With the pressure of keeping up with the new generation, can Drake and Kanye manage to stay relevant? 

These two artists have been staples in the hip hop/rap game for over a decade and they have influenced a lot of the newer artists. Now at the end of their careers, they have both released what could be their last studio album.

The heavily anticipated albums were all over social media and immediately compared to each other. People all over the world were in question, which album was better? In order to figure this out, a questionnaire was posted on Instagram that received feedback from a great number of people from Manchester High School.

The responses provided different perspectives to give a fair rating of both albums and artists. The first question asked was “Who are your favorite artists?” The genres of hip hop they fell under varied from trap music to lyrical music to even storytelling music but the consensus favorite was not Drake or Kanye. This creates a mostly unbiased audience to grade both projects.

Then, the respondents were asked, if they had to choose between the artists, Drake and Kanye (Ye), who they would prefer to listen to. It was a close race with Drake winning by a singular vote. 

On the questionnaire, we had asked what album people preferred and what they would rate them on a scale of 1-10. After averaging them out, Certified Lover Boy was rated an 8.125/10 and DONDA came very close with an 8.05/10. 

Out of the people who responded, the most common higher answer was Drake, who released Certified Lover Boy. 

But just because Drake was the favorite overall, does not mean that his album was better, we can also talk about generated sales and the album’s impact as a whole.

When it comes to first-week sales in America, Drake again beats Kanye by nearly double. DONDA sold around 309k sales compared to Certified Lover Boy selling 613k sales the first week. CLB is not only favored more by Manchester High students, but also by the United States. 

These two artists have earned the respect to know that sales do not tell the tale. Drake and Kanye have been able to produce hits after hits over the years and both albums were nothing short of that.

The two rappers glory quality when releasing their albums, but these newly released albums have a combination of both quality and quantity.

DONDA was released with 27 songs and Certified Lover Boy was released with 21 songs. When two-generational artists release music, there is a guarantee that there will be some hits.

CLB was highlighted by ‘Champagne Poetry’, ‘Way 2 Sexy’ (featuring Future and Young Thug),  and ‘Knife Talk’ (featuring 21 Savage and Project Pat). DONDA on the other hand had songs such as  ‘Off the Grid’ (featuring Playboi Carti and Fivio Foreign), ‘Hurricane’ (featuring The Weeknd and Lil Baby), and ‘Ok Ok‘ (featuring Lil Yachty and Lil Durk).

Even when comparing these albums together, we can still take the time to appreciate the greatness and the longevity of Drake and Kanye.

There are many ways to weigh and evaluate music by different artists. Using the methods of collecting ratings, preferences, and sales were extremely vital when settling the debate on what album was better than the other.

Based on the results of this survey, it is very clear that Certified Lover Boy was the favorite and is considered the better album.

There is no discredit to the artists or the albums, but the numbers and respondents’ answers heavily favor Drake and his album, Certified Lover Boy.