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Drake

Album Review: “Views” by Drake

Did Drake’s Views live up to the hype it was given? Check out our individual song rating and overall review + rating below.

REVIEW OVERVIEW
Keep The Family Close 8
9 6
U With Me? 7
Feel No Ways 9
Hype 8
Weston Road Flows 7
Redemption 6
With You (feat. PARTYNEXTDOOR) 7
Faithful (feat. Pimp C & dvsn) 6
Still Here 5
Controlla 8
One Dance (feat. Wiz Kid & Kyla) 10
Grammys (feat. Future) 6
Childs Play 6
Pop Style (feat. The Throne) 9
Too Good (feat. Rihanna) 9
Fire & Desire 5
Views 5
Hotline Bling 7
SUMMARY With all the hype surrounding Drake's "Views," the expectation of a revolutionary album is extremely difficult to create let alone live up to what is believed to be Drake's peak, last years "If You're Reading This It's Too Late." Drake has been especially talked about lately considering his triumphant Meek Mill beef, the announcement of his "Summer Sixteen Tour," and numerous mainstream singles like "Hotline Bling," "One Dance," and "Summer Sixteen." Nonetheless "Views" did make an impact that was less than practical. "Views," is markedly viewed as a wake of the 2011 drop "Take Care," both amazingly curated in sound, lyric, and flow. Since "Take Care," the Canadian singer/rapper knew he could do any style from trap beats to R&B flow, showing his ability in recent projects and single. Many compared the project to "Take Care." They are in fact not that different at all having the same flow, addressing the same problems, having the same moods. That being said the project starts off with one of the softer songs "Keep The Family Close," a live instrumentation of orchestral stabs. We venture further down the track list and come across tracks "9," and "Feel No Ways," both mining mid-00's electropop tracks with heavy production. Sound like these can definitely be the production we can see a lot of in the future of hip-hop. A good portion of "Views ," is off an abundance of samples like Popacaana's "Controlla." We see more production off of OVO producer Nineteen85, a guy who prior only had two tracks of "Nothing Was The Same," has made another appearnce in "Views," providing beats for "Child's Play," and "Faithful." Even with a Carribean tint we get the most popular track off "Views," "One Dance," as well as "Controlla," and "Too Good" with long time collaborator Rihanna. This spanish/hip-hop mix seems to be the aim that Drake takes with ri-ri, also shown in Rihanna's "Work" single. Seem's Drake's new material fits the to appeal older demographics. Throughout the rest of the album we see typical Drake spin off's and samples. The popular shit-talker "Hype," and the R&B/Soul catchy hook of "Weston Road Flows," to the popular womanizer "U With Me?," were common sounds we hear in "IYRTITL" AND "NWTS." These spin-offs are where we find the similarity to his earlier project "Take Care." As for the lyrical department many Drizzy fans were baffled by the corny, petty, week lyrics. This is where Drizzy truly reverts to "Take Care," with more over less confident sounding bars. Or is it over confidence e of the rapper to believe these bars were strong enough. "Views," was definitely a large project to digest, laced with 20 tracks could be the downed too. Drake's constant climb to the top paving a expectation of new material every time he puts out has left fans disappointed many. Drizzy's legacy has already made a mark that if you were to talk about hip-hop of 2010-2015 you would have to mention him. As he's done more to carve the hip-hop/rap genre. Overall his bars are looser and less "bangerish" than previous "IYRTITL," but more meaning and mood like "Take Care." "Views" hyped up reputation has disappointed to many but if you ask me the meaning behind the LP has more to offer than originally interpreted, carving and paving new paths into the hip-hop genre.	7.1 OVERALL SCORE