Before I discuss anything, understand that if you are not a fan of Drake, you will not like this album. If your blood boils every time you see Aubrey Graham, my opinion will not convince you otherwise. If you didn’t enjoy his first album, Thank Me Later, his guest appearances on other songs or any of the singles from his current album, this won’t change it. Drake’s music is of it’s own variety (see: The Weeknd), if you don’t enjoy that style, you won’t enjoy Take Care.
Now that that’s out of the way,
Guns, drugs, hoes and goin’ from bottom to top.
Drake’s sophomore effort, Take Care ($4.99 via Amazon MP3) is about none of these things. What it is about is not particularly anything new. Wines I’ve never heard of, clothing brands I’ll likely never afford and his affinity towards women he misses and the city that he’s from.
Though the topics are redundant, the music remains enjoyable. Though it’s listed under Hip-Hop by genre, Take Care is not quite that. Though he does rap, the album has an entirely different feel to it, one that doesn’t resemble a Hip-Hop album. That’s no slight or praise, it’s simply different.
The album introduces itself with ‘Over My Dead Body’ with featured vocals from Chantel Kreviazuk. The song does a spectacular job of setting the mood for the entire album. You could easily hear this album and not remember a single thing about it but still have a positive memory of it. That’s how I felt after about three spins while I went about my regular office work. Again, that’s not meant to be a slight, if anything it’s a compliment. The album is both mellow and soothing while not forcing you to pay attention to every bar. Many of the songs outside of the singles (Headlines, Make Me Proud, The Motto) embody that persona.
Just like his previous album, Drake’s subject matter remains to be targeting females. An absurd amount honestly. However, much like Kanye West’s 808’s & Heartbreak, Take Care is a concept album. Or it comes at a pivotal point of his life, one that many of his listeners can relate to. Heartbreak, over-indulgence of marijuana & liquor while remaining in high esteem seem to be the overwhelming trend of Take Care.
There’s nothing wrong with that either. In a matter of an hour and a half, Drake manages to soundtrack a relationship at its peak followed by the feeling of a break-up, an attempt to re-kindle it, coming to grips with closure and the overwhelming feeling of self-worth.
One of the outstanding songs on Take Care is “Make Me Proud (Feat. Nicki Minaj)”. I know. I hate to admit it but it doesn’t get much catchier than this. I hate the message that it sends but I’d like to think it comes from a good place. Don’t get me wrong, Nicki Minaj has one of the worst verses I’ve ever heard but.. I’m so, I’m so, I’m so, I’m so proud of you. *shrugs*
I thoroughly enjoyed “Headlines” as well. When it was released as a single, I was pleasantly surprised that Drake spotlighted his lyrical ability as opposed to appealing to his young, female fan base. He manages to balance a catchy hook while still maintaining a steady flow (his two strongest attributes) and decent-to-good wordplay.
He followed it up with “Underground Kings” where he displays more flow and wordplay but it all climaxes with the Just Blaze produced “Lord Knows (Feat. Rick Ross)”. On first listen, this song had an infinite amount of potential. Forget Drake and Rick Ross for just a second and please bow down to Justin Blaze for blessing us with this instrumental. He is truly an artist, a master of his craft. Onto Drake though.. “Lord Knows” is a 5:08 track but he doesn’t truly GO IN until 1:30 while his verse ends at 3:05. I was really expecting Drake to “9AM In Dallas” this song. Rick Ross didn’t do the beat justice either, another typical Rick Ross verse full of grunts and WOO! WOO! WOO! It’s easily both the best and most disappointing song on the album. It leaves a lot to be desired but also scratches the surface on the fact that Drake can lyrically stun (see: 9AM In Dallas).
The rest of the album follows like the dénouement into his grandmother speaking touching words about her grandson.
In all honesty, Take Care is a very well put together album. The structure of the album was carefully articulated, along with the production choice of most of the songs. It’s far from the album of the year but it is very much appreciated that Drake didn’t take the easy route and put together an album that would have appeased the mainstream critics and took it a step further. This is not just a collective of songs thrown together but actually an album.
Worth a listen? Sure. A classic? Certainly not. An album you’ll probably re-visit at some time in the future? Absolutely.
