5 Takeaways From Drake’s New Album, ‘Iceman’

Drake returns with his long-awaited ninth album, Iceman – as well as his tenth and eleventh albums, Habibti and Maid of Honour – and the angst-ridden superstar has no shortage of things to get off of his chest. Two years ago, his feud with Kendrick Lamar captured hip-hop’s attention and became a cultural conversation that hasn’t ended, and into that climate, Drizzy Drake has delivered up this trifecta of long players that address his feelings in the aftermath of that high-stakes rap beef. 

In all, Drake dropped a whopping 43 new tracks. For now, we’re going to stick with Iceman, as that’s the project that fans have been anticipating, and it’s the project Drake has been teasing for what feels like forever. Here are our five takeaways from Drake’s Iceman album. 

1. Drake is definitely in his vulnerable, introverted bag—sharing his deepest feelings and thoughts. 

“I'm in the cut just loadin' rebuttals/ And I got a bunch of hits on my hand, see the swollen knuckles? I try to tell him it's working out for me now, he say, 'Then show your muscles / Prove to me that you're still as strong when it's only us two / They know you thorough with bread, but there's some shit you gotta pony up to" - “Make Them Cry”

On the opening and closing tracks “Make Them Cry” and “Make Them Know” - the listener feels like they’re a fly on the wall in a Drizzy therapy session. The battle loss clearly left him scarred but also shifted his perspective on the tight industry relationships and friends he thought he had. He took the “L”, he learned his lessons, but he’ll never forget. 

On the opening and closing tracks “Make Them Cry” and “Make Them Know” - the listener feels like they’re a fly on the wall in a Drizzy therapy session. The battle loss clearly left him scarred but also shifted his perspective on the tight industry relationships and friends he thought he had. He took the “L”, he learned his lessons, but he’ll never forget. 

It’s the wounded side that sits uncomfortably next to his confrontational side, but you start to realize fairly quickly as you listen that he took this entire debacle personally and he’s not going to be letting any folks back into his platinum-coated circle any time soon. 

2.  He’s got SMOKE GALORE for certain enemies.

“I love you 'cause of the history, but if we bein' real, I could never forgive you / And you never called me back, but destiny's written, for real / Fuck a big three anyway, there was too many chefs in the kitchen / it was a mess to begin with, yeah / And now they got a new GOAT and we gotta test the position / Damn, who is this guy for real? I guess a magician / Hundred million streams vanished, no one got questions for n***as” - “Make Them Pay”    

On “Make Them Pay,” he throws shots at J. Cole, DJ Khaled, Rick Ross, Pusha T and Pharrell – and on “Make Them Remember” he has choice words for Lebron James. Maybe these disses aren’t harsh enough for his targets to retaliate - but you never know. The world was waiting to see how much he was going to unload after feuding with Kendrick for the better part of two years (after a years-long cold war) and now everyone knows: he’s gunning for everybody. More than anything, he sounds hurt and frustrated that so many former friends seemed to abandon him during his war of words with K. Dot. 

3. Drake doesn’t completely ignore the radio.

“Where is the boy? He's booked (Skrrt, skrrt) / Don't even recognize none of thеse names at the top of thе charts, I looked (Huh?) / Am I upset? A bit / Last one you dropped was shit / I did press play on that ho / Mid, mid, mid, skip, skip” - “Shabang”

Even though overall, the material is more personal, upbeat tracks like “2 Hard 4 The Radio” and “What Did I Miss” definitely have enough bounce and energy for repeatable radio airplay. A sleeper standout is the smooth heater “Shabang”: Drake unleashes a slick question-and-answer type flow over a melodic track that feels perfect for leisurely nighttime city drives. He’s definitely at ease and in his element on this one. 

4. The features are underwhelming.

With the personal nature of most of the material on the album, the “no features” approach certainly works well for the project. The big names on Iceman are few and far between – Future, Molly Santana, 21 Savage. That may disappoint some fans, but the appearances are quite underwhelming and ultimately unnecessary. Future and Savage being here does at least serve as a reminder that his superstar connections are still intact. Even if he does recruit them for a pointed response to one of Kendrick’s most scathing indictments against him: that he “runs to Atlanta” whenever he needs to polish his cultural standing. 

5. Home is where he draws his superpowers.

“Out in the 6, I'm a national treasure / The n***as that back me gon' back me forever / R.I.P. Kobe, but y'all n***as brokie / That's probably why y'all be shackin' together…” - “National Treasure”

A lot of Iceman is an ode to Toronto: tracks like “National Treasures” and “Plot Twist” show that he doesn’t play around at all with biggin’ up his hometown. It seems like when the industry shunned him during the Kendrick battle, his city held him down and he’s fully expressing his gratitude. 

Overall, Drake fans will be fed on this one: lyrical content, engaging subject matter, elite production, rapper disses – it’s all here. It’s proof positive that Drake is still a force to be reckoned with, but we’ll have to see how the subject matter reverberates across the hip-hop landscape in the days and weeks to come. 

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