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Drake’s long-awaited “Iceman” rollout ended Friday with a lot more music than most fans expected. Instead of simply dropping his ninth studio album, Drizzy released a full-blown trilogy – “Iceman”, “Habibti” and “Maid of Honor” – all at the same time at midnight. The 43 songs in total mark Drake’s first solo long player since “For All the Dogs” (2023) as well as the follow-up to his 2025 collaboration with PartyNextDoor, “$ome $exy $ongs 4 U”.
The reveal took place during the fourth installment of Drake’s ongoing “Iceman” livestream series, which aired Thursday night. In the stream, he revealed that the hotly anticipated album would be released alongside two other projects. Drake pulled out three hard drives, the words “I made this so that I could make this” appeared on the screen – shortly afterwards the titles of the two additional albums appeared.
The evening began with Drake’s YouTube channel going live at 9:45 a.m. sharp. The livestream opened with a cinematic panning shot through Toronto, the camera gliding around the iconic CN Tower. Iceman’s opening track, “Make Them Cry,” finds Drake in an introspective, personal mood that permeates the entire project – addressing his father’s cancer diagnosis and setting a reflective tone before the rollout took a turn for the spectacular. From there, the stream moved through a series of visual set pieces. DJ Akademiks made an early appearance and delivered a monologue against Drake’s critics and online opponents. In another surreal sequence from the “Dust” video, Shane Gillis sat in the backseat of a police car while Drake’s son Adonis drove – one of several bizarre comedic inserts that punctuated the barrage of music videos.
Ice cream, noir and cartoons
The visuals consistently rely on icy, noir-like images. At one point, Drake appeared in a “Fargo”-like winter setting, with a body in the snow. Elsewhere, the stream switched to cartoon animation, adding to the strange, episodic feel of the presentation. Musically, the show tied together several threads of the “Iceman” rollout. A flow that Drake had previously introduced with Yeat returned in a new form; Another track sampled the popular streamer Yonna together with comedian and Drake affiliate BenDaDonnn. Drake also revisited material fans had already heard in previous episodes – including “National Treasures” and “Which One” featuring Central Cee. At another point, he repurposed a sample from “Show Me a Good Time,” turning a familiar piece from his catalog into something new. Future and Molly Santana joined Drake for “Ran to Atlanta,” a song that counters one of Kendrick’s disses from “Not Like Us.” In this spirit of backlash, in the video for “Make Them Remember,” we see Drake infiltrate a kind of streaming bot farm, with smartphones on the walls that appear to be playing “Not Like Us.”
The visual rollout was hardly smaller than the musical one. During the livestream, Drake debuted a series of music videos accompanying the albums, many filmed in and around Toronto – all of which appeared on his YouTube channel overnight. Visuals shown or announced included “Plot Twist”, “Janice STFU”, “Little Birdie”, “Burning Bridges”, “Slap the City”, “National Treasures”, “Make Them Remember” and “Dust”.
Lyrically, Drake was combative for long stretches of the stream. He repeatedly taunts Kendrick, alluding to the ongoing aftermath of their feud while simultaneously appearing to answer questions about his standing in the rap world. At one point he hinted at wanting to become independent. He also took a pointed swipe at streaming-era scorekeeping and urged his critics to “check out their Spotify Wrapped” – fan metrics and online discourse flow directly into the music. There was plenty of smoke. Fans online were quick to notice Drake’s apparent criticism of DJ Khaled in “Make Them Pay,” where he raps, “Your people are still waiting for a ‘Free Palestine,’ but apparently everything isn’t black and white and red and green” – a pointed reference to Khaled’s silence on Gaza despite his Palestinian heritage.
The scope of the release is unusually large, even by Drake’s standards. “Iceman” features 18 tracks and is listed on Apple Music with a running time of one hour and eight minutes; OVO is registered under exclusive license with Republic Records. “Maid of Honor” contains 14 songs and runs 45 minutes. “Habibti” contributes a further 11 tracks – a total of 43 songs across three albums, Drake’s ninth, tenth and eleventh studio albums.
Features, production, artwork
The guest list ranges from long-standing collaboration partners to several newcomers. Credits across the three albums include Future, 21 Savage, Molly Santana, Stunna Sandy, Sexyy Red, Central Cee, Popcaan, Iconic Savvy, Loe Shimmy, Qendresa and PartyNextDoor. The production is also broad, with contributions from Ovrkast, Riot, Boi-1da, DJ Frisco954 and more.
The artwork gives each project its own identity. The cover of “Maid of Honor” features a photo of Drake’s mother as a young woman, while “Iceman” shows a hand with Michael Jackson’s sequined glove. The cover of “Habibti” is a black and white photo of a woman whose face is covered with tape – only her eyes remain visible. The triple release capped one of the most lavish rollouts of Drake’s career. Even before its release, “Iceman” had been promoted through a series of live streams, music previews and ice stunts. Drake first spoke about the album on his Anita Max Win tour and announced that he would return “with another album” when the time is right. Later, the rollout included YouTube live streams with snippets of songs like “What Did I Miss?”, “Which One” and “Dog House.”
The most spectacular stunt occurred last month in Toronto: Drake erected a giant ice sculpture in a parking lot and promised that the release date of “Iceman” was hidden inside and would be revealed as soon as the sculpture melted. Fans arrived with pickaxes and bare hands, and Twitch streamer Kishka revealed the date – May 15th – a day later. Toronto’s fire department then cordoned off the sculpture and sprayed it with warm water.
After the feud with Kendrick
The release also appeared in a specific post-beef context. “Iceman” was Drake’s first studio album following his feud with Kendrick Lamar in 2024 – a slugfest that culminated in Lamar’s “Not Like Us.” The song won Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 2026 Grammys, and according to the AP, Drake’s defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group over the song was dismissed by a federal judge in October 2025.
While Iceman was widely seen as Drake’s reboot, the end result – three albums in different genres – appeared to be a sprawling attempt to rewrite the narrative surrounding his final chapter.
