FUSE TV - Will 'Views From The 6' Resurrect Drake's Lyrical Focus?

“6 G-O-D I'm the holy one / Yeah, you know what's up.” Drake started his 2015 with these words on the If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late opener “Legend.” Now a recording artist in the rap game for seven years, the boy from Toronto considers himself a deity, a status that his almost frighteningly intense fan base has been insisting on since the jump. But Views from the 6, Drake's fourth official album—and first since September 2013's Nothing Was the Same—is coming April 29, and the build-up doesn’t have me as excited as I’d hoped. I’ve found myself steadily questioning this self-proclaimed legend status and if the album will live up to it.

I’ve been a Drake fan since he performed at my university during freshman year, when he was known as Heartbreak Drake. But my doe eyes drew more narrow along the way as the artist grew larger than life, while his once-hungry lyricism often taking a backseat. He’s put out solid albums before, but Views will reveal if he'll move in a different direction or remain in the past few years' “sorry for being cocky” headspace. Before we find out, I've got a few suggestions for topics that could lessen my lyrical fatigue and turn me into a full-fledged fan again. 

Drake is at a new peak in his career, and his newfound comfort with success and fame was reflected on 2015’s IYRTITL and the What a Time to Be Alive collaboration tape with Future. Instead of expanding his lyrical themes, Drizzy's stuck in a recurring cycle. The almost-tangible hunger found on songs like So Far Gone’s “I’m Goin’ In” ('09 Drake) and Thank Me Later’s “Up All Night” (2010 Drake, Debut Album Drake) feels lost; he now chooses to wail about being a legend without truly explaining why he thinks he deserves that title.

Watch an episode of our digital miniseries The Drake Effect, this one detailing how he changed the mixtape game forever: