Surprised and confused are the words that first come to mind when discussing Drake’s most recent album, “Certified Lover Boy” (CLB).

With a run time of one hour and 26 minutes, “Certified Lover Boy” is Drake’s longest project since his 2018 album, “Scorpion.” Even though both albums are roughly the same length, they are two entirely different projects.

While “Scorpion” depended on its monstrous length solely for commercial purposes, I felt like Drake tried making something with “CLB.” However, I don’t think it turned out how he wanted it.

Many of the tracks were stuck in some type of limbo, where it felt like Drake wasn’t sure which direction to pull them in. It’s evident that the beef sparked by rapper Pusha T, exposing the existence of a child Drake kept a secret, is still affecting Drake.

Drake revealed that he hasn’t been a “good” father by his own standards and has expressed that on this record. Personally, I don’t think Drake should be making tracks longer than four and a half to five minutes, much less half an album with them.

Although it’s just a suspicion, I feel that amidst the recent beef with Kanye West, Drake tried to match the length of “Donda” which is also around one hour and 30 minutes. Instead of resulting in a concise project, it resulted in the album feeling bloated.

The album starts off with “Champagne Poetry” which has a good beat and is well-produced, which captivated me from the start. However, soon after this came, “Girls Want Girls” (with Lil Baby) appeared. I enjoyed the Lil Baby feature, but I did not like Drake’s unenthusiastic verses on the track.

The effort gab between Drake and his collaborators on this album continues into the next songs, “In the Bible” (with Lil Durk and Giveon) and “Love All” (with JAY-Z).

Following “Love All” comes my favorite song on the album, “Fair Trade” (with Travis Scott). Drake in “Fair Trade” sounds more energetic and catchier, and the hook is the best we have seen yet through the album.

After initially listening to the next song, “Way 2 Sexy” (with Future and Young Thug) I did not like it. However, after watching Drake’s music video and seeing that this was a track that drake did not take seriously, it became more acceptable and even iconic.

The music video went viral, but Drake, Young Thug and Future messing around is what I think of when listening to “Way 2 Sexy” instead of the quality of the song. I was not engaged with the album until the second half, in which I only found a handful of standout tracks: “Knife Talk,” “Fountains” and “You Only Live Twice.”

Vince’s Rating: 4/10

Jacks Rating: 5/10