What A Time To Be Alive is such a pointless listen. Really. This collaborative mixtape between both Drake and Future spawned in the wake of two very well-received solo projects from both artists earlier in the year, and is a short, 11 track attempt at making something that combines If You're Reading This It's Too Late and DS2.
What resulted isn't much of anything at all. I went into this not sure what to expect, because I'd never listened to Future before, and came out of it neutral. It was only the first listen - I'm sure I could go back and uncover some good bits. I've never been more wrong. Granted, WATTBA has a few merits (namely '30 For 30 Freestyle') but the only thing that truly shines on this project is the album cover. Future is the majority of what you'll hear. The beats are loud, vibrant party tunes. There's no escaping that with Future involved. The hooks, which on some tracks are the only contribution Drake offers, are mind-numbingly repetitive and pointless. Listen to the multi-millionaire speak; "I got a really big team, we need some really nice things" for real, Drake? I'm not sure what you constitute as 'nice things' in that case. They're also contradictive, for at the end of 30 For 30 you'll actually hear Drake say "keep the money a secret, we keep it to ourselves", which comes only 3 tracks after 'Change Locations' with Drake's once again pointless chorus "Me and my friends, me and my friends we got money to spend." repeat x999. If Drake had more verses, and the hooks weren't as boring as they are, WATTBA might have been better. All the verses that he does have sound identical to stuff he delivered on IYRTITL, which I guess isn't too bad because IYRTITL was good, but it does seem a bit lazy; I guess you can expect that when this entire damn thing was recorded over the space of six days. I can't compare Future's vocals to DS2 myself, as again, I haven't listened to it, but the single-minded collective hive of the internet seems to feel they're listening to DS2 off-cuts. Drake and Future don't really give each other enough room on the tracks to bring out the best in themselves. Future hogged the microphone as much as Eminem did on 'My Band' and Drake hardly tried. Except for 30 For 30, which is the only track I feel is worth listening to again. The Needledrop bills it as a 'mental update' from Drake about his life, and some feel he's talking to Meek Mill again, which is plausible. (Mostly) good rhymes laid down over a soft piano beat reminiscent of Nothing Was The Same 's softer moments make it a memorable track, but that's about it. I found it funny when I read that the artwork was a stock photo, just like DS2. It was also ironic how the album cover of DS2 ended up on the front of a chemistry book. Maybe he and Drake should read it. 4.0/10 |
201820162015Scores0-30 = Bad
31-49 = Sub-par 50-60 = Average 61-70 = Decent 71-80 = Good 81-89 = Great 90-99 = Incredible 100 = Perfect Archives
September 2018
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