On September 3, 2021, musician Drake released his hit album Certified Lover Boy (CLB). The new album hit #1 on Spotify, with around 744 million streams just in the U.S.

Drake is one of the greatest and most consistent showmen in the rap industry having many hit albums and even breaking Spotify’s record of most streams in a single day, with 153.4 million worldwide streams. (CLB) being an 86 minute album of different types of music going from jazz all the way to hip-hop and rap. This is also a reason why I would recommend this album to anyone that isn’t usually a fan of Drake because it’s not only about rap which is what Drake albums mainly consist of.

CLB being his sixth album shows that the artist is no rookie in the rap industry, everyone expects a good album
from Drake since he’s experienced. On release of the album Drake said, “combination of toxic masculinity and acceptance of truth which is inevitably heartbreaking.” This shows how aware Drake is at his work.

CLB is definitely one of Drake’s better albums, it’s definitely better than his last album Scorpion, CLB lives up to its hype with it’s very well written rapping and the bars are certainly much more memorable than the songs itself. The album had broken Drake’s other biggest album debut which was Scorpio so its safe to say it’s not overrated with all the positive reviews and support that it’s gotten.

“I don’t have to second-guess nothing with no one I love/ ‘Bout to build a second guest house ’cause we growing too much,” a bar from Champagne Poetry. Another well written line “You could never tell nobody that you held me down/ If it was ride or die then you should’ve been dead right now,” a line from Pipe Down. These are some fan favorite bars from the CLB.

The story behind CLB is supported by small easter eggs, throughout the album he calls out doubters and also talks about being lonely and unhappy. On 7am on Bridle Path, “Told you I’m aimin’ straight for the head, not aiming to please I can give a f*** about who designing your sneakers and tees.” A line that was directed towards American rappers, Pusha T and Kanye West.

My personal favorite song is definitely The Remorse because it’s the most rap heavy song in the album showing Drake’s great rapping skills. My second favorite song from the album has to be 7am on Bridle Path because of Drake’s usage on the song with him calling out his rival Kanye West.

CLB is definitely one of Drake’s better albums although every single album he drops is usually a hit with his fans. CLB lives up to the hype as one of Drake’s better albums and doesn’t disappoint on how long of a wait it’s been since it’s been announced around August 2020.