After completely getting on my nerves by releasing Toosie Slide, Drake dropped a surprise mixtape Dark Lane Demo Tapes earlier this month. I thought I was going to be completely disappointed and have to listen to his mainstream RnB style, but boy was I wrong. This 14 track mixtape brings out the very best of Drake.

What’s the very best of Drake you ask? Well, it’s when he doesn’t pander to a massive audience with his pop songs and starts doing actual rap. He still has a couple RnB and Pop songs on the mixtape, including Toosie Slide itself. While the mixtape as a whole is a 7/10, a couple of the tracks stand out from the rest.

The most anticipated song on the tape was Pain 1993 (feat. Playboi Carti), and it is the best and worst song there at the same time. Drake absolutely delivers on the track, alongside the amazing beat from Pi’erre Bourne. The problem with Pain 1993 was Playboi Carti’s feature. It was an absolute disappointment and was disliked to the point where fans made edited versions of the song to take Carti off the track.

One thing we also got was a new type of Drake. It seems he has taken his first steps into the Drill Rap genre on the track Demons (Feat. Fivio Foreign & Sosa Geek). The track has a much grittier and darker vibe to it than his usual songs, while keeping a very fast pace. It was clear he took some inspiration from UK Drill or the late-Brooklyn Drill rapper Pop Smoke. Future and Young Thug also hopped on D4L, which was a very high-tempo trap track, with the usual sound you would hear from today’s trap music.

Overall, Drake was pretty solid throughout Dark Lane Demo Tapes, and besides a couple of tracks like Toosie Slide or Not You Too which I heavily disliked. If you prefer his darker, more trap-like songs, then I recommend you give this mixtape a shot.