Drake is looking to chart dominance to turn the page on one of the most infamous rap battles in music history. Or at least, that’s how it appears as the superstar elected to release three albums at once on Friday for his his first new solo records since Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” took over the world in 2024.
Indeed, the rapper seems poised to overwhelm the charts in the days ahead with Iceman, Maid of Honour and Habibti, as the albums are taking over the streaming services and the conversation across social media. Already, some onlookers are speculating where the new records will debut on the Billboard charts next week, and if he can achieve the rare feat of taking the top three slots on Billboard’s album chart, an achievement only Michael Jackson had pulled of after his death in 2009.
But does flexing your commercial output pave over one of the most polarizing moments a rapper has faced in recent memory? That’s a much more complicated question.
In some ways, one can argue the strategy is playing to Drake’s strengths. He’s received mixed-to-poor reviews on most of his albums over the past decade since 2016’s Views, well before the Lamar beef boiled over two years ago. He’s never been the sort of Grammy darling other legends like Lamar or Jay-Z have been, winning five to Kendrick’s 27 and Jay’s 25.
