Drake’s ‘VIEWS': Reactions, Reviews & Toronto References

It’s been almost a full 24 since Drake’s long-awaited Views LP was released on iTunes, which is more than enough time for you to unequivocally decide whether the album is either “classic” or “trash” (just kidding). Early on, it’s clear Views is Aubrey Graham’s love letter to Toronto, a multi-seasonal, Take Care-sounding journey of hip-hop supremacy and romantic redemption. There are Rihanna and Future appearances, DMX and Mary J. Blige samples, and just enough corny lines thrown in for good measure (“got so many chains they call me Chaining Tatum”).

So, while we continue to let Views properly sink in before his next “arsenal of songs” inevitably take over the summer of ’16, here’s what the Internet has been saying about Drake’s new album so far.

Continue reading below…

Drake Stagnates on Self-Absorbed ‘Views’ (Rolling Stone)

Thanks to Drake, rappers have increasingly become indistinguishable from singers and vice versa. This sound has taken Drake to the top of the charts and the center of fans’ consciousnesses, but on Views, that formula fails to decisively take listeners anywhere we’ve never been before.

Review: On ‘Views,’ Drake Is Still His Own Genre (The New York Times)

But there are risks to effectively becoming your own genre — understudies and comers will do what they can to follow what you’ve already done, but so will you. Overall, “Views” contains Drake’s most straightforward lyrics, and his emotional excavations aren’t as striking as they were a few years ago, when they had the sting of the new to them.

Drake “VIEWS” 1 Listen Album Review (DJ Booth)

Drake’s momentum right now is so massive that he just can’t be stopped. VIEWS going platinum is a foregone conclusion, memes will be launched, quotes will be quoted, arenas will sell out so thousands can shout the hook to Still Here along with their hero. This album won’t get Drake an inch closer to Best Rapper Alive status, but that’s clearly not a title he’s been interested in chasing anyway.

Drake’s VIEWS suggests the best is yet to come: Review (Toronto Star)

It’s one of the best records you’ll hear operating at its level this year, without a doubt. But Drake’s shtick – hate the haters, love the money, keep your crew tight, distrust and revel in the ladies in equal measure, love to mom – could stand to grow a little at this point, and he’s still not stitched all of his ambitious ideas into the perfect Drake album. That’s a good thing, though. It means the best is still yet to come. And it will come.

Drake: Views review — hip-hop’s crabby king tightens his grip on the crown (The Guardian)

Views isn’t a perfect album — some judicious pruning of the less impactful tracks would make it more easily digestible, and there are certainly moments when you start to wish Drake would cast his gaze a little further afield than his own navel — but nothing about it suggests that position is anything other than unassailable for the foreseeable future.

Our Favorite Toronto References On Drake’s VIEWS (The FADER)

But money can’t buy happiness, Jellee talkin’ truthful/ But I’m happiest when I can buy what I want, anytime that I want/ Get high when I want from “Weston Road Flows”

At the end of the track, Drake sings the hook from Jelleestone’s “Money (Pt. 1),” which propelled the Rexdale rapper to the Canadian Top 40 in 2000. Just last week, 40 grammed a Jelleestone record, giving fans some insight into the inspirations behind VIEWS.

Drake: By the Numbers (Complex)

The Nine Corniest Lines on Drake’s ‘Views’ (SPIN)

“Why do I settle for women that force me to pick up the pieces? / Why do I want an independent woman to feel like she needs me?” (“Redemption”)

Why It’s Corny: Drake sounds like the person in a Tyler Perry movie who’s had his heart broken by the bad guy too many times, so he turns to Jesus.

Related: Album Stream: Drake ‘VIEWS’