Review of 'Iceman' by Drake

Drake is sounding frosty on Iceman. But the constant bellyaching and bad puns aren’t cool.

Iceman is one of three new albums released by Drake. I won’t be reviewing or listening to the other two, because one Drake album is quite enough for me. This one seemed to be getting all the hype, so I checked it out. It’s okay, I guess. END OF REVIEW.

Alright, alright, let’s be fair and give Drizzy a proper review. Iceman is the first project to confront the Drake-Kendrick War of 2024 – a vicious battle between the two rappers that most hip hop fans would agree was won by Kendrick. The content of this album is mostly bitter bars about losing the beef, but never openly admitting he lost it. He lashes out at friends for not being there for him, at the fans who betrayed him, at J Cole for retreating from the feud and at other rappers who didn’t side with him. Opening track ‘Make Them Cry’ is reflective enough that you feel some sympathy for Drake, but by the time we reach 14^th track ‘Make Them Remember’, the album has devolved into an extended tantrum.

The upside is that, eager to prove himself, Drake is rapping his ass off on this album. We still get his signature airy singing on tracks like ‘Janice STFU’ and ‘…Burning Bridges’, but for the most part it’s tight and energetic rapped verses. He sounds convincingly mean on ‘Dust’, gets smooth and melodic on ‘2 Hard For The Radio’ and switches to a looser stream-of-consciousness flow on ‘Firm Friends’. Overall, his delivery is impressively dynamic.

But it isn’t enough to make up for the cringeworthy content. It’s not just the endless moaning and groaning that lets this album down, but also the relentless barrage of bad puns. Puns like ‘I’m greater than everybody like some shredded cheese’ and ‘cheque signing is my kink, pushing out ink, I feel like a squid’. Drake’s pun-laden bars land better when he’s dissing people rather than boasting: ‘you n***as be hitting the net for love, you a tennis ball’. His bars also sting when he’s making sharp cultural references opposed to coming up with punchlines, such as this follow-up reference to the viral ‘$500,000 or dinner with Jay-Z’ debate: ‘I’ll take $500k, not the dinner, I never could learn shit from none of y’all’ (for some reason, Jay-Z catches multiple strays during this album).

Lyrics aside, Iceman also suffers the usual problem of being a bit bloated (although 18 tracks is fairly concise by Drake standards). However, this is definitely not his worst album. His delivery is energised and he pairs it with some pretty decent beats. Had he taken the time to write wittier puns and contained the resentment to a handful of tracks, the record could have been better. I do wonder if an outpouring of vulnerability from Drake might be the best move forward now rather than trying to double down on the tough guy persona. However, I also think the days of Drake letting his guard down are over: ‘What happened to Drake with the innocence?/ I don’t think we’ll be seeing him again’.

★★★☆☆

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