Iceman (Drake album)

Drake began teasing his ninth album in August 2024, which was rumored to be titled Iceman, by releasing the EP 100 Gigs (2024) and cryptic messages on his social media accounts. This was followed by OVO artist Smiley claiming Drake was doing "hard work" for the album in a June 2025 interview discussing the release of their collaboration "2 Mazza".^[4] Drake brought Gordo to work on the album's production by August 2025,^[5] and, in the same month, a possible U.S. tour for the album was teased on social media.^[6]

On July 4, 2025, nearly five months after the release of his collaborative studio album Some Sexy Songs 4 U with PartyNextDoor, Drake began teasing solo material; the single "What Did I Miss?" was released a day later, following a livestream titled "Iceman: Episode 1". On the livestream, Drake drives an Iceman-branded truck around Toronto, drawing a crowd of fans,^[7] and eventually arrives to an Iceman-branded warehouse, where he eats food and watches old videos of himself. It then transitions to a performance of the song.^[8]

Another song, rumored to be titled "Supermax", was also previewed during the livestream. On the song, Drake mentions reporter Taylor Rooks, rapping, "Losin' all these friends really got to me/ I was talking to Taylor over drinks, and it was getting deep/ 'Not everyone can handle this pressure and, in thе city, you're the national treasurе', that's what she said to me". According to Michael Saponara of Billboard, this depicts Drake "looking inward and vulnerably [opening] up about fractured relationships and keeping his focus."^[9] Possible collaborations with British-American rapper 21 Savage and American rapper Playboi Carti were also previewed during the livestream: 21 Savage collaborated with Drake on numerous songs and on a joint-album in 2022, while Carti previously collaborated with Drake on 2020's "Pain 1993" and 2024's "No Face", however he was ultimately removed from the latter upon its streaming release.^[10] DJ Swamp Izzo, who provided ad-libs on Carti's 2025 album Music, also previewed the collaboration on social media.^{[citation needed]} "Supermax" was not included on the album.

A second livestream, titled "Iceman: Episode 2", aired on July 24.^[11] Three tracks were previewed during the livestream: "Which One" with British rapper Central Cee, which had been previewed at Drake's 2025 Wireless Festival set and during the first livestream, in addition to two untitled songs that are expected to feature on the album. "Which One" was released as a single a day later, marking Drake's second collaboration with Central Cee following 2023's "On the Radar Freestyle".^[12] The song was not included on Iceman, but featured on its companion album Maid of Honour. The second episode depicted Drake being chased by Pinocchio throughout Manchester until he eventually escapes to Manchester Piccadilly station. The livestream concluded with a graphic that read "COMING SOON", with Pinocchio's head in place of the letter "I".^[13] According to Srosh Khan of the BBC, the character's presence in the livestream was interpreted to represent the lies "following Drake around" in the aftermath of his feud with Lamar.^[14]

A third livestream, "Iceman: Episode 3", aired on September 4, taking place in Milan.^[15] Several songs were previewed during the livestream, including the tentatively titled "That's Just How I Feel", as well as "Dog House". "That's Just How I Feel" was repurposed into "Janice STFU" on the album, while the latter features American singer Julia Wolf and American rapper Yeat, who appeared in the livestream. The episode was also noted for its continued depiction of Pinocchio, who appeared in previous episodes. In one scene, four Pinocchio characters sit at a restaurant table, with one writing "LEGACY" on the table in red paint before tossing ice cubes onto it. At the end of the stream, Drake is seen confronting three of the Pinocchio characters.^[16] Following the livestream, one of the previewed tracks, "Somebody Loves Me Pt. 2" was released; it is a remix of "Somebody Loves Me" from Some Sexy Songs 4 U and features American rapper Cash Cobain.

On September 13, a snippet of a track from Iceman leaked online during a livestream; the track's instrumental was previously previewed at the end of "Iceman: Episode 2". The snippet contains lyrics referencing former Toronto Raptors players DeMar DeRozan and Kawhi Leonard, with Drake rapping "When you was a part of the team we used to be planning our Mexico trips in the spring, we must've been dealing with the spur of the moment 'cause why (Kawhi) did we think you could get us a ring?". Drake takes aim at DeRozan, referencing his playoff losses with the Raptors and his 2018 trade to the San Antonio Spurs for Leonard (who won the 2019 NBA Finals with Toronto). Following the leak, Drake stated to streamer Adin Ross "I don't even know who the fuck those kids are", referring to the streamers that leaked the track.^[18][19] The song was eventually included on the album, titled "National Treasures". The leaked version of the track included a feature from Canadian rapper Pressa which was removed from the released version on the album.

On April 12, 2026, when Drake attended the Toronto Raptors final regular-season game against the Brooklyn Nets at Scotiabank Arena, his courtside seats were covered in faux ice, as a teaser for the album.^[20][21] Four days later, a music video was filmed near Downsview Airport, featuring an explosion.^[22] On April 20, a 25 foot tall ice sculpture in downtown Toronto was installed, with Drake revealing that the album's release date was hidden within the sculpture.^[23][24] The area was sealed off by Toronto police due to safety concerns after fans hacked at the statue with pickaxes and hammers, and lit it on fire.^[25][26] On April 21, the release date for Iceman was revealed to be May 15, after online streamer Kishka found a bag in the ice sculpture: the bag contained a magazine and a pin-up depicting Pachinko character Pachio-kun, which listed the release date.^[27]

On May 13, 2026, a song tentatively titled "1AM in Albany" was leaked on social media, which includes disses to Kendrick Lamar and LeBron James; the track is included on Iceman under the title "Make Them Remember". That night, the CN Tower was lit up with various patterns and text with projectors, which was speculated to be related to the album.^[28] A day later, "Iceman: Episode 4" was livestreamed on YouTube by CTV News, CP24 and Drake, registering over 458,000 concurrent viewers at its peak. The episode depicted several songs and accompanying music videos from the album and concluded by stating that three albums would be releasing on May 15: Iceman, Habibti, and Maid of Honour.^[29]

Title parodies

Upon the reveal of Iceman's release date, Internet memes emerged featuring other artists releasing albums with the suffix "-man" on the same date; a notable example being Fireman by Kendrick Lamar.^[31][32] AI-generated album covers and parody songs featuring AI-generated vocals of Drake and Lamar also went viral,^[30] with Complex labelling it as a "cinematic universe" of fake album titles and covers.^[32]

In "What Did I Miss?", Drake addresses the aftermath of his feud with Kendrick Lamar, calling out those who attempted to "play both sides" rather than support him. The song includes references to Lamar's Pop Out concert in 2024, among other nods to their conflict.^[33] The song features Drake's blend of "slick melodies and razor-sharp raps", as he addresses people he believes betrayed him and questions the authenticity of past friendships by rapping, "I saw bro went to Pop Out with them, but been dick riding gang since 'Headlines'". This lyric was interpreted to be a reference to NBA players DeMar DeRozan and LeBron James.^[34]

According to Jeff Ihaza of Rolling Stone, Drake is "in a familiar register" by referencing his 2024 feuds with other artists on the album, rapping, "All those summers of slappers, you owe me" on an untitled song, which features a "sped-up" beat switch, while on another song, speculated to be a freestyle with a "moody, lo-fi jerk-inspired" beat, Drake raps, "[I] ain't even know how bad they wanna see me go".^[16] This was echoed by Malcolm Trapp of Rap-Up, who said, "it's hard not to connect [these] lines to his very public feud with Lamar".^[35]

Several outlets and writers offered explanations of the meanings behind the album's title: Michael Saponara of Billboard said it could refer to Drake's "icy" jewelry, the impact of Canada's snowy winters, and former NBA player George Gervin and former mixed martial artist Chuck Liddell, who are both nicknamed "the Iceman". Iceman shares its name with the Marvel Comics superhero, who is a founding member of the X-Men and whose real name is Bobby Drake. According to comic book writer Mike Carey, Iceman is "devastatingly honest [and] very up-front with his emotions and his thoughts all the time".^[9]

More information Aggregate scores, Source ...

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	53/100[36]
Review scores
Source	Rating
The Arts Desk	[37][a]
Clash	6/10[38]
Consequence	B−[39]
The Guardian	[40][a]
The Irish Times	[41]
No Ripcord	3/10[42]
Pitchfork	4.8/10[43]
Rolling Stone	[44]
Slant Magazine	[45]
The Sydney Morning Herald	[46]

Close

According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Iceman received "mixed or average reviews" based on a weighted average score of 53 out of 100 from 8 critic scores.^[36]

Writing for The Arts Desk, Thomas H. Green wrote that on the record, "the backing tracks are gloopy slow-mo’ over which Drake mainly chats about how he’s 'flippin’ dough' and how people don’t appreciate his magnificence".^[37] In a review for Clash, Joe Simpson wrote that Iceman "makes it evident from kick off that the scars of [Drake's feuds] are still painful for [him]". Simpson praised "Make Them Cry" for its "real, refreshing moments of vulnerability" and positively compared it to Drake's earlier releases, as well as Future's performance. Simpson also praised the "masterful wordplay and stellar delivery" on "Make Them Pay", "Make Them Remember" and "National Treasures", calling Iceman Drake's best album since Her Loss. However, he criticized the album for its length.^[38] Kiana Fitzgerald for Consequence wrote that "Drake hasn’t absorbed the trauma of what he’s been through" and that she "can understand why, the poor thing, but it’s becoming a bit of a problem. His output is mirroring his lack of self-reflection". Fitzgerald concluded her review noting that "Iceman is Drake’s unearned victory lap".^[39] The Guardian's Alexis Petridis praised the production on "Ran to Atlanta", "Burning Bridges" and "National Treasures" (and singled out Molly Santana's feature as an "impressive turn") but said Iceman's "great moments are adrift amid a lot of underwhelming stuff [and] filler".^[40]

Ed Power for The Irish Times wrote that "for all the background heat, Iceman amounts to little more than a po-faced portrait of an artist adrift and with little to cling to beyond an enthusiastically nurtured sense of victimhood" and that "hell has frozen over, and nothing can melt the walls of self‑pity Drake has built around himself".^[41] In a positive review for Variety, Peter A. Berry labeled Iceman "the fun and vindictive comeback record [Drake] needed", commending its writing as "incisive as [it] is tidy" and highlighted its soul-inspired and maximalist trap production. He also praised its tone for its "direct bloodthirstiness" and honesty, stating that, despite its length, it has "enough sonic and tonal variance [to avoid] the monochromatic purgatory of [Drake's] last three solo releases".^[47] Pitchfork writer Jayson Greene called Iceman "a missed opportunity", saying Drake's lyrical content "picks up some weapons-grade plutonium here and there, only to gingerly set it back down", and concluded the album is "a long platter of cold, lumpy self-pity".^[43] In a mixed review of the three-album release, Roisin O'Connor of The Independent said that "some of [Drake's] best work in years is present [on Iceman]", praising "Make Them Cry" in particular, but added that "it's obscured by the bad", concluding, "Iceman starts strong [but] quickly melts into a soggy mess of erratic beat switches, misogyny, autotune and a rehashing of old gripes".^[48]

Rolling Stone's Jeff Ihaza wrote that "though it's far from Drake’s most compelling work, Iceman accomplishes the task of clearing the field after he'd been declared, among other things, dead. Which, to his credit, was a rather tall order".^[44] Paul Attard for Slant Magazine wrote that "Iceman plays like a concept album set in an alternate universe where a two-year-old rap beef remains the driving discourse of public life, as though millions of people are waking up each morning and asking themselves how Drake is holding up". Attard continued that "this has been the Drizzy dichotomy for some time now, and it’s rarely felt more contradictory than it does here".^[45] Writing for The Sydney Morning Herald, Robert Morgan wrote that "Drake’s in prime emcee mode on Iceman but 18 tracks of it is exhausting, like you’re being subjected to a friend’s endless tirades against a co-worker".^[46]

All tracks are principally written by Aubrey Graham. Full credits are not available at this time; production credits have been adapted from HotNewHipHop.^[49]