When Drake announces that he has new music on the way, the people stop and listen. That’s just how it goes now. When his freshly announced project More Life drops in December, we might just have even more reason to get gassed.
While a couple of my OVO-related theories may have been a little off the mark, stop and listen before turning your nose up at this latest bit of speculation. There’s a couple of pretty strong suggestions.
Drake’s new album is going to be a collaborative compilation with UK artists.
At this point, Drake’s love affair with this side of the pond goes without saying. Whether it’s his friendship with Skepta, his foray into UK funky, or sampling Sneakbo’s adlibs, his love for UK music clearly runs deep. Sure, he rode the wave of iLoveMakonnen, RamRiddlz and countless others, but his affinity for us lot is, in the words of his forefather Jay Z, just different.
Don’t count this as reason enough for my guess though. Let’s examine some of the other evidence.
The title alone is something to go by. “More Life” is a phrase of good will that has been coined and championed around London’s streets for a hot minute. Take this as indicator number one. We know Drake loves to jump on social media-ready, bite size quotes (see: #Views, YOLO etc) but this feels a little closer to home. To top it all off, the Canadian didn’t even announce it as an album, rather referring to it as a “playlist” project. Perhaps that means he’s leaning on our artists to make up the bulk of it? Either may, he’s making it known that this isn’t going to be an ordinary Drake album.
Section Boyz have long been saying “more life”, that much is certain. Deepee even has it tattooed on his own knuckles. For those watching the MOBO Awards this past weekend, you would have noticed that when the group claimed their award for Best Hip-Hop Act, they were donning merch that was adorned with the “More Life” slogan and shouted out a couple of refrains of it too.
Maybe the Boyz are working on their own project of the same name, but surely they wouldn’t risk that when Drake has something on the horizon. Sure, they coined it first, but a lot of mainstream listeners would put it down to the work of the 6 God, and that’s a pretty big risk.
To top it off, the South London group already have a working relationship of sorts with Drizzy. Of course they’re doing mixtapes with one of his arch nemesis’, but nothing was the same since they brought Drake out at their headline show this year. Do they know something we don’t about what More Life holds?
The most obvious sign is of course the recent release of Drake’s own remix of Dave’s “Wanna Know” track. By all accounts it looks like the remix will make up part of the album, although so do some of the solo tunes Drake has dropped as of late.
Finally, the last clue lies in what’s to come, post-December. Drake is heading off on a huge new 15 date tour of the UK, with a titanic eight dates in London. What better way to play to an audience than a fresh batch of new music with the mandem. Think about the reception when he brings them out. Now that would be a show.
While I may be letting my imagination run a little wild – just imagine Drake hopping on tunes with the likes of 67, AJ Tracey and Stormzy, all under the watchful gaze and creative direction of Skepta and 40 – there does seem to be enough here to fuel more than just a little fire.
When the album drops and you can’t believe what you’re seeing when you read the tracklist, don’t say I didn’t warn you. When More Life hits the shelves and I was so far off the mark, let’s never ever speak of this again.