Alex takes a look at Drake’s new album Take Care, his place in hip-hop, and his collection of Cosby sweaters.<\/em><\/p>\n

2011 has quietly been a pretty good year for hip-hop records. Saigon finally released his debut album (and it was mostly good!), Big K.R.I.T. became the rapper I am most likely to get in a fight over, Kendrick Lamar did the same for a lot of others, Phonte\u2019s solo album was appropriately Phonte-esque, and there\u2019s still a concept album by The Roots scheduled to hit your download queue in the first week of December. The biggest release of the year was (and will remain) the mostly stellar Watch The Throne, but Drake\u2019s new album Take Care is probably second on that list*.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ *Lil Wayne\u2019s Tha Carter IV is the only other option, but it loses points because almost everybody hates it.<\/em><\/p>\n

Drake\u2019s major label debut Thank Me Later was a decent but mostly forgettable album. Aside from the good opener Fireworks, the strings on Over, the Inception-esque beat on Up All Night, and Jay-Z\u2019s confusing grasp on grammar rules in Light Up, there was nothing that really stood out. The whole album seemed rushed, something that is all but confirmed by the fact that it was recorded in as many different recording studios as Chinese Democracy. Drake himself has said more or less the same thing, and vowed to take more time with his follow-up, a fact that is evident through one listen of Take Care.<\/p>\n

The first time through the record, one thing was abundantly clear: this album is BIG. The production sounds like the album is to be listened to exclusively on the largest, loudest speakers you can get your hands on. (If you\u2019re not pissing off the Portuguese family that lives below you, your Take Care sound setup is insufficient.) There are a lot of musical subtleties going on behind Drake: the Gil Scott Heron sample stabs in the second half of the title track* are glorious, as is everything that happens on Marvin\u2019s Room and Over My Dead Body. And when it comes time to ditch the light percussion in favour of something that makes your ears ring, the production is just as good; the bass on Lord Knows knocked hard enough to make my bookshelf look like it was in the opening scene of Ghostbusters. Obviously, not everything is perfect, but musically this album is rarely anything less than interesting.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$
And his sweater game is clearly advanced.<\/p><\/div>\n
Not all of the artists I have discussed have had great careers: Nelly fully embraced his identity as a pop star, and has made more terrible music than most rappers will ever make. Eminem is so dedicated to record sales that everybody has accepted that his almost incomparable talent will never be properly utilized. Kanye West has basically become hip-hop\u2019s version of Radiohead. The likelihood of Drake having Kanye West\u2019s or Eminem\u2019s level of career success is unlikely, but taking chances will be the only way he can really do something interesting. Drake has a clear formula with his albums, and that formula relies on him wanting to be taken seriously as a rapper. He can still rap – and he should – but he shouldn\u2019t feel like he needs to appeal to the people that will never take him seriously anyway. Even Eminem and Kanye are still only respected begrudgingly in a lot of hip-hop circles.<\/p>\n
On its own merits, Take Care is a good record, although its goodness is indeterminate. I would guess the sparse, layered production is a big part of that, although again that seems to slight Drake. But walking home last night I started listening to it again, and despite its shortcomings, it just felt right. Drake\u2019s lyrics did nothing for me, and his voice got old on some tracks, but the feel of the album never failed to seem like something that should be playing in people\u2019s headphones today. I might not listen to it another five times, but I won\u2019t try to talk you out of listening to it once. You might not like what you hear, but at least you\u2019re hearing something new. If only Drake himself could accept that, we might start hearing something that is both new and consistently exciting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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