Album Review: "What A Time To Be Alive" by Drake and Future
Months of speculation led to this moment. The Internet begged for it to happen. We all spent two weeks (which translates to about three months on the internet) connecting the dots and trying to answer a question more important than that whole "is the world circle or flat" nonsense. Are Drake and Future making the most lit album ever? Well it happened, and while “What A Time To Be Alive” doesn’t completely change the shape of the world, Drake and Future prove their hitmaking prowess on this 11-track album that had everyone on their toes.
It wouldn’t be a Future album if it didn’t start off with a true slapper, and the opening track “Digital Dash” is just that. Atlanta-born producer Metro Boomin played chef and cooked up an instrumental with the prototypical deep bass and hard snare drums. Future continues with the same flow, styles, and drug-filled lyrical content that made his previous album “DS2” number one on the charts a mere two months ago. Drake follows suite and matches Futures style with much fewer drug references, equal swagger, a Diddy reference, and another Meek Mill diss because Meek Mill.
Things don’t seem to deviate too much after “Digital Dash”. The trap songs that Future has thrived on come and go. “Live from the Gutter” and “I’m the Plug” are just two examples of songs that could have easily replaced “Where Ya At” on “DS2”. Not a syllable falls on deaf ears as the hooks, bridges, choruses, and verses are catchy and filled with energy. “Jumpman” is the best example with even the adlibs becoming addictive (Woo!) as the 6 God and Future Hendrix drop countless NBA and Jordan references.
The more down-tempo songs of “WATTBA” are just as good as the hype, trap songs even with the inconsistencies from two artists with different lyrical content. On “Diamond Dancing” Drake dips into a more personal scenario singing, “And you know what I need from you when I get home…telling them I never spend time with you.” Meanwhile, Future continues with the trap lifestyle and ignoring his significant other for the love of his own drugs. “I got so many bad bitches that I barely wanna/ I’m barely paying attention, baby I need substance,” Future sings as he clearly isn’t in the same situation Drake is in despite being on the same song.
The inconsistency continues on “Change Location”. While Future is busy hanging from ceilings high off Adderall and fucking waitresses, Drizzy is up until four in the morning thinking about a girl in typical Drake fashion. The discrepancies between them are well documented before this album could even be a possibility, but the disparity shows how “WATTBA” is not a well-thought out piece of work. It’s the most mixtape feeling album this year.
The final two tracks of this project are reserved for a solo appearance for Future and Drake. While Futures “Jersey” sounds like it could be a throwaway from DS2, Drake’s “30 for 30 Freestyle” offers the most substance in the entire album. The duo of Drizzy on words and verbs while longtime friend and producer Noah “40” Shebib on the boards close out “WATTBA” with Drake delving into his inner thoughts on just about everything from killing the competition (more Meek Mill), his rise to the top, and his growing concern for the mayhem and madness he sees in the world. “I’m talking bigger shit than you and I/ Kids are losing lives got me scared of losing mine/ And if I hold my tongue about it I get crucified,” Drake confesses. While most of us think our mega-stars are too rich to concern themselves about the problems of everyday people, Drake admits he sees this and even he fears for his life. Drake has reached the upper echelon this year; he is bigger than anything walking right now, but he decides to come back down to earth a bit and gives us what could be the last piece of work we hear from Drake before his highly anticipated album “Views From the 6” which has been rumored to drop later this year.
Of course we want to see the hottest artists collaborate and create something even better than before, but “WATTBA” is not that. While the songs are just what we look for in a Future/Drake joint album, there isn’t enough here to join the two and create a new entity that is Drizzy Hendrix that comes with a whole new sound and vibe. These cuts can easily be mistaken as songs left out of Future’s “DS2” or Drakes “If You're Reading This It's Too Late”.
While I did expect more, this album (which should be more of a mixtape) is still very enjoyable. Two of the biggest hitmakers in the world teamed up to become a club song machine. Future will most likely ride this wave out for the rest of the year. Drake, on the other hand, is far from done. “Views from the 6” is still on the way, and whatever he does will most likely surpass what happened in this album.