Before Friday, there was plenty of discussion about the direction that Drake should take things musically in the aftermath of his massive head-to-head with Kendrick Lamar in 2024. Now, with his first solo output since that infamous spectacle, Drake has finally decided.
His strategy, to the surprise of many, was to hit the public with a tidal wave of new material. He dropped ICEMAN, which was long-rumored to be coming, but also came through with two more full albums, HABIBTI and MAID OF HONOUR.
With a total of 43 new songs across the three records, the idea of unpacking all of these releases may seem daunting. That's where this list comes in. Here, I will rank the three new Drake albums, letting you know what's worth checking out, and what's not (unless you're a Drake stan).
Drake's three newest albums, ranked worst to first
MAID OF HONOUR (1/10)
I went into each album with an open mind, but even with that approach, I was shocked by how bad MAID OF HONOUR was. It's chock-full of some of Drake's most embarrassing songs to date, and frankly, it has got to be the worst album that Drake has ever put out.
MAID OF HONOUR shares a lot of similarity with Drake's 2022 album Honestly, Nevermind in the sense that it's heavily influenced by dance and house music. Out the gate, that's an iffy strategy for Drake, considering that Honestly, Nevermind was already one of his weaker albums upon release.
But MAID OF HONOUR really makes Honestly, Nevermind sound like a masterpiece by comparison. There's a way to release good music in this vein, but MAID OF HONOUR is far from an example of that. The instrumentals on this album, for example, largely vacillate between blandness and ugliness. They're definitely not a selling point.
The beats are weak enough, but that's nothing when you take vocals and lyrics into account. Drake's offerings on this front are incredibly cringey and eye-rolling. Lines like "This ain't my first rodeo, girl, can you ride my pony?" on "Q&A" and "You're so unappreciated just 'cause your body ain't PG rated" on "BBW" are just the tip of the iceberg.
Plus, the features are unable to pull this record up when they appear. Some are downright bad. Central Cee gives such a lackluster, flat verse on "Which One," and on the insufferable "Cheetah Print," we get a rendition of the "Cha Cha Slide" from Sexyy Red.
There are so many instances of failure on MAID OF HONOUR, and way too many to cover here. The point is, the whole album is shockingly bad from front to back. It's unbelievably trashy, and a genuinely embarrassing album to be on Drake's resume.
HABIBTI (2/10)
HABIBTI is the album that Drake released, which features him mostly in his R&B bag. In one breath, I cannot deny that it's a better listen than MAID OF HONOUR. In another, I can't say that HABIBTI is a particularly worthwhile listen, either.
HABIBTI fails like MAID OF HONOUR in the sense that it includes instrumentals and a feature list that largely underwhelm, with plenty of Drake performances that make you shake your head lyrically and vocally. But, its lows aren't as low, and it actually comes through with a high or two.
Maybe it's only because Drake is utilizing a sound that he's more experienced in, but the results are the results. The best song here, "WNBA," has a pretty good beat with synthetic swells and a solid enough effort from Drake rapping on the verse and singing on the hook.
I also thought the first half of "Classic" was decent. Drake is catchy, and the luxurious, tropically-tinged beat works too. But then, as is so often the case, Drake gets in his own way. He decides to pad out the song with a vocal loop asking if it's a girl's "first time" wanting to "give him her love," and I could really do without that.
That's it for the highlights, and of course Drake peppers in plenty of cringe beyond here. "Take this shit and swallow it like Big Pharma" is a notable example from "I'm Spent," as is "I'm the only Don you know other than Julio" on "White Bone." Don't even get me started on the Terry Fox bar on the closer, "Prioritizing."
HABIBTI leans more in the boring direction than the downright awful direction. I mostly credit the spacey, nocturnal beats for that, as they are way more bad in the forgettable sense than anything else. But unless you absolutely love Drake when he goes in this direction, it's hard to categorize this album as anything other than a disappointment.
ICEMAN (6/10)
The one album that Drake fans originally expected ended up being far and away the best album he dropped. It's overwhelmingly traditional Drake rapping, with little else. I don't think that it's a perfect album, nor do I think it's even one of Drake's best. However, if you look at it in its entirety, it's solid enough and one of his best albums in a while.
Certainly, the biggest narrative going into ICEMAN was how Drake would address the state of his career post-2024 beef loss. On the album, Drake takes shots at a ton of people, basically those who he feels wronged him in the midst of the beef. It's everyone from Kendrick Lamar to LeBron James to DJ Khaled.
Drake still doesn't have the most coherent narrative in this regard, even two years after the beef flared up. His bevy of disses and shots vary in how much they work, but those who aren't Drake haters should be able to enjoy the ones that hit while letting slide the ones that don't work as much, as long as the song hits otherwise.
Lyrically, aside from the avalanche of disses, Drake stays mostly to his guns. His lines cover the usual bases that Drake occupies as he spits about stuff like his fame, girls, and success. There are some corny lyrics, but also some clever ones, and on the whole, he's in the positive.
Instrumentally, Drake also doesn't do anything shocking. There are boom-bap instrumentals like "Make Them Pay," soul vocal instrumentals like "Firm Friends," and trap instrumentals like "Ran To Atlanta." Again, it's Drake with a heavier focus on rapping than on most of his albums, which is honestly pretty refreshing, but the palette over which he raps is familiar territory.
ICEMAN's features, while scant, are by far the best on any of the three albums. Future, who has reconciled with Drake, joins Molly Santana on the pointedly named "Ran To Atlanta." They both do their thing and are the album's best features. 21 Savage is the weakest with his low-impact contribution to "B's On The Table," but it isn't bad.
To summarize ICEMAN, there are no knockout punches lyrically, but he doesn't completely fall flat. There are no 10/10 songs, but there are plenty of good ones. Honestly, it's a fairly predictable 2026 Drake album, just with more diss bars, fewer features, and more of a focus on rapping. That's not a bad outcome at all. If only it didn't come attached to two duds...
Add us as a preferred source on Google