Over time, though, the album has grown on me. When I first heard this album back in 2010, it felt rushed, as if the music was crafted too quickly in order to ride the So Far Gone explosion. While I liked the idea of Views, and I enjoyed most of the songs, as an album, as an entire body of work, it is the Titantic―spectacular, grandiose, larger-than-life, but sinks towards the bottom of Drake’s discography due to the many glaciers that ruined it’s sail to the top.ĭrake’s commercial debut Thank Me Later is the type of project that is forever changing positions in ranked lists. There’s a hollowness if you're seeking soul and nothing but boasting and bragging if you prefer painfully honest and sincere.
It's enjoyable in small doses, especially sonically, but Drake was the anchor that truly dragged the ship down―some of his most cringe-worthy, corny raps can be found sprinkled across the 1 hour and 21-minute runtime.Įven when the music is superb―warm dancehall, quiet storm R&B and sugary pop make for some noticeable songs―people still look to Drake for rapping, and the raps on Views fell below the bar he set for himself at the beginning of his career. Views is bloated with too many records, is long-winded in length, and struggles to maintain any kind of captivation from beginning to end. That title comes with endless conversation, debates, discussions and arguments.ĭrake’s commercial behemoth: Views dominated charts and streams, and transcended him to the top of both the rap and pop mountains but is the one album lacking the most luster in his catalog.
For the next 10 years, his career will likely continue to be placed under the microscope―reviewed, criticized, championed, rated―but that is to be expected when you're a generation's biggest star.
If you include the free mixtapes, the first being Room From Improvement in 2006, it’s been over 10 years since Drake started putting music out to be heard or ignored. Almost every year since 2010, a new Drake project has been given to the world on a silver platter to be devoured. More Life is being heralded as a “playlist project,” but it’s safe to also see it as Drake’s seventh commercially released project. He is everything I never saw him becoming, but I’ve watched every step of the way. In 2008, I didn’t expect that I would still be pressing play nine years later―I didn’t expect Drake to become the biggest music sensation since Kanye West―but since “Ransom,” I’ve listened and witnessed him grow and evolve, receive love and loathing, reach new peaks and jump over mountains with each new album.