@DRAKE 'TAKE CARE' ALBUM REVIEW

November 15th is shortly upon us will Drizzy kill the game again or has the likes of J. Cole, Big Sean and Wale taken his shine? Say Somethin' reviews 'Take Care' after the jump!

Drake stepped on to the Music scene back in 2006 after firstly pursuing an acting career, but it wasn't until 2009 when he dropped the 'So Far Gone' Mixtape that Hip Hop began to really pay attention. 'So Far Gone' put Drake on the map which started a bidding war between some of the top record companies to sign him as their top entertainer some of which had previously turn their backs on him (Sylvia Rhone -Previous President of Universal Motown Records);

"And Sylvia be telling Taz damn Drake fly, And he just be like silly motherf****r I know, That was your bad, how can you pass up on 'em, He just take them records and he gas up on 'em, Wayne would probably put a million cash up on 'em, Surprised no one ever put your ass up on 'em"

Drake ended up signing with his mentor Lil' Wayne to Young Money and it was with Young Money that he dropped his debut 'Thank Me Later'
                   'Thank Me Later' became a huge success selling $1.4M copies in the US alone and spun 4 hit singles, 2 of which were No.1 on the US Rap charts. The question has always remained can Drake top 'Thank Me Later'? and Will he Kill the game again with 'Take Care'? well lets go through each track and see if Drake has the potential to win with his Sophomore Album.

Over My Dead Body 

Produced by '40' Drake starts the album off reminding people that he's back to take over the game, Rappers who were taking shots while he was on a break between albums beware because this is the track Drake seems to be retaliating to previous shots directed at him. Pusha T maybe?

"And f*ck you to the ni**as who think it's their time, Don't make me take your life apart boy, You and whoever the f*ck gave you your start boy, Or you wanna be a muthaf*ckin funny guy?, Don't make me break your Kevin heart boy"

Shot For Me

'Shot For Me' has more of an R&B vibe as does most of the album. This song Drake reminds an Ex that he is still the man and that she must regret breaking up with him for her new Boyfriend. Drake sings over the '40' beat and encourages his Ex lover to take a shot for him.

"Oh you mad cause nobody ever did it like me, All the care I would take, all the love that we made Now you're trying to find somebody to replace what I gave to you"

Headlines 

Produced by Boi-1da and '40' was the first single to be released from the new album back in August of this year. The song runs on the similar theme as 'Over My Dead Body' showcasing the fact that he is back in the game and ready to reclaim his crown that some say J. Cole has taken as of late, well not to Drake as he spits the lines;

"Listen to you expressin all them feelings, Soap opera rappers all these ni***s sound like All My Children"




Crew Love

Crew Love switches the album back to the R&B sound and by far is one of the stand out tracks even though it's only 3 minutes 30 seconds long most of that is sung by featured artist The Weeknd who sings the hook sounding very similar to Drake's usual R&B collaborator Trey Songz. 'Crew Love' was produced by Illangelo, '40' and The Weeknd himself. This was a polished track the type of track his female audience will love but the 3 minutes 30 seconds fly's by before you know it your listening to the title track 'Take Care'

Take Care

The title track was produced by Jamie xx and '40' and features Drake's Ex (Brief) flame Rihanna. Even though the track sample the late great Gil Scott-Heron



Its actually my lease favorite track on the album. The beat just sounds too Pop for me to vibe too I mean we all know Drake is an R&B/Hip Hop Artist but this is the type of track Rihanna would do herself or Chris Brown for that matter but for Drake this should have been left on the recording studio floor.

Marvin's Room / Buried Alive (Interlude)

Drake released Marvin's Room a few months ago and instantly it became a hit on the net with everyone singing the lyrics

 “F-ck that nigga that you love so bad
I know you still think about the times we had, I’m just sayin’, you could do better” Produced by '40' this track was brilliantly written everyone knows someone in a relationship with someone else who we feel is just not good enough for them. Everyone has covered this song from Jo Jo to Chris Brown. Many people took Chris brown's version as a shot to Drake;



Remember Drake dated Rihanna during the time she was recovering from the Chris Brown situation, so if Chris is dropping lyrics like this it's obvious who the target was.

"Don’t listen to what that n-gga say, Cus’ he’s just saying you could do better, And baby all I’m saying is he sound like a hater, And baby he could just f-ck off and do us a favor, Mind your business, n-gga stop being a hater"

Buried Alive just goes hard with the feature from Kendrick Lamar, The flow is ill, the beat is sick and the lyrics just bodied most Rappers entire albums.

Underground Kings

Production from T-Minus and '40' has Drake rapping about the usual making money and doing it for Toronto, Drake has an obsession with Strippers and here he mentions doing it for his stripper girlfriends. Underground Kings is good not ground breaking but it's still a solid track. He sounds very much like his mentor on this track he even re sights one of his biggest songs with the line

"If I don't nothing I'mma ball, I'm countin all day like a clock on the wall"

We'll Be Fine

Another Fire track would be this one which was produced by T-Minus, Drake sounds mean on the verses rapping about Toronto again meeting girls at the club and wondering if their down for what ever, Lyrically not much is here but the sound still goes hard regardless, with a feature from Cash money boss Birdman i think I'm more happy at the fact that he just spoke rather than drop a straight 16 o_O

Make Me Proud

Produced by T-Minus 'Make Me Proud' served as the second single from "Take Care' Feature none other that Nicki Minaj, the track is catchy radio friendly and featuring Nicki it's bound to be a hit. In fact the track peaked so far at No.9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and its leaped from No.97 - No.9 in just one week making it the forth track in history to have such a leap on the charts

Lord Knows

Produced by Just Blaze serves as probably the hardest Hip Hop track on the album featuring the Boss of the game right now Rick Ross. Drake upped his game knowing full well Ross is about to murder the track and Drake gives Ross a run for his money i mean when you have one of the best rappers in the game featured on your track you can't be out shined and Drake held his own here spitting some cold verses enough to make this the coldest winter when the album drops November 15th

"F-ck you all, I claim that whenever I change rap forever, the game back together, yup, YM, I remain that forever In the same place my brother Wayne that forever, I’m a descendant of either Marley or Hendrix, I haven’t figured it out cause my story is far from finished, I’m hearing all of the jokes, I know that they tryna push me, I know that showin’ emotion don’t ever mean I’m a p-ssy
Know that I don’t make music for n-ggas who don’t get p-ssy, So those are the ones I count on to diss me or overlook me"

Cameras / Good Ones Go (Interlude)

Drake switches back again to the Emo-R&B sound which is one of my top picks from the album as it samples the 90s sound of Jon B



Drake rhymes about cheating on his girlfriend but he's trying to tell her its only on camera. Produced by Lex Luger, Drake and '40'. This is a new sound for Lex Luger a very slowed down R&B feel many may not be used to from him.

"Baby girl you need to stop it all that pride and self esteem, Got you angry about this girl I'm with in all them magazines, Baby she look like a star, but only on camera"

The song slowly fades into 'Good Ones Go' where Drakes sings in his 'Marvin's Room' voice about losing a good girl reminiscent to Prince's 'The Beautiful Ones - They Hurt You Every-time'

Doing It Wrong

'Doing It Wrong' has Drake singing more R&B infusions where Drake collaborators with Stevie Wonder who doesn't sing but lends his talents. The song is another slow R&B sound which slows the album right down but being Drake people are used to this, This track sounds more like it was meant for his R&B Mixtape which never came out but it fits nicely on the album any how, again produced by '40'

The Real Her 

Produced by '40',  Drake sings on this track also which sounds very much like 'So Far Gone' which isn't a bad thing. Drake singing about Houston girls, Atlanta girls and Vegas girls the usual slow jam type of track but livens up with verses from Lil' Wayne and Andre 3000. Ironically enough Andre snubbed Drake when asked to be on 'Thank Me Later'

“I really tried to do a song with Andre 3000, but I think it was meant for my second album. Dre is one of those people that needs you to do a little more. He’s one of those people that believe in his craft so much that he needs you to do more than just be over hyped or just famous. In his mind, I have to prove myself and the truth is, I do. That’s just being real. I have a lot of work to do, so I actually respect him for that. I think on the second album I’ll probably only have two features. I have a few people in mind and Dre probably will be one of them.”

Look What You've Done

Produced by Chase and '40' this track is about Drakes pass. He speaks on his Mother, Grandmother and Father who by listening to the lyrics he is not too fond of;

"And then you ask sh*t and we argue about spending money on bullsh*t, And you tell me I’m just like my father, my one button, you push it, And that's "F*ck you, I hate you, I'll move out in a heartbeat"

The track also samples one of my favorite R&B acts of the 90s 'Playa' and The late Static Major who ironically wrote most of Aaliyah's music who is Drakes favorite artist.



HYFR (Hell Yeah F***ing Right)

Drake and Weezy again one word DOPE! This is when Drake is at his best when he is just straight spitting Fire! When he is in Drizzy mode it's defiantly a problem for most of these rappers in the game and this song with Weezy show cases that just like 'Lord Knows' does, The track is produced by T-Minus

Practice

OK this song is straight on repeat Drake takes Juvenile's song from the late 90s 'Back Dat Azz Up' and turns it into this dope R&B track but when the beat drops don't get it twisted it goes Hard. This was a real fresh remake of the Juvenile track and another stand out song which ends the album nicely. Track was produced by '40'



Juvenile seemed to like the version too he states;

"We started going through the clearance process and stuff like that,” he said, “and when I heard it I was impressed because I really thought that ‘Back That Azz Up’ was a hard song to remake. The fact that he took it somewhere else, I think it was big. I like that."

The Ride

Produced by Doc McKinney and The Weeknd the song also features The weeknd again on vocals. Having the same producers throughout the album just to drop a different one at the end kind of throws off the albums vibe production  wise, seems like it doesn't flow but the verses are tight as usual Drake rapping about his come up, fame, the girls and parties

Review

I honestly did not think Drake was going to better 'Thank Me Later' but i have to say i feel he did with this album. It seems more timeless to me more so then his debut. You can tell he took the time to craft this album and minus 'The Ride' the entire album flows into one with each track complementing each other whether its Hip Hop or R&B. I would say the only problem Drake has is the fact that most straight Hip Hop fans just want Hip Hop and they don't want to be playing 'Take Care' from the SUV with Rihanna comes popping up on a track that let's be honest sounds more like a Pop track that Nicki Minaj would do, and it's here that Drake may have to make a decision whether or not he does a full Hip Hop album the next time round or a full R&B album to cater for his other audience. All in all i think the album is dope i personally like the Mix of Hip Hop and R&B and if i was to mark this album out of 5 'Take Care' would get a straight 4 stars!