From Drake to Willie Peyote: albums of the week

From Drake to Willie Peyote, passing through Max Gazzé and Primogenito. A weekend of varied releases, including Italian albums and international releases. Below are the albums recommended and selected by Rockol, which will be released on Friday 15 May.

Drake – “Iceman”

Waiting for the release date of “Iceman“, Drake’s new album, was, literally, like watching ice melt. The Toronto rapper didn’t just announce his new project on social media: he built a pyramid of ice blocks in the city center of Toronto. Confirmation came when a local streamer, known as Kishka, pulled a sealed bag with the words “Freeze the world” from one of the blocks. Inside, as promised by the rapper, there was a magazine containing the long-awaited date: May 15, 2026. “Iceman” arrives three years after “For All The Dogs” in 2023. In between, a joint album with PARTYNEXTDOOR, “Sexy Songs 4U”, and a diss track, the one with Kendrick Lamar, which redefined the boundaries of global hip hop.

Max Gazzè – “The ornament of secondary things”

“The ornament of secondary things” arrives five years after the previous “The mathematics of branches” and, on paper, represents one of Max Gazzè’s most ambitious projects. The official information released so far they tell of a work built around sound experimentation and musical research, elements that have always characterized Gazzè’s career. The album will contain twenty songs and will be made with a particular 432 Hz tuning, a technical choice that the artist would have adopted to give greater depth and naturalness to the sound. The project seems to want to bring the Roman singer-songwriter back towards a freer and more experimental dimension, linked to his artistic roots: it will be a very rich, layered album and designed as a complete listening experience rather than a collection of singles.

Willie Peyote – “Anatomy of a Prolonged Crash”

With “Kodak”, his new single, which in full Peyote style tells of a calm and solitary summer afternoon, the Turin rapper and singer-songwriter anticipates the new album “Anatomia di un crasho prolonged”, expected for next May 15th. Inside there are collaborations with Noemi, Brunori Sas and Jekesa. “The project has a cinematic inspiration, it’s also a bit of an oxymoron because after all we live in a period full of contradictions,” he said. The album, which comes in the wake of the release of Enrico Bisi’s docufilm “Willie Peyote – Elegia Sabauda”, will contain the single “Burrasca”, a song which arrived a year after the Turin rapper and singer-songwriter’s last participation in the Sanremo Festival with “Thanks but no thanks”.

Firstborn – “Drowning in Friendly Waters”

Someone may have noticed him on stage at the May Day Concert. Gabriele Tosti, this is the real name of the Roman singer-songwriter, born in 2004, brought his unique style to the Concertone, capable of mixing songwriting à la Ivan Graziani and Edoardo Bennato with more eccentric realities such as Tally Hall and Will Wood. “Affogare in acqua amica” is the project that marks his recording debut after a series of singles that have attracted a lot of attention in the new Italian singer-songwriter scene in the last two years. The EP contains five songs and has been described by the artist as a work born over two years, built by selecting and discarding songs until a coherent form was found. The title explains the concept well: “friendly waters” are all those apparently reassuring situations – relationships, memories, habits, family environments – which over time become oppressive, stagnant and difficult to leave. The project is almost defined as a musical “Bildungsroman”: a coming-of-age story that passes through family, love, the Roman suburbs, sense of guilt, identity and personal growth. It will surprise.