PREFACE: On Saturday, Drake released his latest project, More Life, on OVO Radio (Apple Music). The album contains 22 songs, with features from 11 different artists. This project was met with many positive reviews regarding the well produced beats and masterful lyricism, but Drake has also been under fire for ripping off the flow off fellow rapper Xxxtentacion.

Jake: Personally, I feel like the project represents a great blend of sounds. The sentimental, sad anthems that Drake was known for on Take Care are joined alongside his quotable hype songs and the passionate island beats he found success for on songs like Too Good and One Dance. The obvious marquee track is Portland, featuring Travis Scott and Migos group member Quavo. Both rappers have found recent success with recent projects, and Drake and Travis Scott are one of the superior duos in the game today.

Personally, I feel like the album has something for both the fans of Drake’s rapping and his more pop-oriented flows. However, I feel like the imitation of Xxxtentacion cannot be ignored. Drake’s song KMT clearly copies off the song Look at me! released earlier this year by up-and-comer Xxx. Both songs have nearly identical flow and this doesn’t help previous accusations of Drake being a “copycat”. Another criticism is the absence of Young Money rapper Lil’ Wayne on two consecutive albums. Drake and Weezy are a famous combo, and any album seems incomplete without hearing Wayne as a feature.

Rees: This album creates a new era for Drake. After producing songs like One Dance and Hotline Bling, both tributes to a “softer” version of Drake, long time rap fans have been leaving his fan base. More Life, his latest album, brings back the old Drake we saw on Take Care, If You’re Reading this it’s Too Late, and his earlier Young Money days. The bars seem more grounded and the flow holds a tougher stance on Drake’s perception of modern problems.

At the same time, I feel More Life has gone overboard. 22 songs is huge, and with almost 90 minutes of music it leaves me wondering if he would have been better off spending twice as much time on half as many songs. To add to the disarray, the number of features takes away from Drake’s long awaited album and makes it a broader scale project rather than an individual album. Especially with artists like J. Cole and Future producing #1 albums with little to no features as of recent, it feels as though Drake’s contribution is diluted.

CONSENSUS: While More Life isn’t the BEST thing we’ve heard this year, it is a great album that is worth a listen.