Five Things We Want From Drake’s Next Solo Album

What is the best album in the Drake discography? Some all-around OVO fans might like the versatility of Views, whereas more hardcore rap listeners might appreciate the bravado of If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late more. But in the 6ix God’s own view, nothing compares to 2013’s Nothing Was The Same and 2022’s Honestly, Nevermind. The former is the most popular and acclaimed pick among fans and haters alike, whereas the latter might be the most divisive for its house foray. Regardless of what you think of either LP, they represent the Toronto superstar at a high level of sonic focus, thematic exploration, and craft of a cohesive body of work. With this perspective in mind, we can’t help but wonder what will come next in a solo capacity, and what elements would really mark a big step.

Of course, we are no one to tell arguably the most successful contemporary hip-hop artist how to clock into work. But context is a fickle friend, much like how he perceives all those who opposed him in the Kendrick Lamar battle. This gargantuan showdown preceded a PARTYNEXTDOOR collab album – $ome $exy $ongs 4 U – and continues to shroud Drake’s next solo album like a dark cloud, whether he acknowledges it or not. It also put him under an artistic microscope with more scrutiny than ever. While this treatment may be slightly unfair, or frankly old news, we do have some thoughts on where Drizzy could go from here. A common through-line in this list is legacy: how he can keep it intact, canonize its contributions, and leave behind a stronger impression of not just his own talent, but that of his next generation.

It may seem ridiculous to ask this from Drake, who has no shortage of bars throughout his career that spell everything out, save for a name. In addition, it’s a hip-hop mainstay at this point. However, shady digs at celebrity X, former partner Y, or rap opp Z really lose their luster as they become more numerous. That’s not for a lack of lyrical skill. In fact, it’s because we’ve heard how powerful his fearless pen can be, even when his reference isn’t necessarily a diss. The OVO mogul has every excuse in the world to tell it like it is, while also being able to ignore the noise from his castle in the sky. Need we remind you of the tracks he dropped a year ago, or his 2021 response to Kanye West on “7AM On Bridle Path”?

Sure, subliminals are fun to break down and go wild over, albeit for a briefer moment than more direct or evergreen lines. On the other hand, fans noticed the crutch over time, if you can even call it that. Drake will certainly have a lot to say on his next full-length, but considering how “NOKIA” is his biggest $$$4U hit, there’s a lot of plausible proof of beef narratives being unnecessary to true resonance. And if they do show up (or when, if we’re being real), we would love to hear him tackle these things head-on and lose the pretense of discovery. This is a writing style at the end of the day, though. Perhaps it’s futile to hope for such a big overhaul, but indirect gloating and mean-mugging isn’t doing The Boy or his verses’ consistency any favors these days.

This is by no means a dig at the artists on this label roster. $$$4U with PartyNextDoor is literally still running up numbers and fan praise, while Naomi Sharon, Majid Jordan, Roy Woods, Smiley, and more have certainly made their splash. Rather, it’s a question we’ve had different answers to over time: who is Drake’s protégé? Does he even need one? When you are as magnanimous as Aubrey Graham, you can put on so many artists at once, and he’s definitely contributed a lot to the development of many rising hip-hop stars or current mainstays. Still, there’s no one who really fits this next-up mold to a tee, which fans have already found worth in through folks like Baby Keem and JID in the orbit of “The Big Three.”

Although we would welcome a completely solo album, if collaborations emerge – and if Drake skips over the usual suspects – we hope it’s in favor of someone who can carry his torch. This could be either musically or by capturing a similar audience to a comparable scale, however difficult that sounds. A “mentorship” is not a necessity or rule in hip-hop in any capacity, but one unfortunate consequence of the 38-year-old’s commercial dominance is how it’s made filling the void of his absence impossible. As such, fans will have to begrudgingly move on one day. When they do, everything he built risks replacement with the next hurricane taking over rap music’s commercial priorities. It’s one thing to put on your peers and have such an indelible influence on the game, but it’s another to know your fans have faith in your vision and a new dynamo pushing that hard work forward.

Drake’s wholly personal lyricism is an inextricable quality of his art. If you like the music, you might be just as invested in his daily life. But that’s the thing: a lot of people aren’t. And even if they are, there are only so many tracks they can hear about broken Bahamas promises and taking girls to The Cheesecake Factory before they completely tune out. So this ask is as much about other opportunities for compelling storytelling as it is about detailing Champagne Papi the artist, not the person. He doesn’t even need to stray away from his own stories. Just a different perspective on the goings-on would do, such as more vivid descriptive language (an already sharp tool in the kit) or subversions of expected content.

We’re not saying Drake hasn’t done this before. But his general aversion to it doesn’t even need the most elaborate dissipation to reveal a diamond in the rough. For example, take Drake’s third-person references to The Boy on “Days In The East,” which is a simple linguistic play that somewhat evokes the late MF DOOM with how he speaks about himself, but not necessarily as himself. Maybe we are downplaying this catalog’s imaginative quality in other areas, but it’s a side of the 6ix God with so much untapped potential. If only for more dexterous displays of his pen, and perhaps for his own improved ability to connect emotionally with listeners, we believe this would greatly benefit his highly anticipated next move.

Despite what a small number of overzealous Kendrick Lamar fans may argue, there’s no reason to believe Drake is “done,” or that this will be his final album. So we hope this LP isn’t a swan song in the traditional sense, but it could definitely wrap up a long-running reign as a leading star, and not through the negative assumption we alluded to before. As he enlists more close collaborators and next-gen cosigns like a relatively late Lil Yachty bond, Sexyy Red, Mexican regional artists, Yeat, the livestream community, 4batz, etc., his business moves and curator-like instincts remain sharp. Just look at the “something for everyone” approach on For All The Dogs as an example. In contrast to previous tap-ins, though, Drizzy finds himself at the perfect place to celebrate himself rather than chase dominance by any means necessary.

While this probably won’t be the last album from Aubrey Graham, if there’s anything healthy hip-hop discourse is looking for these days, it’s finality. Drake deserves to enter a new era at his own pace, but the Kendrick Lamar battle and two dozen other narratives refuse to loosen their grip among fans and, self-admittedly, the media. In order to do that, he could find strength in dictating his own terms with a hard-hitting album for OG fans. $$$4U got us closer to that realm, but The Boy has a lot of reflections left to make on his impact and artistry. We think there’s still more gas in the tank to grandly define what he wants to accomplish and astonish with, which would yield even more fuel to develop himself as the mentor and director he could very well excel as.

With this last want, we should probably bring Ye back for a moment. Part of what makes their often squashed but never deceased beef so captivating is not just Kanye West’s influence on Drake sonically, artistically, and commercially, but also because they are each other’s last remaining true peer. Numbers-wise, they check out, and they both can claim narratives about the industry cutting them off – for wildly different reasons, to be fair. Maybe this is why the two can never escape each other. As much as they clash, it seems like their competition is what fuels some of their biggest moves. It’s the most bizarre show of respect, but it also highlights Drake’s most crucial paradox, as for years now, it’s felt like his complacency is because of a lack of competition to his talent, not necessarily his status.

Ye challenges both, and Drake has always been more passionate and captivating when he competes on grounds of artistry alone, not over petty industry beefs, past romantic entanglements, or the “hate survivor” narrative. This isn’t about Kanye West, but rather about the 6ix God’s inspiration. Nobody can really replicate the R&B/rap fusion he brings to the table to quite the same effect, but it seems like getting the success-driven leg-up on his detractors has been his principal motivation. So whether this means Drizzy would fully respect his surrounding rappers’ challenges with proof of his full, focused talent or he would only go off of his previous peaks, we believe his next solo album will go down as a classic if he transfers all this negative energy into his love of what blew him up and helped him take over the world.