Track lineup, or slideshow from January?
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[4.33]
Al Shipley: I forgot to upload my blurb for French Montana’s “Pop That,” so it’s convenient that I can use it here without changing a single word: This post-Dipset dullard’s been kicking around major label purgatory for about a year since everyone remembered that Hot 97 burn doesn’t automatically translate to national airplay anymore. So here comes the hail mary, with a Drake-led trio of bigger stars ready to drag the poor guy up the charts by any means necessary. The ostensible lead artist on the track has the first full verse, but they give the game away with the barrage of more famous voices crowding the opening 30 seconds.
[5]
Alfred Soto: This is how mixtape hype dies: when the name above the title gets less airtime than the stars.
[2]
Patrick St. Michel: A$AP, when he’s not recycling lines from his mixtape from last year, isn’t saying anything clever, and unlike on his previous releases, his weaker lines can’t be saved by excellent production. Current spotlight-dweller Kendrick Lamar doesn’t fare much better, his come-ons sounding weak against the beat (the “holla’ back/I’ll do ya” is especially goofy.) But Drake drops the self-loathing and just flows, and sounds great rapping about one of his areas of expertise (skeevin’). Best of all, 2 Chainz is here to act as human chorus and nothing else.
[5]
Katherine St Asaph: I admit it: I laughed out loud when Drake cut himself off right as he’d started to drone robotically and kinda emote. You win, Fucking Drake. You keep doing whatever’s given you and 40 a pulse. As for the rest of this JV team, 2 Chainz is typecast, A$AP is… present, and Kendrick is now taking a victory lap. They’ve all achieved the trifle they set out to make.
[6]
Brad Shoup: I hear they’re going all-in on a line of straw-man sex dolls.
[2]
Jonathan Bogart: Kendrick in cleanup position seems entirely appropriate, given the year he’s had. A$AP continues to remain One To Watch but never gives much hint of delivering on that potential, and Drake, surprisingly enough, delivers a verse with more wit and punch than he ever does on his endless Ross/Wayne re-ups. 2 Chainz, as befits a rapper whose delivery trumps his ideas, belongs on the hook. So why, with all these things going for it, isn’t it better?
[6]