You can say that again.  I purchased the Drake-Future mixtape as soon as it was available on iTunes.  Speaking of iTunes, What a Time To Be Alive was no. 1 after only three hours of being released.  Incredible.  And an update as of yesterday (via RapUp), the mixtape debuts at no. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart – congrats!

I turned on Beats 1 Radio at 4:00 PM PST on Emmy Sunday and anxiously awaited the stream.  Shortly after about a 30-minute curated mix, Drake hopped on and premiered the much-anticipated tape.  Below is my first attempt at an album/mixtape review.  I’ve broken it down by song – hope you enjoy!

Digital Dash – Definitely a good start to the mixtape.  The song is split perfectly between Future (first half) and Drake (second half) and gives you a good feel of the rest of the album.

Big Rings – This song can (and will) bump!  ‘You and yours vs. me and mine.’ I would love to be at a club or let’s be serious in my car listening to this.  And I like how this second track is the reverse from ‘Digital Dash’ – starts with Drake and then goes into Future.  This type of song motivates me for sure – primarily the beat.

Live From the Gutter – This is a good long-drive song.  ‘This for my dawgs that go Karrueche with the chopsticks.’  I cannot with that.  I must admit, I also had to look up the definition of ‘live from the gutter.’  Thanks to RapGenius, I learned that ‘the gutter’ is the slang term for ‘the ghetto,’ extremely low income areas, where Future came from but now is quite wealthy.

Diamonds Dancing – And finally, Drake serenades us with his angelic voice on this track.  This is definitely one of the more chill songs, but I’m not mad about it.  It’s one of those songs you can vibe to at the end of the night.  I like this song more and more each time I listen to it.

Scholarships – I wish I had received more of these in college.  Okay, the song.  ‘All this passion I got, all I ever needed.’  Again, one of the main reasons why I love these rap and hip-hop artists so much is because of their passion, and it so clearly stands out in their music.  ‘I need acknowledgement, if I got it then tell me I got it then.’  This Drizzy verse couldn’t be any more aligned with my personality.

Plastic Bag – Ah, yes.  The ‘plastic bag’ phrase and even what we all thought was the official countdown for this mixtape (putitallinaplasticbag.com).  It sounds like both Drake and Future are all for the strippers taking home the cash that’s been thrown to them.  ‘Get a plastic bag, go ahead and pick up all the cash. You danced all night, you deserve it.’  Fair enough!

I’m the Plug – Woah.  Love the beat of this track.  And Drake’s lyric ‘This that OVO Halloween gang.’  If I liked Halloween enough to dress up for it, I would somehow incorporate OVO into my costume.  And Drake goes in on this one at the end. #lit

Change Locations – ‘Me and my friends, we got money to spend.’  Let’s remix to match my lifestyle, ‘Me and my friends, we don’t got no money to spend.’  Definitely a more chill beat compared to the other tracks.  Listen to Drake’s first couple lines in his verse when he joins – dead.

Jumpman – This is definitely one of my favorite songs on WATTBA.  Holy smokes.  I picture myself being at a club, preferably at Greystone in Hollywood, and jumping up and down like a lunatic.  To the beat of the song, obviously.  ‘You don’t have to call I hit my dance like Usher (woo!).’  My favorite artist rapping about my other favorite artist.  Great stuff.

Jersey – ‘You do what you want when you poppin’, yeah.’  This line rapped multiple times throughout is referring to Future telling his fans and listeners to make the best out of your life.  Preach!  This song isn’t one of my favorites, but I can vibe with the ‘poppin’ lyric for sure.

30 for 30 Freestyle – The project ends with a 4-minute freestyle of Drake and Drake only.  The lyric that 100 percent stuck out to me in this track was, ‘but just know it’ll be January in no time and your absence is very concerning.’  Okay, so two things with this one:  1. My birthday is in January, soooo need I say more and 2. He’s concerned about my absence.  I took this one too far, but just let me have my moments.

And that’s it!  Overall, I dig this project.  While I’ve listened to it MULTIPLE times since its release just two Sunday’s ago, I’m not sick of it… just yet :).  I definitely have my favorites – ‘Big Rings,’ ‘Diamonds Dancing,’ ‘I’m the Plug,’ and ‘Jumpman,’ whereas other Drake projects, I literally love every single song.  On a scale of 1 to 10, I give it a 7.5.  It’s missing the complete ‘wow’ factor to me.  Not sure what that is exactly, but something isn’t there.  Regardless, the 6IX God compiled another very successful project with Future who I have been listening to a lot more now.

And for those of you readers (mom and Uncle Freddie who straight up told me he doesn’t read my posts when they feature the music I listen to – tough love) who really don’t know or care about these posts, I think you’ll be able to relate to the grandma in the video below. Truly hilarious.  Thanks to @mtvhiphop for sharing!

And it’s National Coffee Day – hope yinz are all celebrating.

Sergen, out!