On Christmas 2019, Drake shared something in his two-hour Rap Radar interview that anyone who paid attention to his catalog already knew. He has always been committed to two things: making melodic, R&B music for women and giving people bars on his rap records. We were introduced to him as Heartbreak Drake in his early days, and he was a lover boy before officially dubbing himself that in the lead-up to his 2021 LP Certified Loverboy.
In the past, he dedicated an entire side of an album to R&B, with the B-side of Scorpion in 2018. Last year, he linked up with his star signee PARTYNEXTDOOR for a full-length project within the genre, $ome $exy $ongs 4 U. It felt long overdue for Drake to lock in solely on R&B, and while the joint effort was successful, there was the question of whether he would ever do one on his own.
Well, here we are. On Friday (May 15), when fans thought they would just get ICEMAN, the 6 God surprised them with two other albums: Habibti and Maid of Honour. The former is his first-ever melodic, R&B journey with just his name on the bill.
Sexyy Red, Loe Shimmy, Qendresa and PARTYNEXTDOOR join the ride for a display of emotions that supersedes anything Drizzy has previously done. There is a level of emoting, as well as grown-and-sexy sounds that show how much “The Boy” has evolved.
Read along for our ranking of Drake’s first-ever solo R&B album, Habibti, below.
