One of the most anticipated albums ever, Drake's Thank Me Later has taken the hip hop world by storm and created a Drake "frenzy" amongst the music biz's biggest fans.
To me, Drake is a robot. He has nothing in the way of lyrical skills nor mic presence. I first heard Drake about four years ago on some random mixtape remix of a Weezy song. I hated his sound then and I dislike it the same now. However, there are some high points to Drake's ability to sell records.
Typically I don't listen to albums made by Toronto rappers who got their big break as a child actor. It's not my cup o' tea if you dig me? But for some reason unbeknownst to me, I had to look at the situation from a strictly musical perspective and take my bias against production line rappers out the question. Here's what I came up with:
Track 1: "Fireworks" f/ Alicia Keys: So there are a million advantages of putting the most beautiful female singer alive on the chorus and the people in his camp knew exactly that fact. It's kind of weird but there are few things that I enjoy more than hearing Ms. Keys sing the word "fireworks" over and over again...oh wait, one of those few is hearing Drakester talk about his realtor. I'm sorry but real emcees don't talk about the repoire they have with their realtor. Fact. What saves this track is the fact that Ms. Keys is singing about fireworks. The piano at the very beginning is good too. Gives you hope.
Track 2/3/4: Irrelevant. The album really could've done without them. Just sayin...
Track 5: "Show Me a Good Time": Alright, so this track is produced by none other than Mr. Kanye West. Of course Kanye is the greatest act alive...but the real one up here is that Kanye produces one of the smoothest sounding tracks ever, without a sample! There is a video on MTV of Drake typing rhymes into his blackberry for this very track...geez, sounds like he truly is the hardest working man in hip-hop (PLEASE!) The thing I love about this song is the last bar of the track: "call me over rated or creative or too jadedbecause any way you put it bitch I made it, YUP" To me that is one of the greatest lines ever spit to people like me...who aren't too fond of the Drakester. Honestly when I first heard it, it felt like I got slapped by a four year old girl. Great stuff!
Track 6/7/8/9: Again, quite irrelevant, although it's definitely worth noting that Drake and T.I. have a song called Fancy and it's an ode to women...like Best I Ever Had was an ode to women. Not that I am against odes to women, but seriously? Play a different card Drakey, cuz that one's played out.
Track 10 "Light Up" : Without a doubt of my two tracks with the ability to not make me vomit, I really like it because I think this Jay-Z guy is really gonna be a hit! Best line: "F*** ni***s, b****s too/All i got is this money, this'll do" Hahaha, great line! The worst part of the track is where Jay-Z likens himself to Windows 7....pretty sure that's not apples to apples Jigga man!
Track 11 "Miss Me": Quite possibly the worst song on the album, Drake goes back to his roots (Weezy) and gives us a glimpse into the world of someone who truly believes that she wants to miss him. Weezy's verse on this track was not only stupid and nonsensical, but the flow was whack too! It's a bad attempt at cementing Drake as a true hip-hop elite. Sorry buddy, you should be thankin Weezy F. Baby!
Track 12 "Cece's Interlude": So Drake, 23, wishes he was in college so he could have her in his dorm room....ummm, Drake buddy, have you ever thought that maybe it could work the other way, where you go to one of those crazy college campuses and you can meet her in HER dorm room. Idiot!
Track 13 "Find Your Love": Now this is the joint. Drake finally utilizes the better of his two sub-par musical skills...singing! I personally enjoy the lyrics after going through the weirdest situation I have ever went through in my life..."I'm more than just an option (hey, hey, hey)Refuse to be forgotten (hey, hey, hey)I took a chance with my heart (hey, hey, hey)And I feel it takin over" I was an option for about three months and tried not to be. I could dig what Drake was feelin here. I actually like it. Not as much as, let's say, watching grass grow, but it's good!
Track 14 "Thank Me Now": The theme song for the instant self-gratification that is society today. Pretty sure I won't be thankin Drakester for anything in the near future...except, of course, if he stops rapping so mechanically.
Overall the best part of the album...the production. Two tracks are produced by Kanye West. The rest are produced by a Kanye protege, Noah "40" Shabib and Boi-1da (who are also with Kanye's production label, Hip Hop Since 1978). So there is no wonder why the production on the album is so sweet. If nothing else, get the instrumental version of the album. If you do I know you will give it five mics.
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