Drake’s ICEMAN album is already dividing listeners, and popular music critic Anthony Fantano is not feeling the project, which broke Spotify streaming records in its debut week.
Fantano called the release “rock bottom” for the rapper and accused Drake of turning personal grievances into the center of the album. He says this is Drake’s ICEMAN album at its most vulnerable—a project weighed down by bitterness rather than innovation.
“This album is Drake at his saddest, his lowest point ever,” Fantano said. “Like, this is really pretty much rock bottom.”
According to Fantano, ICEMAN felt heavy with negativity, with Drake appearing more focused on settling scores than delivering memorable music that resonates. It’s the kind of creative direction that feels more like personal grievance than artistic vision.
“Drake insists on making the lumps he took in the midst of this battle Iceman’s focus,” Fantano said while discussing the rapper’s fallout from his feud with Kendrick Lamar. The reviewer later compared Drake’s recent output to Jay-Z’s post-Nas era, arguing the Roc Nation mogul handled public criticism differently and with more artistic intention.
“Jay was the master of his own reality and the ultimate dictator of his narrative,” Fantano continued. “Good music, not just grievance masquerading as music.”
Fantano has publicly criticized Drake for years and previously gave For All the Dogs a five out of ten and labeled Honestly, Nevermind “not good.” Drake has previously clapped back, writing, “Your existence is a light 1.”
Drake’s three-album rollout yielded more than 140 million streams on Spotify on its first day before falling to roughly 70 million on Day 2.
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