Jan 26, 2015

Nothing wrong with trying guys, even if you fail.

 

Jun 16, 2018

Imagine listening to scorpion if it's not 7 tracks long and produced by Kanye

 

Jul 28, 2015

f--- im dead

 

Mar 22, 2017

Didn't really proofread, just wanted to get it out / sick of looking at it. feedback etc.

More Life: Neo-Mafioso Rap?

“Ayo f-ck this n-gga b. First off…this n-gga gotta stop wit this lonely mobster image he tryin to portray these days yo. This n-gga said this s--- was bout him feelin like he a king tho. Son said “I used to stare at this world through a glass window and, like, two to three years later, I become a king in that world. That’s who’s sitting on that cover…” They give this n-gga a muthafuckin goblet n a table for one witta candle n a bronze owl n now he runnin rap? N-gga ya respect from ya peers is as deep as the success you got in the mainstream. Aint nobody in rap lookin up to you like that cos you dope. Your success is whats dope to these n-ggas son. King tho? F-ck outta here b.” - Big Ghostface

Even I must admit that Take Care album cover seems extremely corny especially so early in Drake’s career. What had Drake accomplished up to this point to be portraying himself as this mafioso? He was still being clowned as a victim of Rick Murray, he still rapped with those awful Young Money punchlines, and then there’s that whole obsessed with the deceased Aaliyah thing.
“Dear Dana,

I’ve never lost a parent, a friend, or a lover but I will never forget this day for the rest of my life. I remember getting the news that you had passed and it connected with my heart like a clean shot from Muhammad Ali. I was crushed. Not only was I one of your biggest fans but I was truly in love with you. I loved the way you carried yourself, the way you dressed, the confidence with which you addressed passion and relationships in your music. I said to myself that even if we never met, I wanted a woman in my life just like you. I am pained that we will never get to connect now that music ended up being my career path. But you should know, we all listen to you everyday and we remain inspired and moved by all that you’ve given the world. I hope I make the right life choices so I can end up in heaven where I know you rest your head. I’ll continue to make music in your honor until the day we finally meet. Dinner’s on me!

Love you always and forever,

Drake”

How could such joke be seen as a respectable artist much less an international superstar?

At some point after the release of Take Care, Drake realized that he needed to reinvent himself as an artist. Young Money slowly drifted apart and Drake went to his roots (R.I.P. Drake from Dallas). He grabbed his life long friends and headed back to Canada. Fast forward to 2017; Drake is the biggest male artist in the world.



At the AMA’s that lonely mobster image seems a lot more prevalent. We’ve gone from resembling models in Macy’s catalogs to a full on Don with Blue tinted lenses. On More Life the subject matter on the surface is everything we’ve heard before; failed relationships, subliminal shots, and the fear of failure. Yet now everything seems more grand, egotistical, and even has realistic glimpses into the psychological pressures that stem from the duality of being the number one rapper as well as the number one target (whatever that means in this era). What changed is how cold and calculated Drake has become as a entertainment mogul and him willingly deciding to keep everything in his OVO Family is a business venture only true Don’s recognize.

Free Smoke and it’s opening Hiatus Kaiyote sample is comparable to the famous night club scene in Goodfellas where Henry Hill takes Karen on their first real date. The mere statement of being in such a classy place and being known because of how powerful a man is reveals the luxurious and rarely attainable side of organized crime. In More Life’s case, when the beat changes on Free Smoke, Drake is pulling back the curtain on the lavish lifestyle. It comes off as a challenge to any person who thinks they can take his crown. The second verse lets listeners into an average Tuesday for Drake.

“Dom Rosé toast
Hidden Hills where I post
I start my day slow
Silk pajamas when I wake, though
Miraval to the face, though
I drunk text J-Lo
Old number, so it bounce back”

It is a full fledged “This is what it’s like to be at the top and I know you wish you were me.”
Drake’s tough guy persona has been in question for years, but a true mastermind never gets his hands dirty. That’s what he has Baka for. A modern day Luca Brasi, who Drake rides for despite questionable criminal charges. More Life starts exactly how the listener expects. An immense amount of superficial raps from a man who has nothing to lose because he has it all. Then it ends. He reverts back to a more familiar voice. The grime accent is gone.

“Passionate from miles away
Passive with the things you say
Passin' up on my old ways
I can't blame you, no, no”

It’s easy to dismiss Passionfruit as another dance hall track about a girl, but I believe there to be more. 40 re-teams with Drake on Jorja Interlude and seemingly blends the new track with Doing It Wrong from Drake’s sophomore album. Take Care features many tracks that place Drake in a before fame form. It was honest and unforgiving, but many struggled to take him seriously as a rap artist. None of efforts up until this point have matched the emotional impact of Take Care due to a consistent need to keep striving for success and messing with the formula. Drake the type of n-gga memes die out. He works out, he grows a beard, and creates waves rather than riding them. In doing so, Drake drifted away from who he was in order to pursue his dream of being the most known artist in the world. Why go through all this trouble? Similar to the mobster Tony Soprano, Drake had father issues.

“When I ask him about his dad, his voice tightens, and he looks away. "Me and my dad are friends. We’re cool. I’ll never be disappointed again, because I don’t expect anything anymore from him. I just let him exist, and that’s how we get along. We laugh. We have drinks together. But I spent too many nights looking by the window, seeing if the car was going to pull up. And the car never came."

http://www.gq.com/story/drake-interview-gq-april-2012

More Life’s cover features a picture of Drake’s father whose lack of presence in Drake’s early years may have drove him to this hunt of unatainbale success. Drake has greatly eclipsed his father in the field as music just as Tony Soprano eclipsed his in organized crime.






Madiba Riddim masks his anxiety with uptempo production hoping to return to a previous form of himself.

“I’ve seen man turn fool for the money / One too many times”.

Views, being the commercial juggernaut that it was is considered a misstep by core fans and critics alike. An album that was hyped up to be the definitive project of his career opted for singles that ditched rapping and would control the charts. Views was stretched to twenty tracks and released not long after the inclusion of streams in record sales. The albums rollout was masterfully calculated and took “dumbing down for the audience to double my dollars” to a level never seen in rap before.
The reckless vulnerability exposed during the first nine tracks on More Life But at the top you can never let your guard down. Gyalchester refreshes the appearance of the rapper. It’s constrained and dismissive performance boasts confidence of his own invincibility even going as far as mentioning the exposoal of his abdomen on the refrain:

“Hermès link, ice-blue mink
Tat on my ribs like I do not know what permanent is”




“40 got house on the lake, I ain't know we had a lake”



In season 6 of The Sopranos, Tony journeys through a coma induced “what if? scenario. He isn’t involved with the mafia, he doesn’t cheat on his wife, and he is a respectable father. This version of him is everything he might have been if he had not followed in his father’s footsteps into organized crime.



Teenage Fever’s lyrics reek of optimism from a seemingly younger Drake. He’s met someone new and everything finally feels right. Then the lowered pitch of Jennifer Lopez’s “If You Had My Love” hits.

“If you had my love
And I gave you all my trust
would you comfort me?

The optimism of the track immediately collapses under the rhetorical questions the refrain poses. It’s haunting.



Maybe if he wasn’t who he was Drake could make a relationship like that work, but it just isn’t who he is. He is calculated in not only business, but in nature and any proper emotional ties would cloud his judgement. Was his pursuit to the top the right choice? Could he have the power AND the emotional attachment? Is the easy way the right away?
It’s not, to him at least. KMT is Drake realizing just how good he is at what he does. He is essentially spilling all of his qualifications and why he is and is rightfully so the leader of rap in 2017.

“Love is just not in my plans
Not even takin' a chance
Studio right in my yard
I'm doin' ten in a week
How long I been on this streak?
Dream about work in my sleep”

Many thought Tony Soprano was becoming psychologically weak or was too out of shape.

This is what happens right after Tony gets out his coma.


Drake can be accused of using writers and get away with it. Drake can take your flow because he can. He can take your songs because he can (sorry PARTY). He can hop on whatever song he wants whenever he wants, because he can. His mentality is ruthless and often criticized for being a vulture, but it’s never enough to stop the support he receives from fellow artists and fans.



Obligatory curb stomping scene.


“I don't care what society thinks. They're nothing anyway. They're no better than me. Out there you just have to fit into a pattern that somebody's already laid out for you. Life we live, you have to set your own patterns, your own ideals. You have to handle the whole job yourself.”

And during this alienation that consisted of burning bridges with affiliates to make it to the top did he lose you? As a lover? As a friend? As a fan?
The falling out between The Weeknd in Drake mostly comes down to speculation (I’m sure Drake was in the wrong).

“If we not on the charts, my XO n----s eatin'
Fifty-two consecutive weekends, shout out to Weeknd”
The friendship is a product of each wanting something different and although they are relatively in similar lanes it can’t really work between the two. Artie and Tony were friends and because they wanted something else their relationship won’t ever be the same.



The album closes on the uncertainty of the rapper’s future. On Do Not Disturb he raps:

“Who knows where I end up when that s--- gets old?
Maybe it never gets old and that's just how it goes.”

He’s exactly where he wants to be and yet he still does not seem satisfied.



“Behind closed doors, a lot of 6 God worshipping
Done talk now, 'cause there's other s--- that's concernin' me
There's real ones around me
I want to make sure they learn from me”

Will Drake be seen as a Vito Corleone, willing to keep everything in line for the people he loves?


“I’ll probably self-destruct if I ever lose, but I never do.”
Or will his position at the top cause a downward spiral similar to Michael and yearning for a life he left behind?

 

Jul 28, 2015

Philly is filled with terrible fans, ugly girls and hipsters. No one's been scared of Philly since Will Smith got in one little fight and his mom got scared.

 

Jul 18, 2016

 

Jul 22, 2016

oh a 'pump it up' diss

havn't heard that before

 

Oct 28, 2016

Sex skits

 

May 4, 2016

I'm not a reviewer and never will be these are just my thoughts on the album after 6 days of constant listening

Almost a week ago we got Views. I was so excited for this f---ing album BUT going into Views i was kinda scared for what direction he was going to go in. I said pop style was trash for so long and I thought Faithful was average but I really dug One Dance & Controlla so these were the songs I already had formed a solid opinion over. I was not expecting another form of Take Care when going into this album, Looking at the tracklist I was expecting IYRT but a more refined version that would flow well together throughout the project.

So... What we actually got was Drake being Drake. Like this is literally the Drake that we have known for so long, He didn't really switch up. He incorporated new sounds into the album and the production is f---ing amazing. Every song sounds distinct from one another and Drake compliments most of the beats.

I thought this album was f---ing amazing day 1 - 3 because I basically got a sequel to Take Care in some ways especially with the "winter" songs. I love simp Drake and I loved the intro to the album, 9 was f---ing great for me, U With Me, Feel No Ways, Hype, Weston Road Flows, Redemption, With You, Controlla Extended, One Dance, Childs Play, Too Good, Fire & Desire & Views were f---ing sensational. Like I thought that this album was a solid 10/10 because he gave me everything I wanted in one project. I had songs for the summer & winter. I had songs to vibe to and had simp songs to marvins room over.

I avoided other people's opinions because 1. I dont really care and 2. Was too busy loving this project.

I read @Soldier's review on it and I actually understood where he was coming. Drake hasn't progressed at all from the last time we got an actual album from him. If anything he has gone back to the same formula that made me personally love him and Idk if thats a bad thing for me but the consensus is that is was. I've basically had these 20 songs in rotation since the album dropped and some have grown on me so much.

Weston Road Flows
U With Me?
Redemption
Fire & Desire

are imo some of Drakes best songs and they really are good. On Sunday I was vibing to Fire & Desire for 2 hours straight. It was a sad time fr fr.

THe other songs I f----- with up there are still in rotation but for Keep The Family close. I feel like I need to be in a certain mood to listen to it and atm in not in that mood cos summer weather is lit right now. I dont actually care about some of peoples criticism with the lyrics that Drake uses because to me Drake has never been that guy. He has always have cheesy a--- lines and some of the lines ya'll hatin ain't even that bad.

f--- i cant be bothered to write anymore

BASICALLY...
Views is an album from Drake to his core fans. Some of the songs are amazing, Some are great, Some are average after a couple of listens and Grammys hook is the second worst thing to happen to this (Pop Style is first) Grammys in general sucks lol.

Album is great but only if you f--- with this Drake. He ain't really doing anything new and if you listen to NWTS, SFG & Take Care u know what you're pretty much getting just with some new sounds and better production (NWTS production was goat also)

Album gonna be the summer all over tbh and its sales and relevance points towards that.


Idk what point im getting to

It's not a classic after so many f---ing listens
It's not average
It's good/great if you like this type of Drake
It does drag abit and there are some filler songs

Imo it goes
NWTS
VIEWS (matured Take Care)/Take Care
IYRT
SFG
TML
CS

Tracklist should of been
1. Weston Road Flows
2. 9
3. U With Me?
4. Feel No Ways
5. Hype
6. Redemption
7. One Dance
8. Controlla
9. Childs Play
10. Still Here
11. Too Good
12. Summers Over Interlude
13. Fire & Desire
14. Views

If i had to rate it
From the "I love simp Drake and the dancehall Direction" perspective 8/10
And if i wasn't me it probably 6

@WoesSXN


idk what i wrote.. yolo

 

Apr 29, 2016

That's right boys. You all know my dislike for Drake as of recently so I'm sure you are wondering, what do I think of Views? Stay tuned.

Review
​

Views. Views from the 6. City this, city that.

I had no hype leading up to the album. After If You're Reading This, I lost a a hefty amount of interest in Drake. I was hoping that this album would be the one where he finally recaptures me. To start it off, one of the biggest problems I find with Views from the start is the lack of growth. His sound remains the same. It's the same formula from Drake all over this album. I wanted him to take risks, challenge the audience, do something different and not be so stagnant. The lack of progression in his sound on this album is what is the most disappointing. The production is pretty good. 40 is a one trick pony though. His production is the same ambient style.

Starting with "Keep The Family Close," an intro that does not live up to the standards of his previous with the likes of "Over My Dead Body" or "Tuscan Leather." The song really picks up at around the 2 minute mark and I started to feel it at that point. After my first few listens, 9 might be the worst track on the album to me. It becomes very stale, very fast. U With Me is vintage Drake. I really enjoyed this track. The 2nd half of the track is really great as well, the delivery Drake delivers from "understand I got responsibilities to people that I need, and on my way to make this dough, a lot of n----s cut the check so that they can take this flow" is one of the best moments on the album for me.

The dance hall direction that I thought most of this album was going to go was not resonating well with me. I didn't think any of it would sound good but I was proven wrong with Feel No Ways. This is going to be something I will for sure be bumping this Summer, very smooth and laid back feel to the track which I enjoy. Hype is another track I'm not too fond of. I've made it very clear before that I don't like braggadocio Drake, at all. This is probably one of the reasons I did not like IYRT.

Weston Road Flows is probably one of my favorites tracks as of now. Although it's not Drake at his best, it's what I wish he would go back to more musically. The transition into Redemption isn't my favorite. Maybe this track will grow on me eventually, maybe not. There is not much to say about the track honestly. It's just whatever to me. Sounds like a Drake song I have already heard. With You is very disappointing. The beat sounds like it was made on garage band and PND belongs nowhere near it. I was hoping for another great collaboration between PND and Drake but was upset when it did not live up the previous tracks we have heard from the two. Faithful is another stagnant track to me. The way Drake delivers his verses comes off very monotone and I am also not a fan of the way he flows over the track.

It's hard to say which previous album Views is more like. One thing that did remind me of a previous album was Still Here. The placement on the album and the overall feel of the song reminded me of We'll Be Fine on Take Care. Controlla comes off as just a cookie cutter track to me. Nothing special about it at all. One Dance grew on me, feels like Hold On, We're Going Home. It's definitely not something I will go out of my way to listen to though.

Long behold the Future feature. Not gonna lie, when I downloaded the album, I skipped right to Grammy's. As I expected, Future renegaded. Drake held his own for the most part but Future was yet again the real show here. This definitely sounds like a What a Time to Be Alive leftover but, "peel off like a bandit, nodding off on a Xanax, get pissed off, start airing it" >>>>>.

Child's Play sounded hopeful but the writing felt somewhat lazy to me. It had potential but fell short. Pop Style, well, let's just say, I don't plan on hearing Drake saying, "Got so many chains they call me Chaining Tatum," anytime soon.

Most of the Rihanna and Drake collaborations we have gotten have been pretty cookie cutter radio hits. I was hoping they would try something a little different with Too Good. Too Good is somewhat reminiscent to What's My Name. I was happy with how this track came out. Much better than Work.

Fire & Desire is one of the songs I'm going to have to listen to more. I really do not know how I feel about it yet. The production on the track Views is great. It's one of my favorite beats on the album. This is what I wish the album could have sounded more like rather than the same production we heard for most of the album.

My final verdict on the album: I don't have one yet. It's too early. I'm gonna have to sit on it a while, see if any tracks click more for me, and see which ones I grow to dislike. If I had to rate it now, I'd give it a 6.5/10. Views contains Drake's most straightforward lyrics, it's not a perfect album by any means. There are a lot of moments on here where I wish Drake would see further than he did on the track. There was potential for great, great songs in some areas, but he just fell short. Needless to say, I don't hate the album, but I don't know if I love it either. I'm stuck in-between, where I feel this album belongs in his catalog.

 

Apr 29, 2016

Astonishing. 10/10 AOTY and Drake's 2nd classic.

#VIEWS

 

Jul 24, 2015

 

Apr 30, 2016

this n----- said spider man 3 lmfaoooo

- DP

 

Jul 28, 2015

Meek claims he got his hood behind him, but this n----- drake has an entire country.

 

Mar 4, 2021

@DrakeSXN