If it's true that you live or die in the mainstream on the strengths or weaknesses of your influences, then Drake deserves the abundant accolades which have been continually heaped upon him. And the mainstream is exactly where Drake finds himself at this point in his short career. Much has been made of the circumstances surrounding the recording of some songs off Take Care, his latest album. Drake holed up in the same recording studio that Marvin Gaye recorded Here, My Dear in, and the spirit of Gaye hovers over these tracks like an ever-present guiding force. Drake draws out the hurt and loveless despair which he documented so well on his confounding debut Thank Me Later and develops these ideas so personally that Take Care seems less a collection of sexual frustrations than a plea for understanding and acceptance. And while he does occassionally dip into the typical rap diatribes against women--though never misogynistically, it's more complicated than that--and the pressures and weariness of celebrity culture, he never espouses a woe-is-me attitude. He knows that these feelings come dangerously close to rap lifestyle platitudes and so instills them with a sadness and desperation which befits someone who wishes to be taken seriously.
Drake is also well aware of current trends and uses them alongside his old-school influences much in the same way that Kanye West or Jay-Z does. The gospel-inflected backing chorus and deceptively simple beat in Rick Ross-guesting "Lord Knows" along with the nakedly honest need for companionship showcased in "Marvin's Room" display a musical maturity uncommon for someone with so few releases to their name. Other songs like the title track "Take Care" and "Cameras/Good Ones Go" deal with the yearning and disintegration and exposure of false relationships, where the need for real connections, which always seem so far away, is constantly wheeling around in his mind. Drake has proposed that beneath all the generic rap "mo money mo problems" bullshit, there is indeed a lonesome place where a person can be surrounded by people all the time and still feel indefinably alone. And while we may never be in the same position that Drake finds himself now, the intensely personal Take Care will always be there to document the pitfalls and dangers for all those come after.
Tracklisting:
01. Over My Dead Body
02. Shot for Me
03. Headlines
04. Crew Love
05. Take Care
06. Marvin’s Room / Buried Alive
07. Underground Kings
08. We’ll Be Fine
09. Make Me Proud
10. Lord Knows (listen to the mp3 below)
11. Cameras / Good Ones Go
12. Doing It Wrong
13. The Real Her
14. Look What You’ve Done
15. HYFR
16. Practice
17. The Ride
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