Album Review: On "Scorpion", Drake Wants You to Know He's the Same Old Drake (Even With a Baby)

Drake shows us he can slip into any style he wants, but it gets a bit tiring after 25 songs.

While it's only been a few weeks since Drake was pronounced (metaphorically) dead after his feud with Pusha-T took a sour turn, he's back with an album so long it needed to be split into two sides.

No, seriously: Scorpion runs for 25 songs and clocks in at about one hour and 29 minutes, to be precise, which is one of the only really remarkable things about it, despite a couple of big confessions that might double as damage control.

Basically, it's the same old Drake with a few new themes.

When beef emerged between G.O.O.D. Music's Pusha-T and Drake, all we expected were some tasty bars and fire emojis. What we got instead were some claims by Pusha-T that Drake was a hiding a lovechild and accusations that his hits had been ghostwritten, not to mention the reveal of a photoshoot Drake had done in blackface. 

Please stop referring to this picture as “artwork”...I’m not an internet baby, I don’t edit images...this is a REAL picture...these are his truths, see for yourself https://t.co/gd6vRS3HM8 pic.twitter.com/2el58HEZ8F

— King Push (@PUSHA_T) May 30, 2018

On Pusha-T's "Story of Adidon", he suggested Drake was "hiding a child," adding, "let that boy come home/ Deadbeat mothaf**** playin' border patrol."

It would have been easy for Drake to just admit he lost this one and not address it ever again.

Instead, to the surprise of many, Drake decided to take on some of these controversies with Scorpion. Though, I suppose, appearing to be relatively honest has always been his thing. Did he really have any other choice?

On "Emotionless", Drake admits he has fathered a child ("I wasn't hidin' my kid from the world, I was hidin' the world from my kid") but insists on soul-Kanye-influenced "8 Out of 10" that "the only deadbeats is whatever beats I been rappin' to."

It's at the end of the album, on "March 14", that Drake's most tragic conclusions are made. 

"I used to challenge my parents on every album/ Now I'm embarrassed to tell 'em I ended up as a co-parent," Drake raps as he details receiving the DNA test and realising he's the father of this (still unnamed) child.

It's not the only growth you can hear on Scorpion. Unlike on the disappointing Views, there's some sort of semblance of structure here. Whereas previous releases felt like a dump of tracks, Scorpion feels neater.

It's in part due to the fact each side of the album has a distinct soundscape, with Side A being dominated by Drake's signature braggadocio and trap beats, while Side B sees him more introspective and reflective as he croons about failed relationships and his new fatherhood.

The one thing that distinguishes Scorpion as a whole, however, is its range of styles. It's almost as if Drake went through his entire catalogue and curated his best sounds and re-worked the beats and lyrics.

Yet, it's precisely because of this approach that comparisons between these and a number of Drake's previous tracks are too obvious.

The ode to his mother, "Sandra's Rose", sounds like the sequel to "Weston Road Flows", while the Mariah Carey-backed "Emotionless" could have snuck in easily on Nothing Was the Same.

Even "Mob Ties", where Drake experiments with a new type of flow for him, still sounds like it's been lifted from a Migos album, thanks to Travis Scott's skrrts and yeahs.

Covering old ground is inevitable when you have an album that's 25 songs long. Thankfully, it's standout tracks like the hyped "Talk Up" (with a surprisingly great Jay-Z feature), the familiar slowburner "Peak" and number-one singles "Nice For What" and "God's Plan" that almost make you forget entirely about those shortcomings.

While Scorpion does seem to have less filler than Views, its biggest weakness is still its length. It's hard to judge an album so vast as an individual work when it takes one-and-a-half hours to listen to. On the upside for Drake, it's this length that has lead to record-breaking streams and will inevitably rake in the cash for him.

But imagine if he focused his efforts on creating that same impact with a regular-sized album.

Scorpion closes out with Drake admitting he's "changing from boy to a man" and I can't help but hope it happens by the next release.

3.5/5

Listen to Scorpion in its entirety (if you dare) below.

Header Image: OVO Sound, Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records and Republic Records