He is trying to cater to the mainstream audience and you can tell by his beat selection, his change in flow and voice, and the features. If it ain't broke don't fix it, he shoulda just stuck with the sound he had. And you can tell because after the restless album every project after that he was slowly but surely changing his style. Imo.
And if he's not paying for those big name features then how is he getting them? I'm sure it ain't by trading verses with some of them, because what benefit would a mainstream artists get from having trae on their album? My opinion I think he cashed out sum, maybe gave others some weed, and others a trade of a verse, or maybe a plug on sum lean. Lol