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Here's a look at Drake's surprise mixtape

Drake recently released a 17-song collection titled “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late” to iTunes and other platforms. The work includes guest appearances by rapper Lil Wayne, among others.

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Greg Allen/Invision/AP
Drake performs at the Barclays Center in New York in 2013.

Rapper Drake recently released an unexpected mixtape titled “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late,” echoing the album releases of such artists as Beyoncé and U2.

According to Rolling Stone, Drake released a short film titled “Jungle” on Feb. 12, then the 17-song mixtape came out later. The collection is available on iTunes and on SoundCloud.

An album titled “Views From the 6” was Drake’s next planned work before now, according to the Washington Post, and it’s unknown whether songs on “Reading” will also appear on the album or if “Views” is still happening. 

The tracks on “Reading” include appearances by Lil Wayne, Travi$ Scott, and singer PARTYNEXTDOOR. 

Guardian critic Paul Lester gave the new work four stars out of five, writing that “Reading” is “intimate, intense, wistful, endlessly questioning, open-hearted Drake, backed by pristine machine beats, with aching chord sequences and lovely synth codas – longtime Drake fans will find much to appreciate here. If anything, the beats are more angular and experimental than anything he’s recorded since 'Thank Me Later'… with mixtapes of this quality, who needs official collections?... mostly this is as fresh and fabulous as an hour-plus of Drake bleating could ever hope to be.”

Drake’s last album was the 2013 work “Nothing Was the Same.”

Singer Beyoncé released a self-titled album in 2013 without any warning and the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making her the first female singer to reach number one with her first five studio albums, according to Billboard. Meanwhile, classic rock band U2 released an album unexpectedly this past fall, but some iTunes users were displeased by the fact that U2’s new work “Songs of Innocence” automatically appeared in their program. Soon after, Apple created a website to help users who didn’t want “Innocence” in their library take it out. 

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