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Featured Review:
Thank Me Later — Drake |
Review by Ave
After listening to this album a few times, I was stuck between rating it at either a 6 or a 7. I listened to it another 3 times and came up with a list of 5 songs I liked, 5 I disliked and 4 I was on the fence about, so not much help. I went with a 7 because, despite the things I dislike about the album, the songs that I do like are ones that I’ll be listening to for a long time; when Drake makes contact, he hits it out of the park.
Thank Me Later seems to be a toss-up between 808’s and Heartbreak and…pretty much anything Lil‘ Wayne does. I’m already biased, but the melodic, teenage heartbreak-tinged songs (“Fireworks”, “Karaoke”, “Unforgettable”, “The Resistance”) far surpass those other songs (“Over”, “Up All Night”, etc.). I played the living crap out of 808’s and Heartbreak, but Drake’s singing is light years better than Kanye’s, auto-tune or no auto-tune, and his delivery while rapping is near impeccable, showing that he‘s got true talent which is better than I can say for 90% of mainstream hip-hop today. The consistency between all of these different songs lies in Drake’s lyrics, which are all incredibly clever, with the exception of “Shut it Down” and maybe “Up All Night”. I was ready to fall in love with the second single to be radio-released, “Over” after hearing “Find Your Love”, but I was really disappointed when the amazing verses led up to a cop-out of a chorus, which is also the case for “Fancy”. Thank Me Later also features an array of hip-hop stars as guest collaborators, but the only two that really contributed to the songs they were featured on were Alicia Keys in “Fireworks” and Young Jeezy in “Unforgettable”; other than them, the album is good in spite of his guests and I feel like he’d be completely capable of making the songs amazing solo.
I watched Drake’s interview on The Jimmy Kimmel Show, expecting him to be all “swagged out” (that’s what the kids call it nowadays, right?) and nothing like the well-articulated young man that I had grown up watching on Canadian television. I was wrong. He’s charming, funny, well-spoken and eloquent, so I have to ask: why is he affiliated with a group, Young Money, that specializes in crappy songs about all of the tiresome themes associated with modern hip-hop? When he’s rapping about how he would die for his crew and whatnot, I feel like he’s portraying the sensitive little brother of some gang member who wants to be a part of the group, but is scared of showing his true intelligence, so he does it little by little, hoping for acceptance. It works, but then he has to compensate for the quiet beauty in some of his songs by being extra hard, extra “hood” and extra loud in others. I’m waiting for the day when Drake breaks out of his gang and battles Lil’ Wayne for the top of the hip-hop food chain. Drake is a breath of fresh air as far as his persona goes, I don’t want to see him drowned in a tide of mediocrity and stifled by jail time just like his mentor. I've listened to this album multiple times, and I’ll continue to listen to the 5 or 6 songs I truly love. I’m really looking forward to see where Drake takes his music next, hopefully in a distinct and more independent direction. I feel like he has infinite possibilities.
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