Why Drake’s ‘ICEMAN’ Failed to Impress Professional Music Critics and Fans

Since getting dragged in that rap battle with Kendrick Lamar, losing his defamation suit against Universal Music, Group and dropping that lukewarm joint mixtape $ome $exy $ongs 4 U with Partynextdoor, Drake has been relatively quiet—presumably cooking up a grand comeback. Except, fans just aren’t feeling Drizzy’s latest drop, and we’re about to explain why.

On Friday, May 15, Drake released not one but three albums — “ICEMAN,” “MAID OF HONOR” and “HABIBTI” — to reclaim his throne as the most popular rapper out right now. While he remains one of the rappers with the highest streams on Spotify and has even surpassed the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, with the most albums that have spent a decade on the Billboard 200, his trifecta of albums has left fans disappointed. Some are feeling that his music has gone stale with nothing fresh to offer.

On X and in critics’ reviews, most of the criticism has been aimed at “ICEMAN,” the project with the most rap-heavy sound, while the other two have more of an R&B and dance feel. When discussing “ICEMAN,” folks have been calling the project “boring” because of his predictable rap flow.

Another user on X called the rapper out for being a “cash cow” by releasing the project, writing: “Couple bangers on Iceman. Couple cold transitions as well. I will be rinsing Make Them Cry for the foreseeable future. But the album is boring and Drake sounds sad. The Drake I hate features heavily on this as well. But Drake is inevitable. An absolute cash cow.”

Even publications such as The Guardian rated the three projects 2 out of 5 stars, calling them a “bloated disaster,” while Pitchfork gave “ICEMAN” a 4.8 score and labeled it a failed attempt to settle the score after his beef with K-Dot.

Others think that Drake should drop the tough-guy act and go back to making fun music that better suits the club scene.

“I only fw lightskinded Drake. Go sing about some hoes, bruh. This tough man guy shit on Iceman is boring, repetitive and all cap,” wrote one user.

However, many fans have been bumping Drake’s triad of projects and calling folks who have negative things to say about the albums haters.

“Drake haters everywhere trying to pretend Drake didn’t just drop a classic,” wrote one user.

“I’ve noticed Drake haters never digest his albums. He literally dropped 3 and n***as were calling it all trash at 4 am,” wrote another.

Even Champagne Papi himself is letting the hate roll off his shoulders. Over the weekend, Drake shared screenshots to his Instagram story of similar hate comments he received when he dropped “Take Care” in 2011. The move showed that this kind of backlash against him is nothing new, reminding fans that one of his most heavily criticized albums eventually became an RIAA-certified Diamond classic.

However, while some folks are completely for or against the new Drake, others point out that the criticisms are not meant to knock him down. Instead, they are simply notes from fans saying they miss when Drizzy was a more thoughtful artist with a more cohesive sound to his albums.

One fan on X wrote, “Why do Drake fans get so mad that we don’t like what he became as an artist? It does not take away all the memories we had with his good music. It’s just ever since More Life, for me, Drake has just been boring and repetitive. I want him to be more selective with his songs, not release 43 songs in one day.”