Album review: Certified Lover Boy, by Drake
Drake, Certified Lover Boy.
The last time Drake performed in Ireland, he was accompanied by a giant inflatable Lamborghini which coasted leisurely over his head and out into the audience. Those sorts of bells and whistles will not be to everyone’s taste. But the rhymer’s agreeable if not quite earth-shattering, new album might have benefitted from a little of that extravagance.
It is a perfectly solid LP – but one crying out for the occasionally figurative yellow Lamborghini flying by.
As per Drake’s modus, his first long-player since 2018 is long and in places indulgent. And it is packed with guest spots. Nicki Minaj delivers a spoken word demand for child support on Papi’s Home (this presumably a veiled reference to Drake’s beef with Pusha T flowing from Pusha’s criticisms of Drake’s record as a father).
There’s also a Jay-Z feature on Love Is All, where 'Hova' takes over with a slamming verse: “This ain’t the same Shawn that you knew once.. all that back forth on the internet.”
Drake cuts a low-key if charismatic presence throughout. But he does occasionally rouse himself, such as at the rumbling You Only Live Twice, where he shares the mic with Rick Ross and Lil Wayne. The song is all about Drake bragging about his work ethic.
“Still running’ the game, don’t ask me about the practice,” he says. “You go on vacation, don’t ask me about relaxin’.”
It’s a two-fisted punch of a track and one of the livelier moments on an album that, if always engaging and occasionally fascinating, is never exactly mind-blowing.
