Dirty Dan Reviews Music: "Work" by Rihanna

Song: Work
Artist: Rihanna (ft. Drake)
Label: Westbury Road / Roc Nation

Work, the recent product of a Drake/Rihanna collaboration, is the embodiment of what can only be called a revolution in today’s music industry. The first thing you notice about Work is the exquisite drum machine beat, allegedly influenced by Jamaican dancehall music, popular in the 80s and 90s. The precisely placed artificial hand claps and kick drums generate a laid back but intense groove that harkens back to the golden years of dancehall. The intricate “🔥fire” beat 🎵 was created by producer Rupert “Sevn” Thomas in Drake’s house in L.A., which was described as a “beat 🎵 factory” by Thomas himself. This perfectly represents Rihanna’s work, which is characterized by an assembly line constructed, mass produced nature that perfectly befits itself for the masses.

Though this description may sound impressive, in reality it undersells the true genius behind the 🔥fire beats 🎵 which pervade Drake and Rihanna’s music. Picking which sounds and buttons to press on a computer to program an artificial drum beat 🎵 takes many minds to put together and is no easy task. In fact, it would be fair to say that “Sevn” Thomas could be considered the “Jimi Hendrix of the MacBook Pro”. Let us not forget the Seven (Sevn?) other talents that collaborated on this song by pressing buttons - PartyNextDoor, Allen Ritter, Rupert “Sevn” Thomas, Monte Moir, R. Stephenson, and Boi-1da, as well as Rihanna and Drake received songwriting (song manufacturing?) credits for Work.

The true genius behind Work, however, is the two accompanying music videos. Previously the song had been merely a musical masterpiece with 🔥fire beats 🎵 and autotuned mumbling by a simultaneously bollywood-esque hand-dancing Drake. However, the two videos, one featuring a twerk-fest in a marijuana-haze filled Jamaican club, and the other featuring a couch being sat on by Drake and a Rihanna’s behind being gazed at by Drake, truly elevate the song to the level of fine art. One can almost feel the emotional pain of Rihanna as she belts out her lovesick poetry, (“How many more shots until you’re rolling?”) and the physical pain of Drake’s crotch as it is grinded (ground?) to shreds by Rihanna’s butt. After the song is over, we can only reflect on the emotional impact of the symphony (one can almost refer to it as if it is classical music, an instant timeless classic) and we are left mulling over the philosophical, genius, flowing poetry of its lyrics - “You see me I be work, work, work, work, work, work…Duh, duh, duh, nana nana nana.”

Score: 🔥fire beats 🎵/ 10