OVO signee I love Makonnen has a lot of untapped talent.
Unfortunately, little has been done to extrapolate his skill. This isn’t an odd occurrence as most artists with the OVO tag, barring Drake of course, have seen minimal success with their solo records. Drink More Water 6 is just another ill fated slump along what could’ve been a fantastic path for Makonnen. Listening through this record it’s clear he’s placed no bets on innovation, sticking with the same tired formula that has been regurgitated on most of his past releases. Another damning factor is the over-repetition of hooks. “Back Again” starts as an interesting track, and I most definitely could appreciate repeating the hook a few times as it let the track slide into chilled groove. However, forcing the song to lean on the hook makes Makonnen’s technically unorthodox voice start to lose its charm, leaving the listener with vocals that are just annoying. To that point, the mixing seems to have set Makonnen in the background, bringing more attention to the production, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but the beats aren’t anything special enough to be given the foreground. Between the gross over-repetition in Makonnen’s vocals and middle of the line instrumentals, the listener is left with a record that’s confused as to what it’s showcasing. I could potentially strip all that away and take this record as something to vibe to, but I can’t do that. The tracks are way longer than they need to be, feeling as though they were originally no more than two minutes, but were shamelessly looped to hit the three or four minute mark. It really takes away from the ability to sit back and just enjoy the record.
In terms of lyrical content, I only have one thing to say to Makonnen and that isolate more than welcome to play a character as an artist. There’s nothing I can say to donning a more entertaining persona. However, it’s nice if you keep some consistency. It comes off goofy to make a track about no longer selling molly, later mention you aren’t selling any drugs at the present, (on “Big Gucci”) then follow it up with a song about how you’re selling every single possible drug.
I respect Makonnen, and consider him to be a good artist, and it’s for that reason I won’t pretend like Drink More Water 6 has Makonnen displaying his full potential.
art by your homie, Arthur Banach
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