Artist: Drake
Album: Dark Lane Demo Tapes
Fav Tracks: “Deep Pockets”, “Tootsie Slide”, “Time Flies”, “D4L”, “Pain 1993”.
Least Fav Tracks: “Landed”, “War”
Grade: 3.5/5
With the promise of his next album dropping Summer 2020, mixtape Drake is back to hold fans over.
“Dark Lane Demo Tapes” shows all of the sides of Drake. You get the introspective side for the first three tracks,but mainly on the intro track “Deep Pockets” where Drake spits about his life and the state of the rap game. He’s also got his Future collab cuts on here as well with prob my fav track on the album “D4L” featuring Future and Young Thug over an asain inspired Southside banger.
When Drake flipping the “Song Cry” beat on “When To Say When” and using the Eminem “Superman” hook on “Chicago Freestyle” came off as very corny to me and just made me want to listen to the original songs. The songs aren’t bad they just come off as lazy rather than cool so I usually skip those.
At first I hated “Toosie Slide” but the Tik Tok cash grab song has grown on me, but I am still going to call it “Tootsie Slide”.
This project is decent for a “demo tape” mixtape but some of the songs like “Landed” and “War” seem like throwaway tracks, especially “War” which sounds like I should be on Drake’s NY Drill album when it drops.
On this mixtape you also get the “ride the wave” Drake where he makes his best attempts at jumping on the hottest trend in the rap game. Sometimes this formula works for Drake like on the X inspired “KMT” from “More Life”. But it can also go horribly wrong like some of those trash Dance Hall cuts from “Views”. On this tape Drake borrows the Playboi Carti sound on the Pierre Bourne produced “Pain 1993” which is done pretty well but to me it just sounds like Drake wanted this for his project instead of Carti’s. Drake also takes a crack at the new “NY Drill” sound that gained popularity after the death of Pop Smoke earlier this year. “Demons” featuring Fivio Foreign and Sosa Geek nails the esthetic of the sound with a menacing drill beat provided by JB Made It. The final track “War” is also in a similar style but just feels like a throwaway. Not sure if this sub genre will last with the death of Pop Smoke but I know for sure Drake ain’t the future of it.
Despite half this mixtape being kind of wack the three tracks I really do vibe with off of it will definitely be on my playlist all Summer 2020!