Short Story Club
In My View
- Living A Value Based Life
- Self-Care In A Crisis
- Baby Girl Expectations
- My Feminist Journey
- The Experiential Diary
Views: A Review of The Number One Drake Album
One of my homeboys asked me why I love Views so much and think it’s Drake’s best project. My initial response was just ‘Fire & Desire’ because in all honesty if you’ve heard that track, then you’re finished, finito, destroyed! But of course, that wasn’t enough for my homie, so I decided I’d break it down for him and let him know wassup. He wasn’t prepared for the following…
U With Me? – An introspective look into the changes in Drake’s life and how he approaches relationships with women. Here he shows maturity in the acceptance of his lifestyle and situation and he’s understanding of what that means for a woman, but he needs to know if she’s down to ride or let their relationship die. 10/10
Keep Family Close – A tale of bondage and changing relationships. Who can we really trust? Life changes and guess what, so do PEOPLE! And when people change up on you, it’s best to call them out. We love the flow and rhythm of the rap because it feels like we’re actually talking to someone. 10/10
Child’s Play – Something a bit more fun, a light-hearted tale where the boy gives us jokes in the intro and jokes in the bars. Here is the take of a man frustrated with the woman he’s dating and how she don’t act right and we know y’all niggas can relate, but also he loves that bish so he gonna let her put mileage on the car and him. A relatable man and a relatable woman. 10/10 – fighting at cheesecake is approved.
Weston Road Flows – We love to hear tales about a growing Drake, from the boy to the man. The hook and instrumental are SMOOTH! The flow is COLD! The track is vibes. Top down, it’s summer and you’re cruising with your down bitch, this is what y’all listen to as you drive into the sunset. 10/10
Redemption – I don’t need to say much except he got me wanting to redeem myself for being a trash girl. “I lost my way” a line I’ll forever relate to. Super mellow track that gets you thinking and not just feeling. 10/10
Feel No Ways – Bruh! I feel all the ways. This is a Drake and drive track, you’ll be on a late night drive listening to this and end up at your exes house, you’ll be in your car contemplating who was in the wrong until they come out then y’all argue and you drive away and end up with calling up someone just to cuddle cause that encounter has left you feeling some type of way. 10/10
Faithful – An OVO collab is like sex, so when dvsn jumps on a track and you got bars from Pimp C that’s a ménage à trois 😍 there’s an appreciation of this woman and I feel like said woman, it’s like he’s talking to me. It’s a love song and babies have been made to it…ON GOD! 10/10
Controlla – A bop, although we miss Mr Popcaan’s verse 😩(illegally downloaded tho 😉) it’s vibes through and throughout! I will be making babies to it cause it’s so sexy. A sexy love story. Waiting for a man to Jodeci cry for me 😭. 10/10
Too Good – Probably the last Drake/Rihanna collab we’ll ever get – they have a tumultuous relationship at best – and knowing this breaks my heart. I love the playful but honest exchange from the kids, I think we’ve all been there. A relatable, dancy bop. 9.5/10 because Work and Take Care are elite, and I can’t say it’s on par with them, but still strong.
9 – The opening line had me shook, like Sandra? 😱 as a song it explores the mind of cutthroat Drake that’s over these fuckers in the industry. We got good bars and a cold beat. Appropriate title because…9/10
Pop Style – Iconic lines, I don’t care how ‘weak’ niggas thought they were cause y’all sing em even louder because they stick out! A hype track, we stan it for life 🙌🏾. 9/10
Grammys – As much as I hate future the man, he blesses this track in production. Drake and Future collabs are 🔥🔥🔥 and the line ‘TOP 5 TOP 5 TOP 5’ the beginning of bars that would be expanded on – see Gyalchester – and become pop culture lines (Views is top 2 and it’s not 2). Issa a hype track. 10/10
Still Here – Another bop, he’s got bars and the beat has me jumping. We need a song to brag and boast and this is the one, you here it and you know what it is. The 6God is a sicko 😜. 9/10
Views – That classic wind down Drake song for us to make us think. He gives us instrumentals and bars; this is the shit you listen to when you feel like you are the shit 🙌🏾 we also have a Kobe lyric 😢 RIP King. 10/10
Summer’s Over Interlude – A vibe, relaxing shit. Issa a transition for real. 10/10
One Dance – Yes it was commercial, but it banged, and you know what, it still bangs! When it comes on, I still scream with excitement. 10/10 don’t even @ me!
Hotline Bling – Same as One Dance. 10/10 don’t @ me!
With You – Drake and Party have better collabs, this one felt lacklustre, no lie. 8/10
Hype – For some reason it didn’t really penetrate me until I exercised to it. It’s good for running or weights, I think it felt too much like Future but without Future. 8/10
That’s my hot take on Views!
(Gwaze, RC 2020)
2024 RE-UP
As an album it served many different purposes and brought different kinds of joy to listeners. I regard it a sweet combination of the commercial and the authentic. We laughed, cried, got mad, hyped, smiled, think and just lost ourselves in it. When I wrote this four years ago, it was my top album. To this day it remains a good mix of singing and rapping. I’d argued that it was more refined than previous albums, better production and composition, but several years later and listens to this and other albums, I might have to take it back. Whilst there are many great tales, hard bars and hot flows as well as catchy hooks and melodies, another album unexpectedly dethroned it. I will never apologise for putting it as my Number 1 back then, it carried a lot of Summer ‘16 and that was an elite one. However, more mature ears have said to me that, it’s in fact Nothing Was The Same holds that top spot in terms of Drake albums. One day I’ll let it be known why, but right now we’re here to revel in Views.