ICEMAN is a bitter return from Drake

While his defeat to Kendrick Lamar in 2024 was unequivocal, the rap zeitgeist has shifted back to a sense that Drake’s hit-making and pop sensibilities are missing, as mainstream rap music continues to retreat from commercial dominance.

No pressure then Drake. Do it then, do the thing. The anthems for the summer, the rap-pop smash for the radio, the timestamp record for the rap nerds. Well? Not quite.

Iceman is commendable in that, as I guess art should be, it is a true reflection of the artist's current mindstate. It’s bitter, it’s vindictive and it’s messy. He can’t let go of it, and in a way – why should he? Let’s not forget, "Not Like Us" was performed at the Super Bowl and won five Grammys. For all Drake’s paranoia, this seems like a pretty legitimate reason to be miffed.

So how does he deal with it? Well, the French call it l'esprit de l'escalier, the Germans call it treppenwitz – it’s the phenomenon of ‘staircase wit’, coming up with a clever comeback only after you have walked away from the argument. Iceman is peppered with these retrospective rebuttals, aimed at everyone and anyone he feels a way about.

The album opens with "Make Them Cry", offering a false dawn of a more measured Drake who has moved past it all. It sets a darker tone immediately, with two top-tier beat switches, and it’s arguably a career-standout performance from Drake – as he puts industry drama to the side, and focuses on family dynamics: “I have to father my mother and treat my son's grandfather like my older brother”

Beyond that though, Drake fully embraces the part-therapy, part-villain approach as he works through the fallout of the past two years.

Despite claiming on "Dust" he can’t remember “one word in your [presumably Kendrick’s] raps”, he frequently quotes and spins phrases from his opponent - unintentionally giving the impression that these words continue to bother him.

"Ran to Atlanta" directly references Kendrick’s jab that Drake only turns to Atlanta artists when he needs a hit – so this is either proving the point or it’s meta-genius on Drake’s part. Either way, it’s a great track with one of Drake’s most charismatic and pop-coded performances on the album. "Janice STFU" is also a standout early on, as Drake’s pop sensibilities are on full display, with an ear-worm of a hook built around a melodic Lykke Li interpolation.

"Make Them Pray" and "Make Them Remember" both see Drake on top form performance-wise. Both feature exceptional production, and showcase Drake’s prowess as a pure rapper - interweaving dense wordplay within quotable lyrics – as he addresses his opponents and enemies. He sounds enthused and engaged, but the relentless bitterness can also be tiring, with endless axes to grind and points to prove.

As with most recent Drake projects, the middle part of the album is baggy. Tracks like "Shabang" and "Burning Bridges" feel like leftovers, offering nothing conceptually and very little sonically. After a certain point, the album is weighed down whenever he takes aim at those who ‘betrayed’ him or – even more boringly – his label. The track "B’s on the Table" featuring 21 Savage is a low point, as label drama and contract renegotiation becomes the thematic focal point. Unsurprisingly, it’s dull.

In very Drake-style, there are some overly try-hard moments on Iceman, most notably on the second half of "2 Hard 4 the Radio" when the beat switches to a West Coast-style, and he then takes aim at DJ Mustard (producer of "Not Like Us"). Drake then claims he's able to do the same Bay Area style, but better. He clearly isn't, and his commitment to the attempt is pretty cringeworthy. It’s the rap equivalent of the David Brent dance.

Iceman is at its best when Drake feels tapped in a more mature frequency, which he thankfully returns to for the closing two tracks "Firm Friends" and "Make Them Know". Both tracks hint towards Drake finally evolving beyond the creative and thematic malaise he’s found himself for the past half a decade. For too long, he has been trying to cater to a perpetually young audience, and has sounded increasingly uninspired doing so.

Now, as he says himself “I’m pushing 40, I’m battling aging” and this epiphany may be the key to unlocking the next chapter of his career. What Iceman (and the two other albums released the same day) prove is that Drake has been missed. Whether people like it or not, Drake provides box-office rap spectacle in a way that no-one else currently can. Let’s just hope the bitterness is now out of his system.