Here's a look at Drake's surprise mixtape
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Molly Driscoll Staff writer
Rapper Drake recently released an unexpected mixtape titled 鈥淚f You鈥檙e Reading This It鈥檚 Too Late,鈥� echoing the album releases of such artists as 叠别测辞苍肠茅 and U2.
According to , Drake released a short film titled 鈥淛ungle鈥� on Feb. 12, then the 17-song mixtape came out later. The collection is available on iTunes and on SoundCloud.
An album titled 鈥淰iews From the 6鈥� was Drake鈥檚 next planned work before now, according to the , and it鈥檚 unknown whether songs on 鈥淩eading鈥� will also appear on the album or if 鈥淰iews鈥� is still happening.聽
The tracks on 鈥淩eading鈥� include appearances by Lil Wayne, Travi$ Scott, and singer PARTYNEXTDOOR.聽
critic Paul Lester gave the new work four stars out of five, writing that 鈥淩eading鈥� is 鈥渋ntimate, intense, wistful, endlessly questioning, open-hearted Drake, backed by pristine machine beats, with aching chord sequences and lovely synth codas 鈥� longtime Drake fans will find much to appreciate here. If anything, the beats are more angular and experimental than anything he鈥檚 recorded since 'Thank Me Later'鈥� with mixtapes of this quality, who needs official collections?... mostly this is as fresh and fabulous as an hour-plus of Drake bleating could ever hope to be.鈥�
Drake鈥檚 last album was the 2013 work 鈥淣othing Was the Same.鈥�
Singer 叠别测辞苍肠茅 released a self-titled album in 2013 without any warning and the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making her the first female singer to reach number one with her first five studio albums, according to . Meanwhile, classic rock band U2 released an album unexpectedly this past fall, but some iTunes users were displeased by the fact that U2鈥檚 new work 鈥淪ongs of Innocence鈥� automatically appeared in their program. Soon after, Apple created a to help users who didn鈥檛 want 鈥淚nnocence鈥� in their library take it out.聽
