Pitchfork has been putting out divisive album reviews for years and years now, and their take on the new Drake album is yet another one. Writer Jayson Greene gave ICEMAN a 4.8 out of 10, and the OVO fanbase has issues with the criticisms that go beyond a simple disagreement.
The review posits the new record as an unsuccessful attempt to "settle the score" that repeats subject matter and isn't very fun at all. It's a very critical perspective, but to each their own. They did give their Best New Track moniker to MAID OF HONOUR's "Cheetah Print" featuring Sexyy Red, though. So theories about hate for the sake of hate don't have a strong foundation.
Nevertheless, a lot of hardcore Drizzy listeners took to social media to blast this review as disingenuous and missing out on some quality on the tracklist. They think Greene didn't break down his lyrics enough or speak on his talents, did not offer nuance when talking about Drake's beef responses, among other conspiracy theories about UMG pushing negative reviews.
There are legitimate grievances, Stan-fueled defenses, and everything in between. Beyond media reviews, fans are still settling in with ICEMAN, not to mention HABIBTI and MAID OF HONOUR. Overall, they seem to be much happier with the material than reviews like these might suggest.
Pitchfork's Drake Score
Drake doesn't mind the negative criticism, as he's been dealing with it for his entire career. This Pitchfork review and many other criticisms from publications and fans recently led him to reflect on early criticisms of his 2011 classic Take Care. The Toronto superstar took to his Instagram Story over the weekend to share the comments section of HotNewHipHop's coverage of the album, in which our users were not very charitable to the record.
With that in mind, we doubt he's breaking a sweat over a 4.8. While fans have their complaints, anything below a perfect score will anger the most overzealous of them, so this is an inevitability.
Meanwhile, Drake is appreciating fans' positive responses to his trilogy. He recently liked a fan's IG post breaking down his purported diss towards The Weeknd on the track "Make Them Cry."
Fan Reactions
So there's plenty of ICEMAN praise to level out the negativity. It's causing a ruckus, which is the more important mission here.
