For the past year, the Hip-Hop world has patiently been waiting for the next Drake LP to drop. Well fans have no fear; the album is finally here but be careful what you wish for should have been the title instead of Take Care. Now for those who actually waited and didn’t get the leaked album last week, I’m afraid to say that you have wasted your money. I am not going to knock his hustle, Drake has been featured on some of the hottest tracks to drop this year and his singles “Marvin’s room,” “headlines,” and most recently “Make Me Proud” have quickly grown on me but this album is just not what I was expecting from the Canadian emcee.
Just looking at the cover, I should have known that the album was going to be filled with corny lines saved for fans of Twilight type fantasy love. He is sitting in a room by himself, all gold jewelry (symbolizing his success and wealth), with a small statue of Horus on the table. Now for those who are not a fan of mythology, Horus is one of the oldest Egyptian Gods and said to be the God of the King and the sky. What does this have to do with drake? I’m not exactly sure. Is he trying to say that he is the king of the game now? In the words of Ed Lover “C’mon Son.”
Immediately a chill, confessional mood is set with the track “Over My Dead Body” which basically sets the tone for the rest the album. Now I can honestly say that I was feeling the beat of this Noah “40” Shebib and Chantal Kreviazuk produced song, but Drake killed himself on it by opening with the cringe worthy line “ I think killed everybody in the game last year.” Killed everybody with what exactly? A sub par first album that didn’t even break Gold in its first week of sales, singles that have yet to hit number one on the charts, and was later trumped by Eminem’s Recovery album. Following this track comes an even more somber, slow beat rhythmic song “ Shot for Me” that continues the ego boosting lyrics of the previous. With lines like “The way you walk…that’s me…Oh you mad that nobody like me?” Now what may seem like a bitter rant to most, finishes with a half-assed toast to show he has moved on to bigger and better...ok, Aubrey.
Both tracks provide a set up for the following songs that bring Drake back to rapping for a short period of time. Now this part of the album I would say has the most hits and memorable tracks, as well as the most star studded features. From the hook oriented and catchy vocal talents of Rihanna on “Take Care” to more smooth, soothing sounds of The Weekend on “Crew Love,” this is a redeeming part of the album. , Now for those who don’t know The Weekend, need to. His mixtape Thursday dropped earlier this year and from hearing it, I can tell this is what Drake aspires to be when trying to sing all over his tracks. Continuing on to more rap oriented, harder tracks “Buried alive Interlude” featuring Kendrick Lamar, “Underground Kings,” “Make me Proud” featuring Birdman (the P.Diddy of Young money), “Make Me Proud” featuring Nicki Minaj, and the Just Blaze produced banga “Lord Knows” featuring Rick Ross.
I would have to say that “Lord Knows” is one of the most redeemable tracks on the album but still holds Drake’s corny lines. From the start of the track he admits his insecurity by going through a girl’s purse when she is in the bathroom to go through her phone. Continues by calling out the greats of the past and seeing if they’ll last today and even goes as far to proclaim himself a descendent of Jimi Hendrix or Bob Marley. This is just laughable but drowned out by the Blaze beat and Rick Ross grunts.
The rest of the CD follows the same theme of Aubrey aka Drizzy being on top, but finding it hard to trust or find the right one. There are a few more bangas, such as “HYFR” featuring Weezy and “The Real Her” featuring Andre 3000, but the album returns to the sensitive more “in the feelings” sound Drake has grown accustomed to. The sound that also spawns the trending topics on twitter #Drakecrieswhen and pictures like this:
Now I am not hating on Drake and I peep his “thug with a heart” game, but instead of showing a more LL Cool J vibe, he is beginning to grow towards Ja Rule circa Pain is Love. With Take Care he shows a great production and a solid album that illustrates the journey that success and fame has taken him through but lyrically he needs to do better.
For more slander check out: http://bigghostnahmean.blogspot.com/2011/11/big-ghost-presents-take-care-review.html
No comments:
Post a Comment