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36. Views - Drake (2016)

Hip-Hop

Views was the watershed moment in my relationship with Drake’s music. To me, pre-Views Drake was a pop star, someone who had obvious talent and was obviously adept when it came to making marketable music, but disinterested in making something “real”. Views changed all of that, pretty emphatically. The album is introspective, contemplative and honest. It casts the listener as a fly on the wall of Drake’s therapy sessions, providing insight into his world as he ponders dilemmas and new realities he faces as the newly crowned king of the game. “Weston Road Flows” paints vivid pictures of his Toronto stomping grounds and of his journey to the top. “I made a career out of reminiscing…” he confidently affirms on “U With Me?”. Easy enough.

No one makes it look as easy as Drake does. Period. He’s a man who knows exactly what he’s doing. All of the accolades his prior work had brought him only served to enable this sort of creative license. And it’s clear he relishes the newfound freedom. The structure of the album is such that all the obvious singles and poppier tracks are backloaded, theoretically mandating the listener to hear the meatier first half first. It becomes clear that the “Hotline Blings” of Drake’s expansive catalog are a means to an end, the end being the freedom to make music that is personal and meaningful while still remaining insanely effortless, clever and catchy. He raised the bar with Views and has continued to do so with regularity since.

*image; cover art for the album Views by Drake