Let’s face it, if you’ve recently heard music on the radio, in a restaurant, in a store, or even on television, there is a high possibility that you’ve heard Drake. Drake was already one of the most popular artists in the hip-hop industry, but recent events, including his contract with Apple and absolute verbal decimation of Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill, have given Drake a popular music hierarchy that only few artists have ever obtained.
With this recent boom in Drake’s popularity, it’s only right that a perfectly timed album is released under his name as well as fellow rapper Future’s.
Future is also currently popular in hip-hop, but it was just pure luck that the collaborative album “What a Time to be Alive” was released after Drakes huge increase to god-like fame.
Fittingly, the album cover reminisces that of Kanye West and Jay-Z’s “Watch the Throne,” as those two artists were at the top of the hip-hop industry at the time of that album’s release.
So, with all of the hype, how does the album fare? Not great.
The fact that this is marketed as an album is honestly just a cash grab. None of the songs have any direct relation to each other, there’s not really an overall theme, and there’s not much deeper meaning to be found.
“What a Time to be Alive” should be a mixtape.
Mixtapes are made available to everybody, usually because an artist isn’t signed with a record label, or the music isn’t fit for an album.
Truthfully, all of the songs on this album work as “fun” songs, with sporadic personal insight to each of their lives and Drake’s self-referential punch lines throughout. However, none of these songs complement each other; therefore, this is not of high enough collective quality to be sold as an album.
However, the songs stand well by themselves as popular singles.
The obvious radio-hit of this album is entitled “Jumpman”. This song’s catchy nature that simultaneously relates to a sports phenomenon is perfect for a radio hit, and it has proven to be just that. “Jumpman” currently hovers near the top of most hip-hop charts right now. However, this song is really quite repetitive and although catchy and fun, really has no meaning and doesn’t showcase the full abilities of either rapper.
Another song of note is called “Big Rings”.
This song epitomizes the main issue with this “album.” This song has nothing to do with any of the other songs, has no real deep meaning, and is really just a song that flaunts the wealth and success of Future and Drake. While it is a fun and catchy song with some decent raps and good punchlines, it seems too much like a single.
One of if not the best song on this album is entitled “Live from the Gutter”. This song shows flashes of what could’ve made this worthy of an “album” title. Drake does not perform at his strongest in this song, but Future delivers some surprisingly deep insight into his own life, and shows that his rapping ability is beyond bragging about drugs, sex and money. Future finally reaches his potential that he tapped in his last album, “DS2.”
Although quality songs are on this album, Future’s rumbling rap influence doesn’t really complement Drake’s unique style. That paired with the fact that most of the songs would really work better on their own, ultimately renders this album as sort of a rip-off.
There are definitely songs on here worth listening to, however I cannot recommend that you buy this as a physical album, or on Itunes, as the songs can be easily found elsewhere.