As I write this, AirPods globally cry out for help and Spotify execs rub their hands with glee. 

Drake has never been one for brevity (the average length of his albums is 90 minutes), but today’s triple album drop takes the cake, dumping a whopping two hours and 40 minutes worth of new material on listeners early this morning. To make matters worse, half of these songs feature beat-switches halfway through – meaning, you guessed it, even more material to wade through. Now, it goes without saying that these new releases are incredibly bloated – but, even if the world is ready to write off the Canadian superstar as hip-hop’s arch villain, we have to admit that there are a handful of bangers here. 

The vast majority of these good cuts land on ICEMAN, the album Drake has been promoting for the last two years. Featuring undeniably stellar production from the likes of EsDeeKid producer Wraith9 (“National Treasures”) and Bay Area legend P-Lo (“2 Hard 4 The Radio”) and more, ICEMAN is exactly the sort of high-budget project fans would expect from hip-hop’s wealthiest name. It’s summer singalong jet-fuel, with Drake in his signature flex-moan bag and sing-rapping rich people problems about fake friends eyeing up his wealth, having too many women to pick from, and even delivering the rare witticism for revellers to mull over three-margarita deep on the dancefloor (“They envy me like Nevada”). On its own, ICEMAN is a good Drake album – great, even. 

The issue, however, lies with the two additional albums that were dropped this morning – slow, RnB project HABIBTI and its clubbier counterpart MAID OF HONOUR – which are essentially bonus mixtapes that no one wanted, skittering between the full spectrum of rap sonics without any discernible through-line. Between Popcaan-style deconstructed dancehall (“Amazing Shape feat. Popcaan”), thumping Jersey club (“True Bestie feat. Iconic Savvy”), watered-down footwork (“Outside Tweaking feat. Stunna Sandy”), Atlanta rage rap (“Ran To Atlanta feat. Future and Molly Santana”) and beyond, Drake really seems to be saying, ‘I am a culture vulture, and what?’ At least he knows his strengths. 

Indeed, it’s worth pointing out that Drake essentially owns everything Kendrick said about him back in rap’s civil war of 2024. “Ran to Atlanta” is a direct quote from one of “Not Like Us”’s lyrics, and, as for the darker allegations, ICEMAN’s album artwork is a direct reference to Michael Jackson’s infamous sequinned glove (he really isn’t helping his case, is he?). Drake’s strategy here is essentially to plead “guilty, your honour!” – and what’s truly remarkable is that it sort of works. ICEMAN, HABIBTI and MAID OF HONOUR are, if nothing else, marketing master-classes, crowning a substantial promo campaign with a triple album drop that no one saw coming. Be it out of spite, admiration or curiosity, Drake’s got the whole world listening this morning, and he already looks set to become the first artist in history to have three albums charting on the Billboard 100 simultaneously. He might have lost the rap battle, but he is winning some kind of war.

Below, we did the dirty work of listening to all 41 of the new Drake tracks to find the five songs worth listening to (spoilers: nothing on HABIBTI made the cut).

5. “HOE PHASE”

I’m not sure if “Hoe Phase” is one of the best songs across Drake’s three-album dump, but for me it stands out as the most purely enjoyable, particularly when so much of the wider project is slow or mid-tempo (it gets a little dirge-like after a while). A slice of poppy, high-energy hip hop, it makes me feel like I’m Amy Schumer doing a comedic striptease in a 2015 rom-com, or a fresher downing a blue WKD at Loughborough University’s student union bar. I mean that as a compliment. Even the title is so millennial-coded it’s kind of charmingly retro in 2026 – this is from the man who popularised “YOLO”, after all. (For a similar vibe, see also the upbeat, synth-driven “Road Trips”). (JG)

4. “TRUE BESTIE FEAT. ICONIC SAVVY”

Drake, Canada’s answer to Morrissey, has always had a tendency towards the maudlin and embittered, and this has arguably become more pronounced in recent years. But like “Hoe Phase”, “True Bestie” reminds us that, when he’s not railing against his enemies or complaining about being successful, he’s still capable of having a laugh from time to time. Opening with swooning, disco-like strings and powered by an insistent Jersey-club beat, it’s the most dancefloor-friendly he’s sounded since Honestly, Nevermind. One thing you can say in Drake’s favour: he has always been very good at working with up-and-coming, underground talent, and Iconic Savvy’s feature lends “True Bestie” an explosive energy. If “Hoe Phase” conjures the thrilling atmosphere of a Wetherspoons that turns into a club in a mid-sized market town, this feels like a queer party at 3am. (JG)

3. “RAN TO ATLANTA FEAT. FUTURE AND MOLLY SANTANA” 

This is the very moment that Drake enters into his plea deal regarding 2024’s culture vulture allegations. Set to a heady rage beat full of distorted melodies, neon-lit synths and devilish 808s, it’s the kind of turbo-powered rap cut that conjures up images of supercars doing donuts. Sure, it confirms everything Kendrick said in 2024’s “Not Like Us” – namely, that Drake copies genres pioneered by Atlanta rappers when he wants to cut a cheque – but it’s still huge. Anyways, trap paragon Future and rising west coast star Molly Santana are the real stars here, delivering the exact sort of over-produced vocals that such a maximalist beat deserves. (SPM)

2. “NATIONAL TREASURES (PROD. WRAITH 9)”

In three albums full of incredible production, “National Treasures” shines as one of the best. The latter half of the track is produced by the secret star of EsDeeKid’s Rebel album last year: Wraith9, who is heralded by his now-iconic “OK” sample. Surprisingly, it’s a far cry from his previous Drain Gang-adjacent work, instead settling into a vibrant hip-hop groove over which Drake delivers an unbroken stream of flex-moan bars – we can already see the NBA 2K compilations set to this one. It might not be the fakemink feature everyone was expecting (maybe that will arrive on mink’s own album next week?), but it’s one of the better surprises we got this morning. (SPM)   

1. “2 HARD 4 THE RADIO (PROD. P-LO)”

With its irrevocably west coast production courtesy of Bay Area legend P-Lo, as well as a dig at producer DJ Mustard (“Mustard heard about us, gotta catch up to the slaps / You ain't had one since me and YG rapped”), “2 Hard 4 The Radio” is essentially Drake’s response to “Not Like Us”, but I regret to inform you that it still bangs. As we said, it’s summer singalong jet-fuel: incredibly danceable, wonderfully vacuous, and that beat-switch halfway through is undeniably explosive. This is truly the best that today’s drop(s) have to offer, but it still probably doesn’t come close to the stratospheric peaks of “Not Like Us”. We’ll let you make of that what you will. (SPM)