Drake has been relatively quiet for most of 2019, but is closing the year out with some score settling and palate cleansing. He sat for a two-hour-plus interview with Rap Radar this week, covering a range of topics, some of them uncomfortable. And he released “War,” the sort of in-between-hits song that’s become almost as much a Drake stock-in-trade as the hits themselves. Over a U.K. drill beat (by AXL Beats) full of mellow menace, Drake channels the slang and patois of that scene for a blend of boast, threat and make-nice. Whatever you believe about Drake, it is remarkable that at his commercial peak, rather than double down on the sort of songs that have kept him at the forefront of mainstream hip-hop, he takes time to study and absorb influences from around the globe. Occasionally, he’s accused of appropriation, but he’s also become an ambassador, accelerating the spread of sound around the world. JON CARAMANICA