Surpriseeee, Drake has just released a new mixtape ‘Dark Lane Demo Tapes’ when we least expected it.
He keeps doing this and I am honestly never prepared. The last surprise was ‘Care Package’ last year, which was a tape made up of some of his most loved unreleased tracks such as ‘How Bout Now’, ‘Trust Issues’, ‘Girls Love Beyonce’ and many more. Honestly Drake never fails.
The features on ‘Dark Lane Demo Tapes’ are great with the likes of Chris Brown, Young Thug, Playboi Carti, Future and many more. Future and Drake are a collaboration that never fails similar to Drake and Rick Ross, these collaborations just seems to compliment each other so well.
The Tracklist:
1. Deep Pockets
2. When To Say When
3. Chicago Freestyle ft. Giveon
4. Not You Too ft. Chris Brown
5. Toosie Slide
6. Desires ft. Future
6. Time Flies
7. Landed
8. D4L Freestyle ft. Future & Young Thug
9. Pain 1993 ft. Playboi Carti
10. Losses
11. From Florida With Love
12. Demons ft. Fivio Foreign and Sosa Geek
13. War
I was super excited to listen to ‘Demons’ featuring Fivio Foreign and Sosa Geek as we already got a preview of this on his Instagram live and it is a drill beat produced by JB Made It, one of our very own. Drill Drake is who I’ve been waiting for as we all know he is versatile and after his Link Up TV freestyle I looked forward to hearing him experiment. I can tell you he absolutely smashed it but Fivio Foreign definitely added to the track making it what is it. The fusion of UK drill beats with US rappers adding their twist on it is a sound I am getting used to and can’t wait to see expand. I had a little bit of a bitter sweet moment listening to this simply as we never got to see a Pop Smoke collab which I know would have had both the US and UK shaking.
To my surprise ‘War’ is also on a drill beat but this time Drake is by himself proving he can run things alone. Definitely an improvement from his Link Up freestyle.
The Tik Tok takeover ‘Toosie Slide’ shot to number one and I’ve been playing ‘Desires’ none stop so these tracks I thought I would skip but I mean it’s Drake how can you ever?
I felt like Chris Brown could have done more on ‘Not You Too’ it was more of him coming in to give a little harmony. It’s no ‘No Guidance’ but still enjoyable and I’m so happy that they have squashed their differences and can come together.
I loved ‘Time Flies’, ‘D4L Freestyle’, and ‘From Florida With Love’ due to the lyrics we all love a loved up Drake, and the features I mean Future & Young Thug vocals are always on point and they tag between each other so smoothly, I can’t wait to go crazy to ‘D4L Freestyle’ in a club once Quarantine is over.
As I continued on throughout the project I felt like some songs sounded similar to others Drake has previously released but also I am not yet tired of his sound and in fact with every release I look more forward to what Drake has in store. What lyrics, punchlines and stories he’s going to tell? Whether I’m going to be in my feelings, reminiscing on a summer or dancing around my room?
To summarise my favourite tracks were;
Time Flies
D4L Freestyle ft Future & Young Thug
From Florida With Love
Demons
War
I feel like Drake has mastered his sound and understands what we want as his fans/listeners. He goes from singing, to his iconic flow and to chart topping Drake all within ‘Dark Lane Demo Tapes’. It’s a pandemic so we’re all listening to every detail and overall I feel like the project is solid. I look forward, as always, to what he has in store next. I’m hearing another album in Summer 2020….. we shall see.