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Thursday, May 5, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com ARTS
‘Views’ fails to impress
ALBUM REVIEW
Despite all the hype,
Drake fails to deliver
what’s expected.
By MATT GALLATIN
Daily Arts Writer
‘Views’ is a concept. It was incept-
ed by a tweet in 2014, and subse-
quently swelled over two years into
a commercial force
spanning minimal-
ist billboards and
predictable
Snap-
chat filters. Before
the
album
was
even released, fans
called it a classic
based on singles
“Hotline Bling” and
“One Dance,” in addition to a confi-
dent assertion by Drake himself.
That confidence was on full dis-
play just prior to the album’s release,
as Drake gave a rare interview with
the ever-enthusiastic Zane Lowe on
Apple’s Beats 1 Radio. He seemed at
ease with himself, sounding more
secure than ever. To add visuals
to his boasts, he posted a string of
meticulously staged photos through-
out the release of Views — a perfect-
ly-poised husky, a well-puffed fur
coat, a Mad Men evoking combina-
tion of suits-and-whisky.
But, as is often the case when the
line that separates commercial prod-
ucts and albums is blurred, Views
shines more brightly as an idea than
an actual body of work. This is not
to say that this is necessarily a bad
album. The run from opening track
“Keep the Family Close” to “Hype” is
Drake at his very best: the production
is transcendent, the vocals are (as
claimed during the Zane Lowe inter-
view) at Drake’s highest level yet and
his flow feels more under-control
than ever. All the classic Drake-isms
are covered in this streak — catchy
hooks, a love for Toronto, nostalgic
reminiscing and so on.
The Kanye-produced track, “U
With Me,” is a particular standout.
Drake weaves between what he
knows well, talking of texting mind
games — “3 dots, you thinking of a
reaction still” — and shade — “fuck
them stories, fuck the shade they
throwing.” The beat churns and
claps, well in-sync with the hook and
the verses, and the third verse reach-
es a level that seems like it should
have all along, as Drake’s voice soars
with anger.
It’s unfortunate, because this
trend begins to fall off after only a
few tracks, giving way to frustrat-
ing inconsistency. “Faithful,” the
center of the album, meanders with
its redundancy, an adjective that
describes the rest of the album all
too well. During the Zane Lowe
interview Drake explained that the
album moves thematically from
“winter, to summer and back to win-
ter again” to reflect Toronto weather,
but that theme doesn’t feel much
apparent here, nor does it justify the
lack of focus that plagues these later
tracks. There are Caribbean dance-
hall tracks that Drake has shown
an increasing interest in, first with
his feature on Rihanna’s “Work”
and later with standout single “One
Dance.” Some, like Rihanna col-
laboration sequel “Too Good,” suc-
ceed, while others, like “Controlla,”
feel unnecessary and almost boring.
On the other hand, there are beat-
heavy bangers, ranging from weak
ones, like the What a Time to Be Alive
continuation “Grammys,” to better
ones, like “Pop Style.” If you thought
these would line up along that appar-
ent winter-summer-winter theme,
you would be wrong — they vary
throughout, with little sense of cohe-
sion.
Ironically, the rapper’s release
If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late
from last year is a far more consistent
and directional work, though Drake
declared it a “commercial mixtape”
and apparently never thought of it as
a cohesive album. Still, that release
towers over this one.
Perhaps this is on account of an
increasingly obvious lyrical discon-
nect within Drake’s music. Tracks
like Too Late finale “6PM In New
York” and So Far Gone closer “Fear”
succeeded because of the clear-
headed assessment they gave after
the mistakes Drake made, both
in his life and on his tracks. That
unabashed venting has given him
breathing space, room to explain his
ups and downs, his questionably con-
descending view of his love interests
and his goals. But Views is so harshly
regressive in its tone on women that
it’s more difficult than ever to forgive
the borderline misogyny. Sure, he
briefly acknowledges his hypocrisy
on “Redemption,” questioning “Why
do I want an independent woman
to feel like she needs me? / I lost my
way,” but more often than not the
arrogance is fully internalized.
Questionable
language
about
women is no doubt common in rap.
But Drake is a special case in that
he actually believes he’s the good
guy here, placing the women in his
life as his enemies, rather than enti-
ties as many rappers do. It’s classic
nice-guy syndrome. Nowhere is this
clearer than “Child’s Play,” whose
namesake is all too fitting. In the first
verse he claims “Momma is a saint,
yes she raised me real good,” twist-
ing this into an explanation as to why
he should be even more of an asshole:
“All because of her I don’t do you like
I should.” The complete delusion he’s
cultivated is unappealing at best, and
outright offensive at worst. Rapper
Killer Mike may offer us some choice
words on the matter: “... she raised a
bunch of fuck boys, next time do bet-
ter.”
Regarding the rest of the album: it
varies little in tone. Those final clari-
ty-revealing assessments like “Fear,”
once prominent and forgiving in
Drake’s music, are gone here. Closer
“Views,” which would have once
fulfilled this role, gives the listener
no such satisfaction — the boasts are
less enjoyable, and the man is, frank-
ly, far less easy to sympathize with.
Does any of this really mat-
ter? Probably not. Drake is king
of “meme” rap, working in “What
are those?!” references and sub-
liminal Meek Mill disses to please
the masses. It’ll surely make the
internet crazy. Not even a day after
Views’s release and comments on
Rap Genius were already filled with
excited gifs and rows of fire emojis.
One commenter summed up the
worship well: “10/10 Album, only
Real Day 1 Fans will understand
& vibe to this Amazing brand new
album that Drake created for our
ears. #Views.” There’s no room for
discussion here — Drake could have
released nearly anything, anything,
and still have been praised.
You could argue he deserves it.
He has marketed and branded him-
self so well over the last few years
that it would have been a surprise
for this not to have happened. Some
were caught off guard by the ferocity
of “Back to Back” or his collabora-
tion with trap king Future, but these
moves were calculated and planned
far in advance. His videos, his music,
even his Instagram seem meticu-
lously constructed to elicit the most
traction possible from rap fans who
describe albums in terms of “Tweet-
ability” and determine the quality of
a work by the standard of fire. And
for that, Drake sits king.
C
Views
Drake
OVO Sound
L’chaim, ‘Broad’
By DANIELLE YACOBSON
Daily Arts Writer
In the season three finale of
“Broad City,” our favorite Jewesses
took off to see the Holy Land. In an
episode filled
with
drug
smuggling,
makeshift
tampons and,
of
course,
sexual
she-
nanigans, the
dynamic duo
made saying
goodbye
to
“Broad City”
for the summer virtually impos-
sible.
Ilana (Ilana Glazer) and Abbi
(Abbi Jacobson) capitalize on a
free trip to Israel through Birth-
mark, based on the real-life Birth-
right program, which sends young
adults to Israel with a mission
statement to advance the Jewish
bloodline. With plenty of stereo-
types to use as inspiration, Abbi
and Ilana take full advantage of
their Jewish heritage to deliver one
of the wittiest episodes of “Broad
City” yet. With plenty of yamakas,
Ivy-league rivalries and pita bread
to go around, the finale is every-
thing you would expect from a
plane full of Jewish bachelors and
more. Unapologetically candid and
always to be watched with a hearty
sense of humor, the finale was able
to poke at underlying societal issues
without ever sacrificing a comical
nuance.
The majority of the episode
is filled with a desperate hunt
for a tampon. Of course, “Broad
City” will use any and all oppor-
tunities to make a feminist
statement, and when the topic
of women’s health comes into
play, the girls don’t hold back.
While Ilana’s revelation that all
tampons should be free digs at
the patriarchy, Abbi’s interac-
tion with an older woman high-
lights the underrepresentation of
menopause on mainstream tele-
vision. This unfiltered discus-
sion of everything “woman” is
intentionally at the center of the
series’ content, a way for Glazer
and Jacobson, both the show’s
stars and creators, to express
their opinions and interjections
in today’s media-obsessed cul-
ture. A discussion of gender is
never censored as virtually every
episode confronts some sort of
feminist issue.
Season three was filled with
celebrity appearances, most nota-
bly Hillary Clinton who made her
iconic cameo on episode five. The
finale did not disappoint, as Adam
Levine was featured as a pilot in
the in-flight safety video which,
unlike in real life, everyone was
paying attention to. The impres-
sive list of guest stars that have
graced “Broad City” is a testa-
ment to the show’s relatability
and influence on the pop-culture
landscape. Since its first season,
the series has grown and flour-
ished, gaining a loyal cult fol-
lowing that includes some of the
biggest names in Hollywood.
Perhaps what makes “Broad
City” a must-see is the way Ilana
and Abbi are able to observe and
comment on millennial life. Sure,
two girls with fine arts degrees
trying to make it in New York City
is nothing groundbreakingly orig-
inal, but somehow the duo is able
to make the most relatable things
inexplicably hilarious. Whether
it be a conversation about how
Jesus is really just the hot rich kid
or the societal influence of Drew
Barrymore’s suitcase, the content
is nuanced, relevant and appli-
cable to anyone with even the
slightest interest in pop culture.
It’s going to be a long and tough
summer without the queens, so
for the time being we’ll be inces-
santly stalking the “Broad City”
Instagram for some comical gold.
COMEDY CENTRAL
A rabbi, a priest and these guys walk into a plane.
TV REVIEW
A
Broad City
Season 3 Finale
Wednesday
at 10 p.m.
Comedy Central