You know what got lost in all the noise surrounding Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s battle of wits last year? That Kendrick admitted he actually likes Drake — when Drake is actually being Drake. The out-of-character version that has gotten progressively paranoid and delusional since 2018’s Scorpion is no fun; Kenny is just one of many that wanted to see him return to the lighthearted guy from More Life, delivering upbeat bops for nights out with the mandem, on the prowl for some bad tings to spend time with.
Drake’s latest single, “Which One?” featuring Central Cee, is a big step in the right direction. Dropping the mobster pretensions and wounded incel-isms of his last few projects, Drake instead adopts the Afroswing embraced by English adherents like J Hus (and himself, back in 2017 — think “Passionfruit” or “Blem”) to narrate a club walkthrough with one of London’s rising stars, as they pick out baddies (or “peng gyals,” if you’re feeling particularly British) for conversation, dancing, and maybe even a shared Uber home. Being in Britain seems to have done wonders for Drake, questionable statements comparing the quality of rap on either end of the Pond aside.
This is the Drake most of us enjoyed the most — emphasis on “most of us” — the version of Aubrey that sold all those records and had a death grip on the culture, before getting his ass handed to him by Pusha T. Perhaps, instead of doubling down on the persona that got him in all this trouble to begin with, he should keep it up.