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Music

It's Here, We've Arrived: This Drake Monologue Is Peak Drake

In some ways, it's like 'Views' is going to be the final chapter in the great sociological experiment that has been Drake.

The campaign trail for Drake's upcoming album Views From the 6 has been one long exercise in playing hard to get. Over the last year, we've been teased with releases ranging from consumate bangers like "Hotline Bling" to those infamous diss tracks that were unleashed in Meek Mill's direction last year. Between, countless tracks have been dropped through Drizzy's OVO Sound radio show, he's headlined his own festival and, for want of a better word, dominated the rap internet as his little owl adoring fans hang on to every word that comes from their master's newly bearded face hole, waiting for some concrete information on Views to be released.

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Thankfully though, the wait is over and the conspiracy theories can end (remember when everyone thought the record would be dropping in January?), as last weekend Drake announced that Views From the 6 will be released on April 29. Which is to say, in true Drake fashion, he's continuing to play the long-game and the release date was announced in the form of the following video, which is one of the more weird-ass promotional campaigns we've seen for a new album release in a minute. Take a look:

4/29/16 #VIEWS pic.twitter.com/kHa2rerRyV

— Drizzy (@Drake)

April 10, 2016

Like a Shakespearean protagonist who has been transported into a future where men wear sweat-pants, the clip is a monologue. A monologue that comes across a bit like your Facebook Year in Review video, but with way less photos of you on someone's shoulders at V Festival, way less pictures of average lunches, and way more photos of Drake being rich.

I guess we could rattle through exactly what Drake says in the clip, but you've got ears, right? You can hear exactly what he's saying. It's basically a poem of Drizzy references that don't rhyme. Instead, lets ruminate on the semantics, which seem to present this new album as some sort of existential life project. It isn't just going to be an album, is it? This is the rev-up toward something way bigger. It's the last hike up the mountain before we reach peak Drake, where he will finally be able to look down at where he's been, where he's going, and who he is. In some ways, it looks like Views is going to be the final chapter in the great sociological experiment that has been Drake: the human-meme, superstar rapper, lint-rolling connoisseur who has captured our minds with his perfectly symmetrical face and oft-touchingly sentimental rap tracks.

What a time to be alive, eh?