Amplified Observation: 'More Life' shines in collaboration but mostly offers more of the same

Four songs into Drake’s new music project More Life he follows tradition in boasting about his musical supremacy, observing “Worried ’bout takin’ my lane/They ain’t even got on my road.”

The couplet effectively encapsulates the majority of More Life: a recycled cliché that’s growing more and more difficult to believe with each iteration.

The assertion on “Jorja Interlude” immediately follows “Passionfruit,” the third song on the “playlist” that unabashedly seeks to replicate the success of Views’ quadruple-platinum hit “One Dance.” But unlike “One Dance,” “Passionfruit” offers forgettable lyrics over a repetitive Soundcloud-quality tropical beat.

And along with Caribbean music on this release, Drake retains his affinity appropriating Jamaican patois through a motíf of the line “More chune for your head tops, so watch how you speak on my name, you know,” originally said by him at an American Music Award acceptance speech. He is quick to remind us of his calculated moves at the top.

To some degree, Drake delivers on this promise with a few exceptional new songs, but they are packaged around songs with throwaway beats and lyrics that cover no new territory. Drake takes the tone of someone struggling through the problems of fame and relationships and expects us to feel bad for the perils and cheer for his well-deserved success. But it’s difficult to feel empathy toward such a self-absorbed narrative that continues to thread throughout his releases.

He wants people to treat him as the favorite and the underdog at the same time, which creates a duality that is more confusing than appealing.

During his two features on More Life, English rapper Giggs upstages Drake by embodying the powerful and aggressive tone that Drake strived for ever since If You’re Reading This. In fact, most of the memorable moments on the playlist come as a relief from Drake’s long introspective diatribes of rapping and singing. Young Thug is also featured twice, once on the superb group track “Sacrifices” with 2 Chainz and again on the penultimate track “Ice Melts.”

Skepta delivers two solid verses on his self-titled interlude and Sampha brings his high-register smoothness to “4422,” which leads into the album’s best song “Gyalchester.” Drake delivers signature quotables on “Gyalchester” like “She wanna get married tonight/But I can’t take a knee cause I’m wearing all white.”

But the funniest moment on the playlist comes on the track “Portland” featuring Quavo and Travis Scott, where Drake opens his verse with “Yeah, my side girl got a 5S with the screen cracked/Still hit me back right away.” The imagery harkens back to the cleverness that elevated Drake to the top of the conversation and is far more tolerable than his more recent image posturing.

And, after some controversy, More Life finally includes a Drake and Kanye West collaboration titled “Glow.” The track marks the album’s happiest and lightest moment, with West cheerfully reminiscing about past successes and name-dropping some of his biggest songs. It seems almost as if West is emulating Drake’s reflective style only with a more positive outlook. The song is worth revisiting for both of their performances and gives some life to the playlist’s subdued and often moody production.

“Fake Love,” the playlist’s spiritual closer, shows that Drake still has a knack for creating R&B tunes perfect for a club or uptown bar atmosphere. Undoubtedly, Drake can assemble producers and features that serve the project at hand and build a solid, cohesive product.

But single “Fake Love” is also indicative of Drake refusal to push the limits of his style. While other artists featured on the playlist like Kanye West, Young Thug and Travis Scott continue to explore their music’s boundaries, Drake appears comfortable in the space he carved for himself over the last two years.

This serial repetition leads to questions like, will Drake ever release a project as groundbreaking as Take Care again, or will he stick the to public-approved formula of works Views and More Life?

As Drake’s playlist title promises, More Life simply delivers more of the same life. And based on what he has already spent four releases divulging, how much more to his life is there? 

Luke Furman is a junior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Do you like Drake's new release? Let Luke know by tweeting him @LukeFurmanLog or emailing him at lf491413@ohio.edu.