Drake, being one of the top rappers, or arguably the top rapper in the industry right now, recently released the album “Certified Lover Boy,” and it was a widespread hit. The album has features from artists including 21 Savage, Travis Scott, Future, Young Thug and more.

Drake consistently has his music at the top of the Billboard for rap and continuously releases quality music and his net worth of $180 million is a reflection of how popular his music is.

In his newest album, the top three songs I enjoyed the most were, “Fair Trade” featuring Travis Scott, “Knife Talk” featuring 21 Savage and “Way 2 Sexy” featuring Future and Young Thug. 

The song “Way 2 Sexy” opens off with Future repetitively saying how he is too sexy for everything, “I’m too sexy for this syrup, too sexy for your girl, too sexy for this world.” Future continues to name things that he is too sexy for, then Drake comes in and expands upon the topic, while still referencing how he is way too sexy, “I’m feelin’ too sexy to accept requests and I’m way too sexy to go unprotected and she popped a Tesla, now she goin’ electric.”  Drake continues to rap until Future comes back and Young Thug ends the song with some random lyrics, “I been kickin’ sh- (woah-woah). Might need a prosthetic (yeah). I pray to the ch- under my pillow, tooth fairy (woo).” While this song may seem awfully repetitive, it has a really catchy beat and the rappers’ flows blend nicely with the melody making for an enjoyable song to listen to. 

The song “Knife Talk” opens off with Project Pat rapping a quite honestly horrible intro; before 21 Savage comes in, Project Pat raps, “Flipper, so much bread, I’m a gymnast, made so much money off of dummies, off of dummies (yeah, gang).” Then, 21 Savage comes in with the heat, which is what makes the song awesome coming off of that intro, “I’m mister body catcher, Slaughter Gang soul snatcher Ain’t no regular F-150, this a ******’ Raptor.”

This song has a gang beat, but also has light piano music in the background, which makes for a unique melody that is awesome. Drake isn’t a rapper that raps about gang culture a lot, but 21 Savage is. I believe Drake had 21 Savage on this song so he had a song in the album that had the “gang flow.”  Drake comes into the song, and my favorite lines of his are, “Type of ***** that can’t look me in the eyes I despise. When I see you, better put that ******’ pride to the side.”  21 Savage comes in briefly, then Drake does again, and then the song ends with 21 Savage reciting, “Gang ****, that’s all I’m on.”  But then the last nineteen seconds of the song ends with soft piano music. This song is extremely unique and was a hit as it is currently sitting at number 33 for the Billboard top 100. While gang affiliation has been tied to the rap industry since its birth, it has become increasingly popular over the past decade as it is symbolic of the hardships rappers have faced while living in the hood or while in a gang and how they escaped that lifestyle through rapping about gang culture. 

Lastly, the song “Fair Trade,” featuring Travis Scott, is my favorite song from the album. This song’s message is that Drake is trading fake friends for clarity, and how to him it seems like a fair trade. Drake opens off the song with, “Feelin’ young but they treat me like the OG. And they want the tea on me, I swear these ******* nosy. Said he put some money on my head, I guess we gon’ see.” Drake continues to rap for another two minutes with a chill, mellow flow; then the beat completely changes and Travis Scott comes in, “Worried sick, I’m sick of worryin’ (sick, sick). It’s just a worryin’, I’d rather bury them I’m talkin’ fake friends and skeletons.” Drake comes in around a minute later and recites the chorus of the song, “I’m outside, 29, G5, (ah-ah-ah), seaside I been losing friends and finding peace. But honestly that sounds like a fair trade to me. If I ever heard one then I’m still here Outside, front line, Southside. I been losing friends and finding peace. Honestly, that sounds like a fair trade to me.”  This song has a great beat to it, and Drake’s flow is so smooth making it fun to listen to. 

This album was very fun to listen to and has more songs I love; “No Friends in the Industry” and “In the Bible,” featuring Lil Durk and Giveon, were awesome, too, along with several other songs. I think the album had songs that appeal to all audiences and the album provides songs with different beats and different flows making it versatile.

Aside from Project Pat, Drake’s features were also on point, not only promoting each song in the album but also boosting other rapper’s industry clout. Drake continues to release quality music, and I am looking forward to the next album.