The boy is back like he never left.
Hi, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, Internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a track review.
We have a new song, new single, hot off of the Canadian presses this past fourth of July Weekend. A new one from Drizzy/Drake. He has been gearing up lately for a new album cycle, this forthcoming Iceman record that there's been a lot of talk about, a lot of anticipation for.
And while I am curious about what's on the album, and for the most part, I am looking forward to potentially hearing Drake reset things on this new album. I'm not really personally buying into the active amnesia everybody is putting themselves in prior to this record's release. The Drake Stans are freaking out over the anticipation for this album as if this man has just been missing from the planet Earth for the past year and a half.
And while I understand it may feel that way in some capacity, given that Drake really did take it to the chin in the midst of the beef he had with Kendrick Lamar, wow, last year at this point. In fact, Kendrick dropped the video for "Not Like Us" on July fourth, on 2024, which is when Drake dropped this track. I mean, July fifth? Either way, it seems like Drake is celebrating the anniversary.
Okay, look, the point I'm ultimately trying to make is that in the wake of this beef, Drake has been very active, much more active than maybe you think an artist would be after taking such an L. His stream numbers have continued to be impressive. He has very much been out here repeatedly, trying to devise ways to get people to just shift their focus off of the Kendrick feud.
The Party Next Door record was really an effective way for him to dip his toes back into putting out albums once again. He got some hits off that record, like "Nokia", most notably. That song has been doing really well. I like that song myself. Best track on the album by far.
And now, Drake is hitting us with this new song titled "What Did I Miss?" I don't know, man. Nothing. You haven't been gone. You've been here the entire time. You've been quite active. I don't know. Maybe that's the point of the track. Maybe it's an ironic question. Maybe it's rhetorical. I guess we're going to find out. Let's give this new single a listen and see what Drake is missing.
Okay, a lot to go over there, I suppose. Let's just say off the bat, the die is cast, and we now have what is probably much going to be the vibes and emotions angle of this Iceman era for Drake.
Of course, going right into the content of this track, Drake, for the most part, is just addressing feeling burned and upset, just over connections and residuals from the Kendrick beef. Can't really say I'm surprised to hear this, given that for years after Drake's entanglement with Pusha T he was even throwing shots and subs about that for record after record.
So I mean, honestly, we're going to be hearing about this beef and Drake having experienced it for years to come. Even after it's long dead, irrelevant, nobody's thinking about it anymore, nobody's talking about it anymore. Drake's going to be the one guy still talking about it.
Though I mean, with it being still fresh and this being his first solo outing since then, I do get that he's doing it here, but on the lead single, and especially on a track that doesn't even really have a significant or interesting hook to speak of.
I'm sorry. People talk up Drake as this genius of pop rap and R&B fusions and so on and so forth. And look, I mean, I definitely get why that is when we're talking about the classics, the hits, the great, amazing songs he's dropped over the years, especially early on in his career.
But again, we had another massive one with "Nokia", too, no denying that. I'm just so tired of tracks like this that he seemingly drops more often than not, where he doesn't really have much of a refrain or a chorus to speak of other than, "Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go." Go where? We're not going anywhere. This track's going nowhere.
But I mean, the hook isn't really the reason to talk about this track. I will say this, the flows outside of those silly little "let's go" repetitions are pretty solid. I like the trap beat on this track. Those big, massive, epic, gargantuan synth cords really give a grandiosity.
Drake's delivery is as confident as ever, and he's just basically feeling very upset over the fact that post this beef, post this feud, he had people in his life who essentially he loved, he cared about, were close to him, but were willing in his mind to cross lines and still be friends with Kendrick or associate with him, leaving Drake feeling just hurt and upset like, "Oh, man, how could these guys do this to me? Oh, no."
And look, I can already hear the Drake hive basically through osmosis, soaking this narrative into their minds as 110% truth and just accepting this as their reality now. When it wasn't that long ago, prior to this beef, that Drake was once again on his no friend shit. "I'm not close to anybody. I'm lonely. I'm isolated in the world. Nobody really knows me like that. I'm an island."
How many times have we heard Drake utter narratives such as this, only for him to turn around and say, "Actually, now, I had lots of friends, and I'm upset that they're associating with the guy who destroyed my good name." I mean, from my perspective, having heard Drake drop a lot of tracks just like that, you would think he'd be spitting something along the lines of, "Well, I didn't like any of those guys anyway. So the fact that they're teamed up with this dude who is my arch-rival is whatever, I guess."
And it's just annoying to continue to hear Drake push this idea that he's God's gift to rap and the world, and he just feels owed something for existing, saying like, "Oh, man, what about all the stuff that I did for these guys? They should all be nice to me and like me, no matter how unlikable I become and how much I may beef with any of them."
It's just so annoying continuing to hear this man go on and on and on like, "Oh, you should love me and adore me and do whatever I want and just keep all the praise on me at all times. I'm Drake, the Jesus Christ of rap, and I did all these amazing things for all of you out of the goodness of my heart. It had nothing to do with my own success and my own fame and my own visibility in the music industry and the rap industry. Every feature and endorsement or collaboration, or crossover I ever did at any point was me doing a favor to you," which is just such a gross, annoying, elitist way to look at making music.
I'm just tired of living in this fantasy world where if Drake even breathes in the direction of another artist, he's doing them a favor. But yeah, I don't know. If you don't listen to this track, what will you miss? Not much. And I think I'm going to leave it there.
Let me know what you think of this track down in the comments. I'm sure you will.
Anthony Fantano, Drake, Iceman, forever.
What do you think?
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