Certified Lover Boy Review

There is not much room for Drake to fail. These days it seems too feel that Drake can just be on the track list and whichever song has him on it is a platinum single. But that doesn't always mean that Drake will be delivering his best performance, but more so goes to show the work that Drake has put in already.

Drake has had so much success in music that it has created an unwavering fan support system that allows Drake to always push himself to the top of all charts. However, when evaluating the climb to the top for Drake it becomes more apparent how that remains the case for the Toronto 6 God. He never misses the opportunity to ride the trends and waves of popular sounds and music. Wherever there is smoke Drake will be around it. And as much as this may serve as a great business decision for relevance and sales it takes away from the artistic value that Drake has the potential to bring.

It is growing increasingly frustrating when it comes to listening to Drake projects because it is transparent when Drake is making certain songs because it is the "wave or sound" for now. This lends itself to come off as a lazy gesture on Drake's part. Relying on past success and what's hot right now as a formula for his latest work creates a very underwhelming listen for Certified Lover Boy. There are a lot of tracks from "Knife Talk", "Way Too Sexy", "N too Deep", to "You Only Live Twice", that come off as outdated tracks from the Take Care and Scorpion album. Efforts on "IMY2" featuring Kid Cudi fail to connect and gel leaving that song too really be a true throwaway track on this album, or stream grabber for the Cudi fanatics.

There are some gems in "Pipe Down", "Get Along Better", and "7am on Bridle Path" that leave you wondering why Drake didn't ground himself into making more songs that are reflective of these three songs. But it is quickly understood that Drake is now at a point in his career that the only thing left for him is to fall. And the fear of trying things that may not work is not worth it amidst sticking to the sure things. In the moment of this beef with Kanye it would have been great to have an album from Drake that had a J. Cole initiative of lessening the features.

But even with these issues one can not say the album is bad. The album is still a good album, due to the fact that Drake has things down to a science of being able to tap in to what is moving people at the time, while still serving samples of pure gold that leaves you yearning for more.

Drake as the certified lover boy is fitting to the narrative that has become the musical career of Drizzy. Not looking for love but not being accepting of the fact that it isn't present in his life unconditionally. Wondering about the loyalty of those around, and losing sleep over the fallacies that may exist in the relationships had. You can definitely hear the stress of success all through this album and that has a connecting affect. We all want to make it in life and maybe Drake is just the one describing what that looks like in that world of success. Late nights. Parties. Envious friends. Favors. Drugs. Sex. Uncomfortable family issues with money. Drake is the epitome of "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems", certified by the last line of his album "nobody praying for you when you winning".

Will this album be the one revisited when it is all said and done? Most likely not for many, but it definitely serves as a perfect reflection of the times. Here for the now. Here for the moment. And maybe that is the lesson in the end, Certified!

Certified Lover Boy

Tribe Rating: 6.6/10