Review Summary: Drake looking at his position in the rap game, laid over some relaxing beats.
Here we go, the very first official review. This is gonna be the big one.
***'s good 7/10
In all seriousness though, the album I'm reviewing is Views, by Drake. The album, which started out as "Views from the 6" has had almost no information out before it released, except from two leaks, under a month before the complete album was released. The two tracks, Controlla and Pop Style, got mixed reviews right of the bat, which is understandable.
Now, on to the album. To summarize it all in one word: it's not bad. The main theme of the album seems to be that Drake is at the top now, looking down at the rap game and his city, the 6 (Toronto, Canada). But it's also him looking at his struggle to get to where he is now, and realizing it's not going to be this way forever. The album mainly features a lot of self-criticism and shamelessness in the lyrics, which are put out over very good, laid back beats. There are no tracks which are too dark, gritty or aggressive to fit the rest of the album, with the hardest beats and lyrics being found on the tracks Hype and Grammys, which features the rapper Future.
Talking about the features on this album, there was a lot of speculation and weirdness surrounding them in the months before the album came out. For example, the track Pop Style was going to feature verses from Jay-Z as well as Kanye, which have been sadly cut out of the album. Too bad, because The Throne would have been a good feature to have on the album.
Still, the features that ARE on the album are overall good. The track Faithful (featuring Pimp C and dvsn) is quite good with Pimp C rapping a nice verse, and the track Too Good (featuring Rihanna) is enjoyable as well.
On to the criticisms, or should I say criticism. There’s really only one thing about this album that I really think is bad. Some of Drake’s bars on this album are just plain bad, with a few edging on plain cringe-worthy. Yes, I am talking about lyrics like “Got so many chains they call me Chaining Tatum”, which is just... plain stupid. Makes you wonder how that got on without someone thinking “wait, this is plain terrible”. And these kinds of lyrics might seem like a small thing, but they can have a huge influence on the experience. The other lyrics, which might not be as cringe-inducing, are often times used very repetitively or not all to memorable.
Overall... The album is good. Strong beats, nice production and an overall very good flow. Drake puts some good artists on his tracks , but the features don’t add much to the overall experience of the album. The lyrics are not this albums strong point.
The best use of this album would be when you just want to relax, cause that’s what this album does to you. The beats and flow are overall very relaxing, which distracts from the lyrics quite well.
So after all is said and done... I feel this album deserves a 7.
