Drake pulled a Beyonce by dropping a surprise mixtape If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late at midnight on Feb. 13th, the sixth year anniversary of his first mixtape So Far Gone. And trust me if you’re reading this is not too late at all, because this mixtape is here to stay.
The first track “Legend” sets the mood of the mixtape and how invincible Drake feels in his hometown city, Toronto. The second track “Energy” lives up to the title being one of the best songs on the entire mixtape, between Drake’s flow and the production by Boi-1da is a phenomenal three minute experience. “Know Yourself”, another hit produced by Boi-1da brings some serious heat to your speakers. Similar to “Started from the Bottom” this is not a lyrical song, it’s just a straight speaker heater. And immediately following this banger is “No Tellin” where Drake breaks all the rules and changes the flow and mood multiple times within yet another Boi-1da beat.
Throughout the rest of the mixtape Drake has “Six” in various song titles each relating to his hometown. Between “Star67” and “6god” Drake lets his city have something to bump to their cars for the next few months. A particular track that stood out was “6man” where Drake flows seamlessly along an insane beat by his longtime producer Noah Shebib aka “40”. In this song Drake said “I didn’t do this f***** tape for CNN, I am not trying to win awards” to let his fans know that he’s doing this all for them and to reassure hip-hop who is on the top of the game right now, and that is Aubrey Drake Graham. The next “six” song was “You & The 6” where Drake is venting to his mother and the entire track you can feel the emotion in his voice and the sincerity in every word he said. It is a beautiful connection between Drake and his mother with nostalgia pouring out in the song. The final song on the album is entitled “6PM in New York” and in a near 5 minute song, Drake raps without a chorus or a hook, just straight lyrics. He addressed the beef between him and fellow Young Money rapper Tyga who had spoken unfavorably to Drake in a Vibe interview. Drake in the song tells Tyga that he should have “acted his age and not his girl’s age”, Tyga is rumored to be dating 17-year old Kylie Jenner. The tracks “Preach” and “Wednesday Night Interlude” featuring fellow Octobers Very Own member PARTYNEXTDOOR were slow, and didn’t fit the rest of the mixtape very well at all. The two songs were beat heavy and were out of place with the rest of the tape.
The overall feel of the mixtape is exactly what Drake intended, it’s not going to win awards but it still can be some serious quality music. He proves he can still put out a mixtape while also still working on his upcoming album Views From The 6. This mixtape was not lyrically intriguing to from start to finish, but has good music throughout. So overall for a between albums mixtape Drake kills it and will be in your neighbors speakers for quite some time.