After artist Drake’s last album release of “$ome $exy $ongs 4 U,” on Feb. 14, 2025, he released his newest album “HABIBTI” last Friday. Drake announced his album drop with an Instagram post that includes the album cover, along with his other albums that released the same day, “ICEMAN” and “MAID OF HONOUR”.
“HABIBTI” consists of 14 tracks, making up a total of 45 minutes of music. Throughout all tracks, Drake features a total of four artists: Qendresa, Sexyy Red, Loe Shimmy, and PARTYNEXTDOOR. Fans expressed that “HABIBTI” is the worst out of the three albums, but it increases Drake’s range as a diverse artist and benefits his impact in the R&B scene.
All three albums were a surprise release, in which Drake surprised the audience with different elements like Hip-Hop, R&B, and Dance music, specific to each album. Habiti shows less of a fully developed album, and rather experimental moods and important experiences to Drake.
Drake starts off with “Rusty Intro,” arguably the worst track on the album. Drake creates this song alone, taking all credit for composing and the lyrics. The track highlights a lack of background vocals and layers, almost like it’s a voice memo.
Following “Rusty Intro”,”WNBA” is the second song on the album, and completely different from the first. It starts with melodic, slow singing, followed by the hook in the song with the beat picking up. The two parts have solid production, even though they contrast like they are separate songs.
The next song and first feature is, “Slap The City (feat. Qendresa)”. Quendresa is a singer, songwriter, DJ, and producer, her production includes soft singing with steady R&B beats, adding emotional and cinematic notes to contrast Drake’s verse in this track.
The second best track on the album, “High Fives” picks up the mood of this album so far. Also being the second longest song, this track sits at 4 minutes and 16 seconds. Drake creates a familiar sound of his past songs that are successful with the use of auto-tune, adlibs, and a catchy beat all done on his own.
“Hurrr Nor Thurr (feat. Sexyy Red)”, is the most diverse sounding on this album. It switches between bragging and vulnerability and the feature of famous rapper, Sexyy Red changes the atmosphere from Drake’s verse. Sexxy Red, female rapper known for her confident persona and bold lyrics often collaborates with Drake, appearing on his last album “For All The Dogs” with the creation of “Rich Baby Daddy” that got 677 million streams.
Similar to the previous song, “I’m Spent (feat. Loe Shimmy)” is also very diverse. Loe Shimmy, American rapper known for his “croaky” voice opens this track with his verse. Drake reflects Loe Shimmy’s style by singing in a higher pitch throughout the song as well. This song is missing a chorus, leaving it be a more emotional, lyrical track.
The best track “Classic”, is also arguably the catchiest. It stands out greatly, using strong instrumentals from the start. The chorus is easy to follow and the song is put together like it can be a single, following R&B themes and Drake’s voice layered with himself.
The track “Gen 5”, shows strong RNB sounds with smooth and repetitive beats paired with soft vocals that is a mix of “Classic” and “WBNA”. The vibe is strong but it is easily forgettable in this album, the only standout is the layered female vocals at the end but it is unknown who did them.
The third to last song, “White Bone”, surprisingly switches the album atmosphere to a colder one. The production is echoey with sudden strong beats along with the profession of Drake’s love with lyrics: “I love you so much, I cannot lose you so…” It is oddly calm, yet intense, making this song a stand out as well.
“Forthworth (feat. PARTYNEXTDOOR)”, has the last feature on this album. Drake previously worked with PARTYNEXTDOOR to create majorly successful album, “$ome $exy $ongs 4 U”. It placed No.1 on the Billboard 200. The production is steady, and emotional for both artists’ verses, contrasting their previous collaborative album.
“Prioritizing” is the final and closing track. Completely opposite from the opener track, the lyrics move fast and it reflects the same tone throughout the whole album, wrapping it up generically.
With the album being one of three, it is completely different from the other two and not as loud, but for a certain audience for sure. Drake has experimented with translating his experiences in a different way and it brings him range, that is reflected in “HABIBTI”.
