Drake
If You're Reading This It's Too Late 2LP vinyl

If You're Reading This It's Too Late is the fourth mixtape by Canadian recording artist Drake. We get a spectral late-night longing not unlike that of So Far Gone touchstones Lust for Life and Successful. The pre-fame queasiness of early Drake is now the loneliness of a distrustful despot. On 10 Bands he's holed up in a home studio for weeks pushing himself to create ("Drapes closed, I don't know what time it is / I'm still awake, I gotta shine this year"). Know Yourself celebrates the thrill of mobbing through a city that's his for the taking, but even in joy there's a note of tension and the ever-present possibility of actual danger. ("I ain't rock my jewelry, and that's on purpose/ Niggas want my spot and don't deserve it.") Success creates as many problems as it solves. Music is the real joy for Drake, and If You're Reading This It's Too Late is best enjoyed as an exercise in the casual excellence of the artist as rhymer and purveyor of hooks. The vocals are often just vampy flow experiments, but at their best these verses exhibit the weightless exhilaration of a technician at work.

NEW / Released in 2016

Tracklist:

A1 Legend

A2 Energy

A3 10 Bands

A4 Know Yourself

A5 No Tellin'

B1 Madonna

B2 6 God

B3 Star67

B4 Preach

B5 Wednesday Night

C1 Used To

C2 6 Man

C3 Now & Forever

C4 Company

C5 You & The 6

D1 Jungle

D2 6PM In New York

D3 How About Now

D4 My Side