Drake’s producer 40 posted a list of the album producers on his Instagram, then posted an update including names of producers he overlooked in the first post. Given the intensity of that controversy, it’s notable that, as of this writing, Drake hasn’t released the songwriting credits for “Views.” There was even a transparency hiccup during the album’s release. When the rapper Meek Mill publicly accused Drake of false advertising, Drake replied with great songs, not an outburst. Last year, reference demo tracks for a handful of his songs recorded by Quentin Miller, a frequent collaborator, leaked online, suggesting Drake may not have written his own songs, but Drake barely addressed the controversy. He uses social media brilliantly, but not revealingly. That’s why the most exciting moments on “Views” may be structural: Drake rapping in gnawed-off chunks like 2 Chainz on “Hype,” or with streamlined Jamaican inflections on “Controlla,” or with the dead-eyed stomp of Chicago drill music on “Pop Style.”ĭrake is becoming more walled off as a person, too. And thanks to his flirtations with dancehall, Afrobeats and grime, he is as flexible as ever. “Sell my secrets and get top dollar/Sell my secrets for a Range Rover,” he says on “Redemption,” then continues: “Who’s gonna save me when I need saving?/Since ‘Take Care,’ I’ve been caretaking.”ĭrake is more preoccupied with cadence than most rappers, and of course, more able to make unexpected juxtapositions between rapping and singing than anyone else. On “U With Me?,” which recalls his excellent “Paris Morton Music 2,” Drake looks for love on his phone: “I group DM my exes/I tell ’em they belong to me, that goes on for forever” “three dots, you thinking of a reaction still.”īut love is, increasingly, about money, too.

You wildin’, you super childish, you go to CVS for Kotex in my Bugatti, I took the key and tried to hide it so you can’t drive it, and put on mileage Then you find it, awkward silence The most vivid one here is the fretful and class-concerned “Childs Play”:

Not that he’s abandoned one-sided relationship talks.

Views from the 6 album list