abhishek agrawal

FS Album Review: Our honest opinion on Drake's 'Certified Lover Boy'.

FS Album Review: Our honest opinion on Drake's 'Certified Lover Boy'.

After delaying the album for 6 months, Drake finally dropped his sixth studio record ‘Certified lover boy’ on September 3. The most striking part of its launch is the fact that Drizzy came through with his album 5 days after Donda was released. If you are a Drake or Ye fan, chances are you know about their decade-long feud and their recent brawl on social media. (If not, check out our blog on Drake Kanye beef). Needless to say, both the projects were highly anticipated by fans. Many opine that the project is filled with toxic masculinity and lacks creative insight. Fans are disappointed with the sameness of each track. This brings us to the question, is CLB worth listening to? What are the flaws of the album? Does it surpass Donda? And what’s the best thing about the record. Here’s a brief breakdown of Drake’s ‘Certified lover boy’.
In October 2020, Drake teased the launch of Certified lover boy which was set to drop the following January. Nevertheless, the album was delayed due to Drake’s surgery and rehab. To generate further anticipation, Scary hours 2 was released on 5th March 2021. The 3 track EP featured Lil baby and Rick Ross. All three songs debuted at Billboard hot 100 and fans were expecting more from CLB.

The 90-minute record features a heavy dose of artists such as Jay-Z, 21 Savage, Travis Scott, Kid Cudi, and many more. Drake is one of the most dominant artists in the industry with a unique style and the ability to produce high-end R&B records. However, unlike his previous records, most of the tracks on CLB turned out to be the biggest skips. Songs like ‘Girls Want Girls ft Lil Baby, ‘TSU’, ‘Way 2 Sexy ft Future and Thugger’ consist of cringy, meaningless lyrics. It is safe to say that CLB had unnecessary features with weak verses. In fact, many tracks on the album display Drake’s toxic “love” cycles, which are starting to get boring and repetitive. 

Some of the decent tracks on the album are ‘Champagne Poetry’, ‘7 am on bridle path’ which projects great poetry, lyrics, and soothing beats. On the other hand, there are tracks like, ‘Knife talk ft 21 Savage & Project Pat’, and ‘Fair Trade ft Travis Scott’, and ‘No friends in the industry’ which feature heavy bars over a charged-up beat. The flow switch on the song ‘Knife talk’ and Travis’s raging spirit at the end of his verse on ‘Fair Trade’ is the highlight of this album.

Drake also took shots at Kanye on the track ‘ 7 am on bridle path’. The name of the track is based on Toronto’s neighborhood where drake resides. Even though he did not mention Kanye’s name, the diss was pretty lethal. Here’s what Drake mentioned in the song. 

While the whole world and different media platforms fight over which album is better, What are your thoughts on CLB? Do you think it’s a tough competitor against Donda? Let us know!

Back to FreeMAG