Music's Super Tuesday stars Drake, Sting and many more

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Drake boasts 'I'm as famous as my mentor,' Lil Wayne, on his new album.

Today marks music’s Super Tuesday. A flood of new albums will pour into the download device of your choice and wash through the last remaining record stores. Big-name young stars like Drake, Kings of Leon and Icona Pop face off against long-in-the-tooth brand names like Sting, Elton John and Cher.

It’s part of the music industry’s annual fall push to boost its bottom line. Between the back-to-school weeks and the holidays, ears and wallets always open wider. Which of the new CDs will click and which will stumble? Here’s our guide:

Drake

“Nothing Was The Same”

(Cash Money/Universal)

3 Stars

No more Mr. Nice Guy roles will do for Drake.

On the third CD by the world’s first major Jewish/Canadian hip-hop star, you won’t find any more moping about a lost love, or any striving to be accepted as a major rap player.

That’s a risk. Both approaches played key parts in the distinction, and appeal, of Drake’s biggest album, 2011’s “Take Care.”

To the contrary, this time the star declares, “I’m on my worst behavior,” setting up a long run of rap’s favored activities: chest-pumping, argument-starting and score-settling.

Right at the start, Drake evens the playing field with one of rap’s giants, boasting “I’m as famous as my mentor” (i.e., Lil Wayne). From there, he whips out declarations like “I’m the kid with the motormouth/I’m the one you should worry about,” “I’m holding all the cards/and n—as wanna play chess,” or simply “I’m the big homie.”

In his new music, Drake isn’t being especially ingratiating or cottoning to commercial expectations, not that he ever did. Yet, even more so than before, the songs float and wander rather than punch or force.

It’s not an original approach. Kanye West’s “808s & Heartbreak” and Kid Cudi’s “Man on the Moon” pioneered this arty, understated and internalized style for hip hop. Drake has a comeback for that, too. “It ain’t who did it first/it’s about who did it good,” he raps.

That’s one of many self-aware and funny lines that pepper the CD. “They should put a few more mirrors in here/so I can stare at myself,” he cracks in “Pound Cake.” “I make mistakes/I’m the second to admit it,” he allows in “Tuscan Leather,” while in “All Me” he compares himself to toilet paper. “I’m on a roll/like Cottonelle.”

Along the way, Drake has hardly abandoned his part as a sensitivo. Many songs still deal with male-female relationships. But instead of recounting a love gone wrong, he scolds women for not being brave enough to meet his expectations for intimacy. “Next time we f—/I want to make love,” he raps. “I don’t want to just talk/I want trust.”

Drake also retained his trademark sung-rapping style. Only in this context, it’s even sexier. In cuts like “Connect” he tries to offer a half-spoken corollary to the slow-boil R&B style of later Marvin Gaye.

If all these elements make Drake’s new music admirable and even likable, I’ve docked it a star for meandering. It has innovative moments in its aerated grooves and cooly undulating beats, but it’s not the thrilling stuff of Jay/Kanye legend. It seems Drake still needs a bit more striving than he believes.