Drake / Future - What a Time to Be Alive (2015)

"Moon pie... what a time to be alive!" -Jasper Beardley, The Simpsons

This is exactly how I feel. September 20th, 2015, will not be a landmark day in rap history in the way September 11th (2001: The Blueprint; 2007: Graduation v. Curtis) is. I am not even sure if Drake and Future's new collaborative mixtape, What a Time to Be Alive, will be talked about or even remembered clearly a year from now. But boy am I glad that it's here.

Let's get one thing straight: Drake is the hottest rapper in the game right now, and has been for a long while now. Despite not releasing nary an album or a tape in 2014, he dominated the year (admittedly, it was a mainstream drought until J. Cole's 2014 Forest Hills Drive). However, Drake had the single "0 to 100 / The Catch Up", and remember when "How About Now" was leaked? Drake dominated most of 2014, no question (though Run the Jewels' second album was the year's finest, of course). 2015 is no different. If You're Reading This It's Too Late has spawned endless memes, and has been cited as a mixtape better than many rappers' albums. Though it's a bloated project, it's undoubtedly hot. And how can we forget when Drake murdered Meek Mill.

You know who else is hot in the rap scene? Future. In this year alone, he's released two mixtapes and an album before this collaboration. DS2 is quite good, though it lacks in variety. One of my favorite songs on the album is "Where Ya At", featuring Drake (it's been played in my car an exhausting number of times now).

So with both Drake and Future's flames quite bright, how is What a Time to Be Alive? Really quite good, unsurprisingly. Both artists know exactly what their listeners want, and they deliver. Alive isn't probing or provocative, but it's certainly entertaining. If you don't like Future because of his seemingly unintelligible voice, Alive isn't going to change your opinion on him. But there is not a single song that doesn't fit what I expected. The beats are all quite good. What a Time to Be Alive isn't extraordinary, but it's exactly what I expected, no more or less.

Standout tracks include the opener "Digital Dash", "Big Rings" "Diamonds Dancing", and "I'm the Plug", the latter which would have fit in perfectly on DS2. With Drake primed to release his fourth solo album Views from the 6 anytime now, and Future releasing songs plentiful in quality and quantity, it seems that neither artists will be passing their torches anytime soon. What a Time to Be Alive just fuels their flames.

8/10