Ms. Elaine
Spoiled Brat
Drake’s New Album, Prepared by Moody Sensualists
By JON CARAMANICAFEB. 18, 2016
Photo
Drake has an album scheduled for April. CreditTibrina Hobson/Getty Images
On the Friday before Valentine’s Day, as Drake was getting ready to coach Canada’s team to a victory over the United States in the N.B.A.’s celebrity All-Star Game in Toronto, his longtime musical partner Noah Shebib, known as 40, was in his studio not far away, prepping for another night of work on “Views From the 6,” the forthcoming Drake album scheduled to be released in April.
“I just make 50 ideas in one day,” Mr. Shebib said over the phone before the session. “As soon as one of those ideas gets his attention, we start heading that way.”
In a hip-hop world with fewer and fewer superstars, a new Drake album is a rare seismic event, and “Views” has been teased and anticipated for months. It will arrive after a year in which Drake became the genre’s most powerful artist, because of his persistence on the charts even without releasing a traditional album, and his skillful handling of his beef with Meek Mill, the first real assault on his dominance.
“Views” will arrive in a world overpoweringly influenced by Drake: His softening of the lines between genres is ever-present, from the Weeknd to Bryson Tiller to even Sam Hunt. “For the first time you find yourself not being the young kid doing something different that no one understands,” Mr. Shebib said.
Photo
Noah Shebib, known as 40, Drake’s musical partner.CreditJohnny Nunez/WireImage
Though it’s been two and a half years since Drake released his last album proper, “Nothing Was the Same,” he has been anything but quiet. Last year he put out what were easily his two most pugnacious projects to date: the commercially released mixtape “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late,” and “What a Time to Be Alive,” the full-length album collaboration with the Atlanta rapper Future.
“After ‘Nothing Was the Same,’ Drake was like, ‘I want to do a rap project,’” Mr. Shebib recalled. “He wanted to do what all the other rappers get to do.” But that approach is “a thing we can’t do that much on a Drake album,” he continued. “We have other fans we need to satisfy.”
Mr. Shebib has served the crucial role of Drake’s musical right hand since before the rapper’s 2009 mixtape “So Far Gone.” Like Drake, 40 is a moody sensualist — they’re an apt pair. After last summer, work on “Views” began in earnest, split between 40’s Toronto studio and the one in Drake’s Southern California home.
“It’s going to be what everybody expects and wants from Drake and from us,” Mr. Shebib said. “A lot of introspection, very vivid. He’s discovering new flows, new cadences, new patterns.” As for the music, “I’m trying to find ways to pull more untraditional sounds in, to push the boundaries a little further.” The overall approach may be the same as the one that the duo has finely honed, but still, Mr. Shebib said, “Something about it should be special.”
By JON CARAMANICAFEB. 18, 2016
Photo
Drake has an album scheduled for April. CreditTibrina Hobson/Getty Images
On the Friday before Valentine’s Day, as Drake was getting ready to coach Canada’s team to a victory over the United States in the N.B.A.’s celebrity All-Star Game in Toronto, his longtime musical partner Noah Shebib, known as 40, was in his studio not far away, prepping for another night of work on “Views From the 6,” the forthcoming Drake album scheduled to be released in April.
“I just make 50 ideas in one day,” Mr. Shebib said over the phone before the session. “As soon as one of those ideas gets his attention, we start heading that way.”
In a hip-hop world with fewer and fewer superstars, a new Drake album is a rare seismic event, and “Views” has been teased and anticipated for months. It will arrive after a year in which Drake became the genre’s most powerful artist, because of his persistence on the charts even without releasing a traditional album, and his skillful handling of his beef with Meek Mill, the first real assault on his dominance.
“Views” will arrive in a world overpoweringly influenced by Drake: His softening of the lines between genres is ever-present, from the Weeknd to Bryson Tiller to even Sam Hunt. “For the first time you find yourself not being the young kid doing something different that no one understands,” Mr. Shebib said.
Photo
Noah Shebib, known as 40, Drake’s musical partner.CreditJohnny Nunez/WireImage
Though it’s been two and a half years since Drake released his last album proper, “Nothing Was the Same,” he has been anything but quiet. Last year he put out what were easily his two most pugnacious projects to date: the commercially released mixtape “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late,” and “What a Time to Be Alive,” the full-length album collaboration with the Atlanta rapper Future.
“After ‘Nothing Was the Same,’ Drake was like, ‘I want to do a rap project,’” Mr. Shebib recalled. “He wanted to do what all the other rappers get to do.” But that approach is “a thing we can’t do that much on a Drake album,” he continued. “We have other fans we need to satisfy.”
Mr. Shebib has served the crucial role of Drake’s musical right hand since before the rapper’s 2009 mixtape “So Far Gone.” Like Drake, 40 is a moody sensualist — they’re an apt pair. After last summer, work on “Views” began in earnest, split between 40’s Toronto studio and the one in Drake’s Southern California home.
“It’s going to be what everybody expects and wants from Drake and from us,” Mr. Shebib said. “A lot of introspection, very vivid. He’s discovering new flows, new cadences, new patterns.” As for the music, “I’m trying to find ways to pull more untraditional sounds in, to push the boundaries a little further.” The overall approach may be the same as the one that the duo has finely honed, but still, Mr. Shebib said, “Something about it should be special.”
Thank God for that. I don't want to listen to 90 minutes of straight bars. I need some sensitive Drake.
which means he still signed to
