Drake is back with a splash, as the hip-hop superstar dropped not one, not two, but three albums Friday in his first solo releases since the fallout of his infamous rap beef with Kendrick Lamar two years ago.
Drake fans had already been anticipating Ice Man for months heading into release night Friday, though during a livestream Thursday Drake revealed that he also had two more records he’d share as well, subsequently sharing the art work for Maid Of Honour and Habibti on Instagram and dropping them at Midnight too.
Credit where it’s due to Drake, the overwhelming release strategy is about as ambitious a move possible at perhaps the most consequential moment in his career to date. The music world is watching closely for how he moves on after the Lamar feud ended in embarrassment, with “Not Like Us” becoming the biggest song in the world.
His reputation took a bit of a hit in the rap world — compounded by his much-criticized decision to sue Universal Music Group (both his and Lamar’s record company) for releasing “Not Like Us” at all — though the 6 God still remains by far one of the biggest acts on the planet, and Ice Man was one of the most-anticipated releases of the year. Release night became much bigger than anyone may have initially expected, as Drake fans now have 43 songs and a whopping 149 minutes of new music to listen to.
Among the artists featured across the three albums are Sexyy Red, PartyNextDoor and most notably Future, the latter who in 2024 released the Metro Boomin/Kendrick Lamar “Like That,” which helped ignite the subsequent Lamar/Drake feud that year.
With the surprise Maid Of Honour and Habibti, Drake turned what was already a much anticipated new music Friday into a major event in and of itself. Now with three albums out, the question becomes which record will come out on top, and just how much of the charts he’ll come to dominate in the coming weeks.
Stay tuned for more.