Happy Valentine's Day from Drake

The surprise release from Drake, If You're Reading This It's Too Late made for an eventful evening Thursday. Personally it held me up from my nightly routine, a shower and food naturally. When I reached track 8 "Star 67", the mixtape was removed from Soundcloud proving the tape's name pretty amusing.

I read one tweet stating Drake "wants so badly to be Beyonce." Although a pretty fun mental image, I don't really see how Beyonce has claimed the surprise release for all time. Drake clearly has the star power to demand large scale attention. That much is evident after hearing the his own perceptions of celebrity on the opening track "Legend".

By track 3 "10 Bands", the sing song stylistic Drake we've all grown to love was nowhere to be found. He's hitting hard on this mixtape. The reservations of fame have dwindled as he approaches a new phase of his career. On "Know Yourself" he raps, "I'm turning into a nigga that thinks about money and women like 24/7, that's where my life took me, that's just how shit happened to go!", a track where iLoveMakonnenn's influence particularly shines through.

So thanks for the early Valentine's gift Drake. You stirred up quite an entertaining couple of hours buzzed with excitement for your next contribution to the airwaves. One thing though, are you running through the six with your "woe's" or "whoa's"? Ahhh never mind, I'll keep listening.

Happy Valentine's Day!!