Currently Digging: Drake – Take Care
Thank Me Later was a blast from beginning to end, but if that was the introduction, we can now safely assume Drake is just getting started. Take Care is long enough you can’t burn it on a blank CD, and the results are more moody and introspective than ever before.
Rap music nowadays usually divides the line between personal and decadent, tortured and boastful, and Drake’s got plenty of the former and very little of the latter. Don’t get me wrong, he’s bragging about his new fortunes, how he’s the hottest rapper in the game right now, etc. But his insecurities are laid bare for all to see; there’s no “Fancy” here to distract you from the sheer reality of how human this superstar is. On “Headlines” he laments how critics motivate him to progress musically, while boasting “the real is on the rise.”
Musically, the album is even more of a low-key affair than “Marvin’s Room” hinted a few months ago. With the exception of leaked tracks featuring Nicki Minaj and Rick Ross, Drake does a substantial amount of crooning; the Weeknd shows up more than once here to provide an ominous tone to Drake’s songs of self-questioning and heartbreak. Overall, Take Care is as bipolar and human as the human that made it. And in the 21st century making-it-rain/getting-personal hybrid of rap, this is probably the best it that it gets….and that’s pretty damn good.
