Donda and Certified Lover Boy review

Lauren Runde, Assistant A&E Writer

The music industry is a popular industry in which artists are always fighting their way up the charts to get to number one, even if it means making some enemies along the way. Drake is a popular Canadian singer and songwriter who gained recognition in 2010 for his debut album Thank Me Later. Drake has won a total of four Grammys and holds the record for the most top ten singles, with 54 songs. Recently, Drake released a new album titled Certified Lover Boy, on September 3, which charted at number one on the Billboard 200, being Drake’s tenth album to do so. The album] received 613,000 streaming units during its debut week, which led the album to surpass Kanye West’s tenth album Donda, released August 29. Kanye West is an American singer who, in the last decade, has gone from collaborating with Drake to being a competitor and now bitter rival. Kanye West dropped his first album, The College Dropout, in 2004, which was a success and ,since then, has won a total of 22 Grammys, making him one of the most awarded artists. Both artists’ music have never intertwined as closely together as these highly anticipated album drops, released within five days of each other. “Now, I would say, he is a really great competitor . . . and friend, at the same time. My goal is to surpass everything he’s accomplished. I don’t want to be as good as Kanye, I want to be better,” Drake said in October 2011. Their relationship started off on the right foot until 2016, when Kanye stopped during one of his tours to voice how he believed that radio stations were overplaying a single released by Drake and DJ Khalid. From then on, more bad blood brewed and they have both continuously taken jabs at each other in the lyrics of their songs over the years. “I think that Donda and Certified Lover Boy are two completely different albums that should not be compared to see which one is better . . . both are great in different ways,” said Xavier High School Senior Stella Bernhard. Certified Lover Boy is a very honest album and some of Drake’s lyrics can be a little heartless at times, but it creates an intimate lyricism that is often relatable to others. One of my favorite songs from the album is ‘Fair Trade’ because there is a particular honest and relatable line in the song that I really enjoy. “I’ve been losin’ friends and findin’ peace, but honestly that sound like a fair trade to me.” Drake’s songs have some hard hitting lyrics that many people can value. Drake fans and listeners of the album are happy about the finished product but are not astonished by the body of work. As for West, his album covers topics over God, divorce and family. Like Drake, West delivers honest and relatable lyrics, which could be why both artists are as successful as they are. “My favorite songs from Donda are ‘Jail pt 2,’ ‘Hurricane’ and ‘Jonah,’ Bernhard said. Many of the responses to West’s album have been favorable, but when it comes down to whether his album or Drake’s is better, the general consensus is that Certified Lover Boy is the better album. Both albums can be found on Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, as well as other streaming platforms.