/trendy rap, etc. And for his singing, he has the love singing, the heartbreak singing, the pop song and the radio song.
Everytime Drake drops, I always see a good amount of praise, and a see a lot of hate also. I feel like part of the reason some people hate him is because he does so many styles of music. Some people only likes when he raps and not when he sings. Some people like the trendy rap, others like the lyrical rap. When he starts making other types of songs, that’s when people start saying “Oh Drake is trash”. I don’t think he can be trash with the amount of success he has. Of course, he has a lot of stans who will ride with whatever he throws out there, but I truly don’t think he is trash at all. It all comes down to what you listen to him for. If his music isn’t for you, how is it trash? I hate listening to country music, but I could never sit here and say it’s flat out trash…it just isn’t for me.
One thing about Drake that he has to realize is that he can’t please everyone. There are so many listeners in the world that want so many styles from him. He delivers of course, but with that comes a bunch of people saying they don’t like that and they want the “old Drake”. Drake fans were the one who wanted this double album, which is why he created it. Now he created it, and there are people calling it trash already. Those are people who aren’t really fans of him, to begin with, or people who just don’t give things a fair listen. Things such as music can’t be graded in one listen. You have to fully listen to an album multiple times before you come out and make judgments about it. Especially when it’s an album this long. I agree with the statement that “If it ain’t broke, don’t break it”. Drake smashed numerous amounts of records this past weekend with his album release, is on track for it to go platinum already (technically double platinum) just off of “Nice For What” and “God’s Plan” alone, and is expected to sell over 900 thousand copies his first week. Regardless of what anyone has to say about his music, his baby momma, or his beef, it sounds like he turned those L’s into blessings since he is still coming out on top.
I have no complaints about the album, other than the fact that there are a couple songs that should be switched from one side of the album to another. People complaining that it’s too long can make two separate playlists for Side A and Side B of the album. Listen to it that way, and it may be more enjoyable and not seem long. We live in an era where we have access to music at the tips of our fingers. If you really wanted to, you could take the songs you like from the album and put together your own album of what you think the album should have been. Regardless of how you play the album, I think Scorpion is a really good album. It took a while to grow on me but when it did, I haven’t stopped listening since.
Side A Best Songs
- Emotionless
- 8 Out Of 10
- Mob Ties
Side B Best Songs
- In My Feelings
- That’s How You Feel
- After Dark
The Culture Talk 