Illuminati Roundtable: If You’re Reading This Its Overrated

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I’ve seen this scenario before. Right after Scandal went off, I checked the internet one more time before I went to bed. And behold a surprise album is released. No, not from Beyoncé. Drake. See when this happened on December 13, 2013, we all were shocked and extremely happy for our surprise Beyoncé album. But on February 13, 2015, not really shocked but happy. See a surprise album should be just that, a surprise. Drake and his team had been hinting at a mixtape dropping that Thursday, to commemorate the 6^th anniversary of So Far Gone. Not an album. And at first it was released as a mixtape but later was placed on iTunes as an album.

It has been revealed that If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late was supposed to be a Gangsta Grillz mixtape. However, with all of the drama with Cash Money/Young Money, Drake decided to release it as an album to fulfill his contract with YMCMB. Listen, I know Drake is trying to hop off that sinking ship known as Cash Money but IYRTITL should’ve stayed a mixtape. Its 17 tracks of the same song. It’s hard to tell when each song ends. Granted the production on this album/mixtape is superior to anything released in the past year, but that’s it. Drake and this Migos/Rae Sremmurd flow with a Meek Mill back-story is blah. What made us love Drake was he stayed true to his cornball self. Yes he came off super emo sometimes but we accepted that. He would drop some dope ode to strippers he fell in love with songs one minute and gritty hustling out someone’s basement songs, the next. And we loved it. But on this album/mixtape he tries to play some tough guy that after three emo albums and countless TMZ run-ins, we know he is not. This sounds like what if Steve Urkel dropped an album about flipping birds in the kitchen. And with Drake’s talent he probably could’ve played it off but then he dumbs down his content so that none of these songs could be taken seriously.

I adore Drake’s music. I might make fun of his Urkel approach to women, but that’s what makes his music standout. If You’re Reading This Its Too Late isn’t Drake. It’s Aubrey Mill. Drizzy Migo. Aubrey Sremmurd. I’m all for growth, if you’re constantly improving. There was no growth just teetering. Honestly, I believe Drake just did this album to fulfill his contract with Cash Money. So I’m not going to count this album towards Drake’s catalog, just like I don’t count Yeezus, Kingdom Come, or Life Is Good. So I’ll just patiently wait for Views From The 6 which should be released on Drake’s OVO label. But until that is release, I shall continue to write a Rosetta Stone to speak Young Thug. – Pooh Bailey