By Julian Thomas
Drake’s newest mixtape is exactly what the title says it is: Dark Lane Demo Tapes. The release is by far Drake’s most downbeat collection of songs in recent memory, as he experiments the dark side of his sound. It’s filled with tracks that were likely cut from his main album slated to drop this summer.
While I’m a big fan of many of Drake’s more somber songs: “Marvin’s Room,” “Keep the Family Close,” and “Diamonds Dancing,” too much can result in a boring overall project. To an extent, Dark Lane goes down that road. However, I appreciate Drake’s versatility and willingness to take some backroads and see where they lead. This is one of the biggest reasons why he has been able to dominate the charts and music industry for the past decade.
A few of my favorite songs and lines off the mixtape are:
“Losses” - A rap straight from the heart about a relationship that went downhill, which ultimately allowed him to advance in his stardom.
“We started from the bottom, now your alone there.”
“Toosie Slide” - Despite many of the songs having a darker mood, this track offers a more fun and upbeat feel which comes right in the middle of the mixtape. “Toosie Slide” broke the top 5 on the current Billboard “Hot 100,” nearly surpassed 100 million views on YouTube and ignited a new dance trend.
“Right foot up, left foot slide. Left foot up, right foot slide.”
“When to Say When” - A great remix of the legendary Jay Z record, “Song Cry.”
“You just need to stay close to your people that was there when others could’ve been.”
Drake has been known to take inspiration from cultures around the world, in the past using Spanish and Jamaican accents in various songs and exploring the afrobeat genre with tracks like “Hotline Bling.” On both “Demons” and “War,” the final two songs on his new mixtape, he raps with an urban UK accent and lingo. Although he’s received some accusations of cultural appropriation, I don’t have a problem with Drake taking on different accents. However, in these two songs, especially back to back, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.
While some have called the mixtape a pointless cash-grab, I call it the product of an ambitious artist putting out extra music that he is certainly proud of. By no means is it his best project. In fact, I do not find it to have much replay value at all. But Dark Lane Demo Tapes had enough solid music to give me the impression it was just a warmup for great things soon to come on his studio album.