This is not teenAGE’s official review of Drake’s album. That review may be found here. The views expressed are not necessarily those of teenAGE or Jamaica Observer.

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Last night I was one of thousands that rushed to quickly download Views, Drake’s latest and highly anticipated project. Upon scrolling through the track list to see exactly who was featured, I saw Rihanna, Future and PARTYNEXTDOOR but something was missing from Track 11. I began to ponder if Drake had really had the nerve to leave Popcaan’s name off the album knowing good and well that it was Popcaan’s time to gain some real recognition. When I didn’t hear “gyal yuh body good and you special to me…” on Controlla I began to weep for Popcaan. When I realized he had replaced his feature with a Beenie Man sample I began to weep for the Jamaican culture. Drake had kept Popcaan’s flow and dropped his name.Controlla, being featured was a major step not only for him as an artiste, but it would pave the way for other Jamaican artistes. Jamaicans would finally be able to actually participate in projects that our culture had inspired.Controlla sounds. Controlla had tremendous potential, it could have been one of the best songs on the album. Instead Drake has sloppily thrown in a Beenie Man sample from his song Tear Off Mi Garment which in no way shape or form embellishes the song. He, however squeezed in a short Popcaan sample from Love Yuh Bad on track 16 Too Good ft. Rihanna. He placed it right at the end, the point where most of us just skip to the next song.

Yet again someone has befriended us, basked in our culture and ran off with it leaving us behind, angry and confused. Drake has Jamaican influences sprinkled all over his overhyped and substandard album. It is obvious that our culture has inspired him and has added dimension to his work. This is not only an insult to Popcaan, it is an insult to Jamaica and we should all take it personally. Jamaicans rarely get featured on major projects, only sampled. All over the world people are appropriating our culture for profit whilst hardly giving credit to its origin. I was excited for Popcaan when I heard

It is even more disheartening how this new version of

It is as though Drake believes it acceptable to use our dialect and flavour while refusing to feature our artistes. From 2010 when I saw the video for Find Your Love I realized Drake was dabbling in Jamaican culture to make his work more dynamic. I noted carefully how he sprinkled Popcaan’s flavour all over his mixtape If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late in 2015. I observed how Drake quickly took on Popcaan’s catchphrase “way up”, but I believe he has gone too far in 2016. He is proving himself to be a parasite – benefiting from Jamaican influences and then casually including them in his work as though he has undergone some creative process to produce them.

This is simply another blow for dancehall and Jamaica, but what else can we expect as we ignore our flavourful culture and fascinate ourselves with the bland cultures of other nations? I only hope Popcaan quickly learns to guard his creativity from Drake while carefully maximizing all profits from the minimal exposure Drake gives him.