The Big 3's Double Albums Ranked

Criteria

Each album has been compared and graded in two parts, totalling 100% of its final grade. The first 50 percent is internal, based on the album itself, and the second 50% is external, how it compares to the other two double albums. The first 50 percent breaks down into multiple categories. Production is worth 10%. The song score is 20%, and the concept score rounds out the last 20%. Song score is a combination of a soft score(non-skippable songs) and a hard score(songs with replay value). The Concept score is based on how well the album executes its concept. The last 50% is based on a head-to-head listening of the songs in order, and based on the disc, with sequencing taking precedence when track lists are uneven in length.

Background

Kendrick, Drake, and Cole have been compared for years, but only now do we have three examples of them attempting the same unique feat: the double album. Each artist made their double album at different points in their careers, but they all had one thing in common. They made these albums with their back against the wall to some degree. Drake was the first to make his double album Scorpion. It was his fifth studio album. Drake was 31 years old, and he was in the middle of a heated beef with Pusha T. Drake had his child revealed to the world before he could reveal the child, making it look like he was hiding his son, or even worse, a deadbeat. On top of that, after engaging in the very public beef, he backed down. Everyone was looking at Drake sideways. The Scorpion album was make-or-break.

Kendrick was the second artist to make a double album. He was three years older than Drake at 34 when he did it, but it was also his fifth studio album. Kendrick was under a different type of pressure. He was coming off a Pulitzer Prize-winning album. The expectations were through the roof, and he hadn’t dropped an album in 5 years. After a hiatus, he was facing allegations of retirement. He hilariously dropped this album on Twitter in response to a Twitter user who said he was officially retired. But would it be worth the 5-year wait? Kendrick had a tough task.

Cole was the last to drop his double album at the age of 41. He had a combination of Kendrick and Drake pressure. On the one hand, this was an album ten years in the making. Could the album live up to ten years of hype? Plus, he had Drake pressure. Cole infamously beefed with Kendrick, then apologized and ran back inside. This altered the path of destruction he had been on. Now, all of Hip Hop was looking at Cole sideways. Cole had to deliver. The Fall off was make-or-break.

Concepts

Scorpion 18/20

Drake’s concept was fairly simple but highly desired for the bulk of his career. Half of his album highlights his rapping, and the other half highlights his R&B singing. The first half shows him in the middle of conflict and success in the crazy world of a rapper. It’s braggadocious, contemplative, and full of bravado and quotables. In the second half, R&B seems to allow Drake to delve deeper into himself and express his emotions more openly. In the second half, he digs into how he feels about his breakup with someone he saw a future with, his son, and how his son came to be.

The main criticism of the execution of the concept is that the rap side could have been more verse-heavy and less melodic, like Sandra’s Rose. Some of the songs fly by, and I was left wanting more. This may be reflective of how Drake feels when he’s rapping, as you see the clear difference in emotion of rap Drake and singing Drake, but it’s also clear he has more bars he could be delivering, especially on the side that is supposed to be heavily rap.

However, my main praise is that the album is full of slaps. Drake did a good job showing a level of versatility that most artists could not match. There are hits all over both sides of this album. Although some of his verses are shorter, each line he says packs a punch. He shows he is very clever and concise. Also, a double album is long, but Scorpion never gets boring.

Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers 14/20

This is the most ambitious of the three in terms of concept. Kendrick comes back after years to be more vulnerable than ever by sharing the work he’s done on himself. Through this album, Kendrick talks not just about his own inner turmoil but also about healing generational trauma in the black community, including homophobia, sexual abuse, and more. He recruits Kodak Black, who has a very checkered past, including sexual assault charges. Kendrick didn’t want to run from the abuse in the black community, but instead shared what he learned and tried to deconstruct and heal from these generational traumas.

My main criticism of the album is that he could have been more vulnerable and clear. Kendrick himself says, “tell you in pieces cause it’s way too heavy,” on the song Mr Morale, but when he just laid it out there, those were the best tracks. Kendrick spends a fair bit of time talking about cancellation and how nobody is allowed to have non-politically correct takes anymore. He spends more time talking about why he didn’t speak or feel the need to speak out on the racial issues that were being widely discussed at the time, rather than just speaking out on those issues. Also, there are times on the album when the concepts do not come together concisely. There is nothing wrong with deep concepts, but continuity on a base level should be clear. Purple Hearts, the final song, sounds like the artists are unaligned in subject matter. Then there’s Silent Hill, which appears to be about meditation, but once you get that, does it add value to the listening experience? Not in my opinion.

Also, there were moments where Kendrick undercut himself. Auntie Diaries, for example. I love the song, but he absolutely ruined it by repeatedly singing a gay slur in a song about transphobia. Kendrick is a very talented writer. The same guy who wrote “Now this is not a tape recorder saying that he did it, but ever since that day I was looking at him different,” could have easily expressed that he had regressive ideas when he was younger without singing the F slur repeatedly. It added nothing to the song. Also, the conclusion at the end that saying the F slur is as bad as a white girl saying the n-word falls completely flat when you have been saying it all song. It’s a shame because it is an otherwise phenomenal song that is needed in rap. Also, there were the finales in disc one and two. Disc one should have ended on this explosive note of WE Cry Together, but instead, we get the flat Purple Hearts song that feels like it’s chasing. Then on disc two, we get this amazing, transformational song, "Mother I Sober," which would have been the perfect ending to the album. Whitney and his kid even sign off at the end, thanking him for ending generational trauma and saying the title of the album. But instead, we get Mirrors, a flat track where Kendrick sings to his fans about choosing himself, and it just ruins what could have been an amazing finale.

My main praise of this album is that at its best, it’s incredible, therapeutic, and transformational. At its highest point, it soars higher than the other two double albums. Auntie Diaries is a good example of the album's vulnerability. Songs like Father Time, are both bangers and healing works of art. Mother I Sober, however, takes the cake with Kendrick deconstructing the traumas of physical and sexual abuse in his family and how all of it has affected him negatively, as well as how it affects black men and how to heal, work through, and release yourself. It’s inspirational that a mainstream artist in this space would be so bold on the hard topics like sexual abuse, root causes of coping mechanisms, and how deeply-seated trauma affects many in the black community.

The Fall Off

19/20

On this album, Cole’s two discs are separated by age. The first disc is him going back to Fayetteville after making it at 29, and the second disc is him coming back at 39. The first disc is a tight tale of danger, love, and success. It’s almost like his ATL. You feel like you are right there with Cole, even if you have never been to his hometown. Disc 39 is more reflective of a man who has gained a lot of wisdom and is more pensive and out of the way than the 29-year-old Cole running the streets. My main criticism of this album is that there were several times where Cole’s choruses marked down an otherwise good song. And the Whole World is the Ville is an example of this, which is unfortunate because it was the finale of disc two. Also, disc one went from climactic end on the Let Out to an anticlimactic finale with Bombs in the Ville/hit the gas.

My main praise for this album is that, across 22 tracks (not counting bonus tracks), it moves very quickly. It doesn’t feel long, and even on the few songs that may not be your favorite, the album remains interesting. The first half is gripping, showcasing the drama you can only get when you are in the thick of it, but the second half shows how much skill Cole has gained as a rapper and the wisdom and insight he has gained as a man. I don’t think any other album has ever captured that like The Fall Off. The second disk is littered with great concepts that show what a high-level MC Cole is. The whole album also serves as an ode to rap itself, and you can feel Cole’s love in all his references, as well as in the best song on the album I Love Her Again.

Production

Scorpion 9.5/10

Part of the reason Scorpion remains interesting for 25 tracks is the elite production. Even on the tracks I don’t like, the beats are still very good, and the production is varied.

Mr Morale and the Big Steppers 8/10

This is Kendrick we are talking about here, so there are no trash beats on the project. However , the production is just solid. Another thing that holds it back is that some of the beats changed, and the first beat was actually the better one.

The Fall 9/10

Best production of J.Cole's career. This album is not just the culmination of Cole's career; it’s also a dedication to rap and what inspired Cole, and this album is filled with creative interpretations of classic work with Cole's production. The sounds are so varied that this album never gets boring. There are barely any misses. There are no bad beats on the album, just a few that could have been better.

Versus

The versus was split up into disc one and disc two battles. Drake has the longest project, with 25 songs, and Kendrick has the shortest, with 18. Cole, always the middle child, is there with 22 official tracks. When a disc ran out of tracks, the track from that disc was selected by sequence from the final track, i.e., third to last or second to last. If you would like to see the song-by-song comparison of these albums, you can check it out here.

Disc 1

Drake won disc one with five of his songs standing tall. Kendrick’s disc one came in second place with four wins, and Coles came in third with three wins.

Disc 2

Cole’s disc two took the crown with five wins, and Drake came in second with 4 wins. Kendrick actually tied Drake for second place on disc two with 4 wins.

And the Best Double Album goes to...

Drake won the versus with a total of 9 wins across both discs. Kendrick and Cole tied for second place with 8 total wins across both discs. So for half of the album grade, which is the verses, Drake received 45/50. An A- because he got first place but only slightly, so it’s an A-. Kendrick and Cole both secured second place, so they get B’s, and since they were only one away from Drake, they get B pluses. They both received 44/50. But that’s only half the score. When we add their points from the other half of the rubric, the album grades are as follows.

3rd Place

Kendrick Lamar Mr Morale and The Big Steppers 79.5/100 B-

2nd Place

J.Cole The Fall Off 89.27/100 B+

1st Place

Drake Scorpion 90.1/100 A-