Drake "Dark Lane Demo Tapes" | Day1

Drake’s 6th project, Dark Lane Demo Tapes (DLDT), gives fans a quick glimpse into the complex lifestyle of the 6God. The project features a few of Drake’s friends (Future, Jeffrey, Chris Brown), a song about Drake’s private jet, and two upcoming rappers from Brooklyn’s drill scene (Fivio Foreign and Sosa Geek). The structure, sound, and approach of this mixtape are reminiscent of Drake’s 4th studio album, More Life. More Life was also presented as a playlist rather than a fully thought out project, while DLDT is being considered a demo. Drake’s albums are always flooded with hits and with his new rugged drill persona, I'm excited to hear Drake's upcoming release this summer. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Drake and Future decide to drop What A Time To Be Alive 2 before the end of this month or early this summer.

I like this mixtape. It’s not a game-changer and it probably won’t go down as one of Drake’s best, but it’s just what we need to get us through quarantine. DLDT has a great balance between Hip-Hop and R&B. On the Hip-Hop side, he pays homage to Jay-Z’s “Song Cry” with “When To Say When”. Although it isn’t a great “rap” song he makes up for that with other tracks like “Landed” and “From Florida With Love”. He also flexes his Drill persona on “War” and “Demons (feat. Fivio Foreign & Sosa Geek)”. This is a good look for drill rappers Fivio Foreign & Sosa Geek, especially since many of the upcoming rappers Drake works with go on to have long careers (Lil Baby, A$AP Rocky, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, and more). We won't mention Carti's flop on "Pain 1993".

The first R&B song we hear on the project is a collaboration between frenemies Drake and Chris Brown, who add “Not You Too” to their catalog. The other R&B songs, “Desires (with Future)” and “Time Flies”, are 808 heavy and trappy and almost sound like regular rap songs. These tracks have Drake displaying his signature singer-rapper flows with ominous synths floating in the background. This is a good change from Scorpion which had songs like "Summer Games" and "Peak" that were a bit poppy and dragged out.

Although the tape did have a few surprises half of the songs were already leaked or released: “Desires”, “Toosie Slide”, “When To Say When”, “Chicago Freestyle”, “War”, “Pain 1993”, and “From Florida With Love”. My theory personally is that Drake was trying to build buzz around his album through leaks, similar to Lil Uzi Vert or Playboi Carti. On the other hand, leaks always come out so I’m never surprised and it doesn’t compare to having that CDQ version. And to be honest who's waiting for Drake leaks?

Overall, I think Drake’s latest project is good. Since Eternal Atake’s release, it seems like a lot of good music has been going under the radar or labels have been holding back great albums. For the time being, Drake’s 6th project, Dark Lane Demo Tapes, fills that void.