‘Soft’ rapper a real talent
Released in November 2011 Canadian rapper Drake’s impressive sophomore album Take Care has taken on 2012 with force.
A deeply personal album, Drake expands on the themes which surfaced on his debut album Thank Me Later released in 2010. Take Care is a fearless voyage into a worldlier Drake. This time he incorporates the emotional and often frustrating experiences he has encountered with friends, lovers and enemies since Thank Me Later, this time holding nothing back. His songs are a mix between charismatic rap verses and lingering vocals filled with yearning and quiet desperation. This is best shown in his slow tempo song Marvin’s Room where he sings about a past girlfriend he can’t quite get over: ‘‘ The woman that I would try/ is happy with a good guy/but I’ve been drinking so much / that I’ma call her anyway’’. Drake doesn’t mince words and this is what makes this album so refreshing.
What is sincere about Drake is his acute vulnerability and his ability to show it. Signed to Young Money/ Cash Money records by big-time rapper Lil Wayne, it appears rap and hip hop are merging into a new direction, exhibit A being Drake; not the typical rapper by any means. He has garnered scepticism from critics on being ‘‘ too soft’’, yet the issues he taps into are anything but as conveyed in the album’s opening song Over My Dead Body: ‘‘are these people really discussing my career again / asking if I’ll be going platinum in a year again?’’
Drake’s thought- provoking lyrics encapsulate a young man with a profound ability to observe the world and write about it. In moments he embodies the soul of a loner, an idealist and a tortured romantic, yet raps with all of the confidence, swag and arrogance of Jay-z and Kanye West.
In his song Headlines Drake lets his haters motivate him with self-congratulatory lyrics, ‘‘soap opera rapper / sound like All My Children / I guess it really is just me, myself and all my millions.’’ He picks when to let the excesses of fame and fortune show through but strangely doesn’t make us dislike him any less.
Drake informs us of Bar mitzvahs ( being of Jewish descent), choosing music over college and being a man worth 25 million. He doesn’t apologise for his fairly clean-cut image compared to heavyweight rappers like Eminem; whose experiences have been much more trying. Yet despite this Drake’s emotion shows us his experiences are no less affecting.
His tracks are filled with feelings of irony and melancholia, fused with dreamy synths cascaded against airtight bass beats. Crew Love featuring upcoming indie artist The Weeknd ( yes the ‘‘ e’’ is deliberately erased) is a stimulating and original blend of the two.
Whether a fan or not, this album is a testament of genuine talent. Although Drake speaks out on the hardships of fame with moments of self- pity and ironic humour, his lyrical creativity is an indicator that Drake is one to be revered.