The promo video for Views From The 6 has dropped and it appears that the video alone has overshadowed the songs that just released last week and the anticipation is back to a fever pitch. That’s good for hip-hop though. I’m not mad at that.
To be honest, Drake needs to come through with the unquestionable album of the year, because the game is wide open with there being no visibly dominant artist or emcee holding the crown. You can’t really give it anybody in 3 statistical categories, let alone the 6 that Jay brought up on Breathe Easy. I don’t ever remember a time where you could ask 10 people “who’s best rapper out right now?” and you could get 3 or more answers. That’s good for music, but it doesn’t help define the era that we are in right now.
My prediction: Views From The 6 will be labeled a classic album if enough people from this generation says it is.
Unfortunately, that’s what this era is built on. You just speak it into existence and it’s that. “Good Kid M.A.A.D City” was a classic in 8 hours. “To Pimp A Butterfly” was considered a “masterpiece for this decade” by people deemed as the respected voices of this culture, because “it’s such a different sound for today”. 2014 Forest Hills Drive got overwhelming praise and high accolades simply because it lacked features. Now I’m hearing Future got classic projects. With all that said, how can views not be labeled classic, simply off the fact it’s being crafted by the number 1 hit making rapper of this era?
We are living in a time where styles make hit records and not artist; And whether you create it or copy it, it’s accepted by the people. There was a time where you couldn’t sound like another artist and get in the Top 20 on billboard. Now, your stream comes up just as fast and people will make a meme video to acknowledge two artist sound alike and it don’t matter.
Many think “Take Care” is Drake’s classic album. I don’t agree. I do feel if we are talking classics of this era, you got to give it to “So Far Gone” just off of my favorite hip-hop phrase, cultural impact. No matter what, April 29th, we will be 1,000 retweets away from the “official verdict” of what this album will be. That’s right 1,000 retweets. That will carry the conversation over to radio and other blogs and then “the debate” will start.
I see the extreme love or hate for Drake making this album classic. Who’s going to go out of their way to prove their point about the greatness of “Views” or lack their of? Guess we’ll find out in a little over 2 weeks.
BehindTheRhyme.com 