Drake had the hip-hop world staring at him spitting darts Behind Barz last week, and now we’re watching him light a Fire In The Booth with BBC Radio. The Scorpion rapper hasn’t done any interviews to promote his latest album – the massive stream count indicates he doesn’t need to – but he’s still visiting the UK’s biggest hip-hop platforms and making his presence felt. Perhaps after the hoopla he’s dealt with in past months with the Pusha T controversy, he not only wants to avoid the American media that may interrogate him on their beef, but simply wants his bars to speak for themselves. That didn’t quite happen during his entry in the Fire In The Booth freestyle series, but it’s not his fault. Radio host Charlie Sloth was apoplectic at the Toronto rapper’s presence, screaming throughout Drake’s intermittent verses and calling him “an animal” with the bars.
While Drake’s Fire In The Booth freestyle wasn’t quite as scathing as his thinly veiled shots at Kanye West and Pusha T last week, it was still a solid effort. Drake eschewed the drawling UK Drill flow in favor of a tactical delivery reminiscent of his Comeback Season mixtape or “(Insert Time) in (Insert Location)” songs. “I took a lot of my brothers from B and E licks or the pot rotation/To ridin’ shotgun in a Picasso painting,” he rhymes, showing off poetic flourishes. Though his Fire In The Booth freestyle was shorter than the 10-minute freestyles that typify the platform, he still represented well.
He also may have let a cat out of the bag, telling Sloth that he’d be back for another freestyle in “January (or) February” of 2019. Will he be promoting another project? Variety recently speculated that he already has a Scorpion followup in the can and may release it when he announces his new label situation. Perhaps after letting Scorpion ride out through the summer and finishing his 5-month spanning tour with Migos, he will gear up for another release for the 4th quarter of 2018 or 1st quarter of 2019.
