The Drake slander erupted so quick and unexpectedly for this album that I had to get off the internet and group chats. I try to listen to things for myself first now and that’s difficult in this era. A lot of people want to be first with ratings, jokes, slander and critique. Then you got the “I really know music crowd” which in all fairness is the crowd I used to be apart of and talk the loudest in. You know the types to tell you the origin of the music you listening to and then justify the praise or slander. Yeah, I did that before. And to be real, you may even get it repackaged in this review today. I’ve evolved, but I haven’t changed and have no problem admitted that.

With all the above being said all my timelines had me prepared to hear the worst music I’ve ever heard in my life. Like seriously, I was expecting the worst Kid Cudi and Frank Ocean fusion possible over uptempo beats. That’s just what the timelines made me feel at first thought. So I avoided listening to the full project for the entire weekend. Even women who are die hard Drake fans had slander and ridicule for this entire project. I don’t think I saw one positive thing about Honestly, Nevermind. But I must admit the jokes and play on words got pretty clever. Shoot, the slander got so bad that Drake had to tell us to catch up. And honestly, he may not be wrong.

When Certified Lover Boy dropped, Drake was criticized for being Drake. A lot of the talk surrounding the album was “there are no bangers on it” “I don’t hear song of the summer” “this is safe” and “he didn’t try anything new on this one”. Certified Lover Boy didn’t live up to the hype and conversation we all expected. I was actually expecting an album full of “Come on We’re Going Home”, “After Dark” and the other undeniable Drake R&B Records that made him who he is today. Didn’t get that, but overall I stand by the album being “good”. Good as in I got my average 7-10 Drake songs that I’ll rotate or songs that will hit me and become a “new favorite” over time.

Fast Forward to Honestly, Nevermind; The album where Drake tackles a whole different genre and low and behold people hate that album too, ha! Drake officially can’t win anymore. He sticks to his script, it gets slander for not being risky. He makes a dance album and does the unexpected, we slander, cause “we don’t want to hear that shit”. Since “So Far Gone“, Drake has missed every single time if you asked your timelines in the first hour to first week of his release. Now, his career doesn’t reflect that at all as Drake has undoubtedly possessed the longest most consistent hit making run in Hip-Hop and more specifically Music history; That’s why, I just can’t honor Drake album opinions without hearing it for myself. And boy was I glad I did that this time more than any other time that a Drake album has dropped.

Honestly, Nevermind is a good “destination and dance” album. In RNS terms, This is an album for people that will be outside taking real baecations and folks that enjoy elaborate drinks, casual sex and shooting they shot at the multicultural club. No matter how you slice it to me, it’s still a good album. Not great. Just good.

Do I personally love it? No. But, spoiler alert. This whole album bout to work! Like WORK, Work. Why? Cause Drake has been sneaking joints like this out since Views and More Life. Passion Fruit is one of my favorite Drake records ever and one day in Summer 16, I couldn’t stop singing Controlla and the song hadn’t came on anywhere at the time I was singing. I was literally just singing my heart out amongst dead silence. Now, this album doesn’t really sound like both of those records specifically, but the vibe and direction is in that realm.

I’m from Illinois. I’m not a fan of house music or Dance music like that either. However, this album reminds me of when I would be at basement parties coming up with “House Bars” to whatever beat came on; “Damn, I’m Hard” and “TellyomomquitpaginMe” were some of my personal classics. Ask Versatile and My Ninja Rob; They were there.

This album also reminds me of my early clubbing days, when I would be at VooDoo, Bamboo Room, Boogie Nights, Rip Rocks, North Beach or any other club that was playing the genre formerly known as Techno. And I would be in a crowd freestyling to every single beat, making jokes and being vulgar, black and 21. Ask Fiction, Mico and My Ninja Rob; They were there.

Long post shorter. I like Honestly, Nevermind because I’ve tried it before. Sure I was a lot nastier and we didn’t record any of it, but I see what Mr. Graham is doing here. This may not be home office music or music that you can car test to feel it. However, something tells me that this is Miami, Tulum, Vegas Pool Party music. Now, I’ve never been to any of those places, but when I hear women talk about their excursions, I assume this kind of music plays during that time. Ladies, correct me if I’m wrong. This is also the kind of music I would be beating my child’s ass too in Just Dance on Nintendo Wii. Yes, I go super hard and try to blow her off to map to show her I really get busy on the games and the dance floor when I want to.

Drake gave the world 1 rap song this year and we Big Mad. Maybe he tired of doing the same old thing like y’all said he did on CLB. Maybe Drake wanted to do a 90 degree pivot and do something you wouldn’t expect like that one guy in Drake’s class from Compton. He would get the Watergate Documents and Elephant Man’s bones if he did this album. The whole conversation would be different. Starting with “Well you know “REDACTED” is FROM Chicago so this is dope! He brought it back to his roots. They just not ready for it. Shout to the Goal Post Gang that can’t overhype that last dope ass album he put out though.

The lone rap song with 21 Savage is dope! On the very first listen I more than liked 4-5 songs. That ain’t bad considering it’s a sound that’s fairly new to the artist creating it. Ask yourself when’s the last time you’ve loved a full Drake Album front to back? That’s for the “No Skip” arguments that I’m sure have started while I chose to lay low. Cause the elephant in the room is, Drake doesn’t need a full album to work for him. He just need to be in rotation all summer in as many places as possible. And that’s exactly what he does and will do again with this album.

Bottom Line, Nothing Was The Same is still my favorite Drake album, I like more than half of Views as the album creeps up on 10 years and More Life had way more good than bad on it if you are asking me in real time and today. Maybe I’m just more of a fan than I think I am. Maybe I’m not listening for only what I comfortably like, but this Drake album definitely isn’t as bad as the world tried to make you believe in the last 72 hours. It’s actually not bad at all. Many will read this review and swear I’m purposely trying to be contrarian, but that’s not the case. This ain’t album of the year for me or in the top 10. But it’s also not a rap album. It’s also not an R&B album. This is another Drake experiment. And history has shown when Drake tries something, he over tries it and eventually it works really well. If women get up and shake ass or if you hear this at a Tiki bar or while under the influence of your vice of choice and this album doesn’t move you. You just hate the creator at that point and that’s okay. We’re not here to be liked by everybody.

To really summarize my personal feelings; Honestly, Nevermind is good from what I hear on it and most likely will be remembered as great for what it’s really for.

The title of the album is indeed telling. And this next statement won’t be as witty or hilarious as the ones I saw on Friday, but here we go. If you’re looking for Drake to really rap or give you the toxic ballads and club bangers that he’s been giving you for over a decade on this project; Then Honestly, never mind listening to it.