The atmosphere 40 creates with his music is now synonymous with Drake’s Toronto the harsh chill of winter is brought forth via cold snares and ice-cube synths, with the summer’s relief often rendered through sped-up ‘90s R&B samples that quietly churn in the background. After having other producers handle the lion’s share of beats on his last two mixtapes, Drake's longtime musical consigliere, Noah “40” Shebib, returns to the head of the table here, with production credits on 12 of the album’s 20 tracks. Until the last minute, the album was to be called Views from the 6, and it still serves as an ode to Drake’s hometown of Toronto. It confuses loyalty and stagnation, wallowing in a sound that is starting to show its limits. Spanning an obnoxious 82 minutes, the record goes through several musical and thematic phases, but the overall atmosphere is bitter, petty, worn-down. VIEWS is what happens when venting turns into whining. This might seem like a ridiculous distinction-there’s never any question that Drake is the star of his own show-but it’s apt, and it hints at why this album feels like more of a claustrophobic mindfuck than a collective catharsis.
“This album, I’m very proud to say, is just-I feel like I told everybody how I’m actually feeling,” Drake told Zane Lowe in a toothless recent interview, differentiating VIEWS from his previous work. The record is called VIEWS but its perspective is decidedly singular. But on his fourth proper album, he edges closer than ever to a mirrored abyss, a suffocating echo chamber of self. For the past seven years, Drake has expertly glided along that line. But there is a razor-sharp line between self-awareness and self-absorption: Whereas self-awareness can expand wisdom by reflecting it outward, self-absorption often festers, drawing things in only to let them rot. When he turns his woes into anthems, we all get lifted. When he confides his fears, we become a little more fearless. From arenas to memes, Drake has always had a skill for turning his innermost thoughts, feelings, and anxieties into breakthrough group therapy sessions-he articulates what we know to be true and then lets us rap or sing those truths en masse, exalting in common bonds that are as vulnerable as they are revealing. Know yourself, the theory goes, and you will know all. “I’ve always been me, I guess I know myself.” - Drake
“There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.” - Benjamin Franklin
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