Why Is "Views" The Title Of Drake's Album?

While we’re all rejoicing that Drake’s new album Views dropped Friday, we’re still baffled by the Wednesday bombshell that he had changed his album title from Views From The 6 . Why? IDK, maybe Drake was just going for something a bit more concise. But the other theory is that Drake dropped “The 6,” which refers to his hometown of Toronto, because he wants to showcase his growth, focus less on the bottom and more on the here. So, incidentally, when you listen to the titular track you’ll hear that “Views” documents Drake’s journey to fame.

And la la la, we all know and heard that story before, you’d think it wasn’t a worthwhile topic to revisit for the main track. Maybe I should elaborate: “Views” doesn’t simply document his journey to fame, it touches upon how he’s reconciling with it, how he embraces it and how he fights against negativity. You hear it and there’s a bizarre sense of pride over how far Drake has come in the past few years, because Lord knows there was a day when the idea of Aubrey Graham being a rapper was a hilarious novel idea. In any case, let’s take a deeper look into the lyrics to see where he’s coming from these days.

To begin with, we see how Drake is dealing with competition in his field, who has his back, and who's against him:

A lot of pent up aggression coming out of my sectionOVO on me while y'all n*ggas was playing dress-upAnd I know who gon' take the fall with meThey right here on call with me, they all with me

The "pent up aggression coming out of my section" seems to lend itself to the rapper feuds that are so commonplace to his field. The implication is, and you see this woven throughout the song, is that this is a veiled reference to the Meek Mill and Drake feud that's been bubbling into our newsfeed over the past year or so. Initially Meek Mill criticized Drake for hiring a ghost writer, and whether Drake writes his own music or not, it's clear that he's built up a mini-rap empire. He's killing it with his own label OVO, and he has a definitely squad by his side. Do not cry for Drake, in short, he's doing just fine.

That said, "Views" also documents Drake's struggles and insecurities. This includes pains from the bottom and, you know, doubts in the middle.

I dropped out right before I graduateSix credits left, my mama had a saddest day"It's only up from here, I promise, you just gotta wait"And she took my word for it, that's all I had to sayLately I just feel so out of characterThe paranoia can start to turn into arroganceThoughts too deep to go work 'em out with a therapist

Even though Wheelchair Jimmy milked his tenure at Degrassi, Drizzy bailed on high school early. And even though it bummed out his mom, and Drake eventually got his high school diploma, he maintained the belief that he was going to be a success, and clearly that belief fueled him. At the same time, these days there are things that occasionally shake his faith, and he has to reconcile with that.

The good news is that for the ounce of insecurity he has, Drake is backed up by the reality of his success.

Me and Niko used to plot on how to make a changeNow me and Kobe doing shots the night before the gameStill drop 40 with liquor in my systemNumbers going unlisted just to create some distanceI might see you on and off but I'll never switch yaN*ggas quick to double cross like both of us ChristianLamborghini got me feeling like I'm Christian Bale

Drake goes into full name-dropping mode; he's doing shoots with Kobe Bryant these days, guys. He has high-end cars like he's Toronto's version of Bruce Wayne. He further asserts that he's a baller (so to speak) by talking about the triumphs of his love life:

My exes made some of my favorite musicI dated women from my favorite movies

So like, no pressure for any of you who are looking to seduce the rap monolith. However, Drake's most telling lines are seen in the final verse when he remarks,

They think I had the silver spoon but they'll get it soonI still got something left to prove since you left me room

This acknowledges that there are times when he's not taken seriously in the rap world, and well, it's understandable why. Drake wasn't really hardened by the streets, he was starring on a Canadian teen drama. Nobody's forgetting that anytime ever. Still, he's made an impressive career for himself in spite of his nay-sayers, which is why we're all here celebrating the triumph of Views.

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