Imagine if Drake had released VIEWS in November 2011, as his sophomore studio album, and Take Care in April 2016 after a lengthy delay marked by the Meek beef. Would VIEWS be considered his masterpiece and Take Care an overlong, spotty streaming ploy?

You can do the same exercise with Scorpion/Take Care as well. And obviously disregard any complicating factors (such as lyrics in VIEWS that allude to the Meek beef, which obviously wouldn't have made sense in 2011).

The point I'm trying to make is, do critics and non-stans actually think the quality of Drake's music has dipped since TC/NWTS, or have a series of factors (Drake's ascent to pap/rap megastardom, impossible expectations on every one of his releases, their own evolution as people, etc.) simply combined to ravage their ability to process and evaluate Drake's music in a fair and honest way?

It wouldn’t make a difference because all Drake albums are masterpieces

yes i do believe it has dipped, it is an interesting and thought provoking point you have raised, thanks op

I see more and more people are starting to see Views as the classic it was... It aged really well

It’s still his most successful album , had so many hit and pretty much ran the whole 2016

Even Joe Budden, Who was its biggest hater at the time, admitted recently on his podcast that it’s pretty good lol

The Life of Pablo received fawning reviews despite being at least half-unlistenable. (The best parts of TLOP are great, but it also has ~8 total skips.)

VIEWS comes out two months later and the majority of it is objectively great music, some of the best and most inventive of Drake's career, and yet critics dismiss it as mediocre merely because of Pop Style, Grammys, and the fact that he tacked on Hotline Bling at the end.

The moral of the story is The Boy really gets held to a higher standard than just about anyone in rap history. And to the extent that it has diminished some folks' ability to appreciate VIEWS and Scorpion, that's a real shame.

did u just s*** on tlop????????, wish I didnt see this s***

views flopped because ppl wanted iyrtitl/ wattba level rap bangers

and all the songs going for these vibes: still here, pop style, Grammys, hype, 9 ,fucking stink compared to his 2015 run

the dancehall/ pop / rnb songs are goat

In what matter did it flop? It was the biggest album in 2016 and even 2017

It was one of the longest running #1 albums ever... Nobody stopped listening to it

Are you just talking critically? Who cares about that

TLOP slander very unnecessary

TLOP & Views both classics

If he had removed those tracks you mentioned I truly believe it could be considered a "classic" edit: maybe even leaving pop style would be ok

album was teased for 2 years as his Magnus opus , of course I would sell regardless

but everyone was underwhelmed by it

of course it flopped man

i was at the summer sixteen tour and all the views songs expect , one dance, controlla, hotline

got like no response from the crowd

Cap

Summer Sixteen crowds were hype af for Childs Play and Still Here.

I agree with OP in that narratives affects an album's reception much more than people want to admit. Maybe not in these specific instances to that degree, but I agree with the concept

Nigga what city were you in ?

Yes, they would be perceived differently. I personally have them 2 and 3 in his catalog and imo the difference in quality is very small. Obviously he's rapping more on Take Care but the production on Views is superior.

The only thing that makes me question it is the Caribbean influence. I'm not sure if people would've accepted it at the time but the r&b joints would fit right in to that era because they're just as good tbh. Imagine hearing Fire & Desire in 2011...