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Drake · S7 E4
Controlla & Too Good
Caribbean influences, Rihanna duets, and Drake's ear for sounds from across the globe
Summer 2016. Half the Views tracklist sounds like Kingston, not Toronto, and Drake has quietly become the biggest bridge between Caribbean music and the American mainstream in a generation.
Rihanna, Needed Me (2016). Official music video directed by Harmony Korine. While Drake was building Views, Rihanna was making Anti, and their paths kept crossing: "Work" dominated the spring, "Too Good" anchored the summer. This video captures Rihanna in the same moment Drake was pulling Caribbean sounds into hip-hop, the two of them reshaping pop from opposite ends of the same island frequency.
Needed Me, Rihanna (2016)
Produced by DJ Mustard, "Needed Me" strips away pop polish and replaces it with a skeletal West Coast beat and Caribbean vocal inflections. Rihanna's delivery is cold and detached, channeling the same emotional distance Drake perfected on Take Care. Listen for how DJ Mustard leaves empty space in every bar, letting Rihanna's voice carry the entire track without a single wasted note.
Drake's Caribbean Education
Drake's love for Caribbean music didn't start with Views. He'd been visiting Jamaica since his early twenties, building relationships with artists like Popcaan (who he eventually signed to OVO) and producers like Supa Dups. What Views did was move those influences from the background to the foreground: "Controlla" runs on a Supa Dups dancehall riddim, "Too Good" pairs Rihanna's Bajan vocal style with 40's Toronto atmosphere, and the whole album treats the Caribbean not as a novelty but as a core part of Drake's musical identity.
“Vybz Kartel is one of my biggest inspirations, like one of my favorite artists.”
— Drake, interview with Nardwuar, 2016
TAP TO REVEAL: What happened to the original version of "Controlla"?
Kingston, Jamaica
The dancehall capital of the world, where Drake spent time building relationships with Supa Dups, Popcaan, and the broader Jamaican music scene. The sound that defines "Controlla" was born on these streets, decades before Drake turned it into a pop radio staple.
Controlla, Drake (2016)
The song this episode is built around. "Controlla" is Drake at his most unguarded: singing in a Caribbean cadence over a Supa Dups riddim, the Toronto accent replaced by something warmer and looser. If "One Dance" was the global crossover hit, "Controlla" is the deep cut that proves Drake wasn't just borrowing the sound. He was living inside it.
Controlla, Drake (2016)
Read the lyrics while you listen. "Jodeci, Jodeci, I can never find the words to say you're beautiful." Drake reaching for R&B nostalgia while standing knee-deep in dancehall. Two worlds at once.
Controlla & Too Good: The Facts
Which Jamaican producer created the dancehall riddim that powers "Controlla"?
Views is Drake's most commercially successful album, but he's already bored with the format. Next: "More Life" arrives not as an album but as a "playlist," and Drake blurs every line between project, brand, and content.
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