Drake - Take Care

After finally recovering from Lambeau, I'm ready to get back to work with a little New Music Tuesday entry done on Thursday. Drake's 'Take Care' came out this week, surprisingly to not a whole ton of publicity. Even though his last album came out just a year ago pretty much, he was slamming the studio time and banging out another recording. The danger of dropping albums once a year is quality - which we've seen with countless acts, but most notably - Ludacris. If the quality slips for Drake's albums, he'll alienate the already jaded fans that feel he's more pop than hip hop. Right from the bat, this album feels substantially more low-key than any other rap album that dropped this year. It's got this atmospheric sound, that uses really subtle beats, really slow tempos and just really laid back grooves. The focus would appear to be on the lyrics and subject matter, and not the really over-the-top productions. Isn't that funny? You actually spend MORE time producing an album to make it feel under-produced. I've heard this album compared to some TLC's tracks, where you have this really smooth feel with a blues overtone, which is pretty much what this is. It's very blues meets R&B meets a little rap, which is about what TLC was in their day. This might have a little more synth and electronic elements to it, but not all that unique. Lyrically this seems to be about the strained romances in his life, the relationship with other family and friends and then the overall difficulties of gaining all this new found fame. His stance about life is very different because he's a biracial kid from some means, and he never had to sell drugs or get into gang life. So that take is almost refreshing to hear, and to listen to him talk about his own self doubts and no belief that he's as talented as some of the critics would lead on, is almost nice to hear. Even though he's more "relateable" to the common listener, I don't think his music appeals to everyone. This album doesn't contain a single "go hard" track to satisfy the rap moguls and it's probably too pop to make the R&B nuts do a double take. While Drake has been a master of giving a little bit to everyone, I'm not sure where I stand with this one. While I personally really like the laidback groovy stylings, I could see it not being for everyone. His flow isn't Pac-ian, but whose is? If you take this for what it is, a soul rap album that is all about his emotions and not his cars/girls/drugs, I think you'll enjoy it.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Over My Dead Body
2. Shot for Me
3. Headlines
4. Crew Love
5. Take Care
6. Marvins Room/Buried Alive Interlude
7. Under Ground Kings
8. We'll Be Fine
9. Make Me Proud
10. Lord Knows
11. Cameras/Good Ones Go Interlude
12. Doing It Wrong
13. Real Her, The
14. Look What You've Done
15. HYFR (Hell Ya Fucking Right)
16. Practice
17. Ride, The

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Take Care
2. HYFR
3. Headlines

FINAL RATING:
3.75 out of 5 stars