He's not really about interviews and stuff. I was like, "He looks important," but I didn't really know. He started following me, and I didn't even know who was 40 back then. I had this beat tape and I didn't do anything with it, but then one day 40 just DMed me on Twitter. And I made a mixtape, Ninety Two, where it's beats that are inspired by that. Nothing Was the Same was one of my favorite albums ever. On my side, I was getting really into Drake's music. I know they kept going back and forth with Will, but not really. So then Will passes your stuff along to 40-Īctually, not even! 40 hit me up out of the blue. But it was just crazy going from nothing to that, within a couple of weeks or months. I really enjoyed it, and I still enjoy it. It was weird, man! I never really thought about DJing or anything like that. I was somewhere in the Netherlands, and I played this big festival with Major Lazer and HudMo. So, in 2013, you found yourself opening for Hudson Mohawke. And then he found my stuff, and he was like, "Oh, this kind of makes sense," and he sent it back to Oliver. He sent them some stuff from Kaytranada, but that wasn't really what they were looking for. He was already in contact with the OVO people, like Oliver , and they were looking for some stuff back in the day for Nothing Was the Same. One of his roommates sent him the first EP that I made, called Beyond.
Listen to drake weston road flows how to#
So I had to learn how to DJ on the road, too. I kept on producing stuff on SoundCloud, and at the same time I would travel and play DJ sets. Right after that, we started booking some shows. He told me to come there so I met Kay and him. He was coming for Kay's show like three years ago at this festival in France. He has what it takes to make it happen.My manager is Kaytranada's manager, too. More Drake! Drake wants a WNBA team in Canada. Play that One Dance for me one more time. The story is honest, and real, I suppose, and I’m certain in dark moments I will return to it. Instead, these are mere highlights on a long album that is, in its essence, about the loneliness of a very rich man. How was Drake going to make an album of dancehall music about life in Toronto? I had no idea, but I was excited to find out. With the release of the tracks leading up to Views, I was so fired up because I thought that is where the album was going. One Dance especially is a near perfect song, which manages to combine the sinister, moody aesthetic of the rest of the album and lay it on top of an irresistible beat. Controlla and One Dance are so clearly the standouts it’s kind of unfair, and their placement as track 11 and 12 on the album make it hard to not just stop the album there and listening to the two of them on repeat. The album’s best moments come on the dancehall songs. It’s immersive and lush, moody and twisting, and the whole thing sounds fantastic. Get a good pair of headphones and put on Weston Road Flows or Childs Play and you can feel the music washing over you. Noah “40” Shebib produced 10 of the 20 tracks and he’s at the peak of his powers on this record. The production is spectacular, though, sonically precise and interesting. It’s too long - 20 songs is a haul, no matter how good the production - and there are absolutely zone-out moments, patches where you drift off and come to and realize it’s been two songs and you aren’t even sure what track you’re on. It’s something you work your way into, explore. This isn’t an album that grabs you by the throat.
Views didn’t have the arresting visual element that we got with Beyoncé’s Lemonade, nor the bombast of a Madison Square Garden viewing party like with Kanye’s The Life of Pablo. Let me get out of the way and say that while I was underwhelmed upon first listen, this is an album that is going to grow on you.