Aubrey Drake Graham, AKA “Drake,” was born on October 24, 1986, in Toronto, Canada. Drake first made a name for himself on the Canadian teen show, “Degrassi”. The show was based in Canada and is what paved the way for Drake’s fame. Drake would eventually go on to create his own label and become one of the biggest names in the music industry. Drake makes a variety of music, from hip-hop, to pop, to R&B and more. Drake released his first studio album, “Thank Me Later”, on June 15, 2010. Now, a little over 11 years after the release of his first studio album, Drake released his 6th studio album, “Certified Lover Boy”. The album is expected to sell over 600,000 units despite being a disappointment to many hip-hop fans due to its repetitiveness and similarity to his past albums. 

Overall the album was very mediocre compared to past albums of Drake’s, as it was nothing we have not heard before. The same beats and flows that we are all familiar with were used throughout the album and it was very underwhelming, especially coming from an artist as big as Drake is. Regardless, ‘Certified Lover Boy’ does have its strengths and weaknesses. Its main strength is easily the features on the album, as without them, the album would be nothing. The best features on the album are from Travis Scott, Kid Cudi, Future, 21 Savage, and Yebba. Travis Scott is featured on ‘Fair Trade,’ arguably the best song on the album. Kid Cudi is featured on ‘IMY,’ a fun song that is easy to vibe to. Future has two features, with ‘Way 2 Sexy’ that also features Young Thug, and ‘N 2 Deep,’ both being fun tracks. 21 Savage is featured on ‘Knife Talk’ that also features Project Pat. ‘Knife Talk’ is one of the most popular songs off of ‘Certified Lover Boy’ as 21 Savage sounds like his classic self, along with its fun and unique beat. Yebba has her own song, or interlude, on the album, titled, ‘Yebba’s Heartbreak.’ Drake does not have any part in the song, and it is a more emotional, slow-paced song. The features on the album are the biggest strength of the album.

Despite the album being underwhelming for many, the album is projected to sell over 600 thousand units, which almost is not a surprise as every project Drake puts out always sells well due to the name Drake has built for himself as well as the heavy promotion for the projects. ‘Certified Lover Boy’ is weak in the sense that it is very repetitive and has a very similar sound compared to past projects from Drake.

In addition, the album is just under an hour and a half in length, which is way too long for an album like this as songs are very repetitive and seem almost like filler. The opening track, Champagne Poetry, uses a great sample and beat yet does not sound as great due to Drake sounding very monotone and boring, it is 5 minutes and 37 seconds of a wasted sample, which will go to set the tone for a majority of the album. Songs from the album such as ‘Papi’s Home,’ ‘Love All,’ and ‘7 am On Bridle Path,’ are why the album was so underwhelming. The song ‘Papi’s Home’ sounds exactly like half the songs off of Drake’s 2018 album, ‘Scorpion.’ ‘Love All,’ which features one of the all-time greats in the rap industry, Jay Z, was nothing special. In addition, the song ‘7 am On Bridle Path,’ uses a beat that is very familiar as well, on top of being unnecessarily 4 minutes long.

‘Certified Lover Boy’ is full of forgettable songs that many people will not be revisiting. The album not only opened in a very underwhelming way, but it closed in a very boring way with the tracks, ‘F$%@&#g Fans’ and ‘The Remorse.’ ‘F$%@&#g Fan’ is a very boring song that has no appealing lyrics and is arguably the worst track on the album, it has a very similar sound to ‘Jaded,’ another song off of Drake’s 2018 album, ‘Scorpion.’ The last song on the album, ‘The Remorse,’ is another dragged-out song at 5 minutes and 51 seconds that does not close the album in a unique way at all.

Overall the album was dragged out and does nothing special for rap fans as it is nothing no one has heard before. Drake tried to have a “Lover Boy” persona leading up to this album which made fans think the album would be a different side of Drake however it was not. Very few songs on the album coincided with the “Lover Boy” theme. Finally, the cover of the album simplifies what you need to know about Drake’s ‘Certified Lover Boy,’ it is a bottom-tier Drake album. The cover is 16 pregnant women emojis over a white background which is easily Drake’s worst album cover, and made fans think that it was a joke before Drake actually released the album with the cover. While ‘Certified Lover Boy’ is expected to pass Kanye West’s 2021 album, ‘Donda,’ in first week sales, it has way less replay value and has little longevity compared to Donda. For a Drake album, this was certainly disappointing and will show over the coming weeks as its streams will continue to drop. Despite everything negative about the album, it will still manage to sell over 600,000 copies and has already become trending on several social media platforms such as TikTok. ‘Certified Lover Boy’ is not a horrible album, however, it is certainly far from Drake’s best work.