New Drake Disappoints

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Author: Jack Butcher

 

For the biggest stars in the hip-hop world, the release of a new album comes with copious promotion. Release dates and other news are tweeted, others talk about the upcoming songs and sometimes the artists will leak the album early. 

Drake employed this strategy with his most recent release, “Take Care.” However, this is a case of an album not living up to its hype. “Take Care” shows Drake at his worst, gaining little to no momentum throughout the album due to poor lyrics, bland production and being bogged down with guest artists. 

First of all,  the rhymes on the album sound uninspired and generic. Even on the somewhat-listenable tracks like “Over My Dead Body,” the self-reflection feels forced and not very genuine. 

The lines “Are these people really discussing my career again? Asking if I’ll be going platinum in a year again? Don’t I got the shit the world wanna hear again?” for example, Drake’s internal musings carry through most of the album, but unlike the self-depricating nature of similar tactics used by artists like Kanye West, this does not make for an engaging and unique piece of work. 

Additionally, the production sounds like it could be from any generic rapper’s catalog. Someone of Drake’s stature in the entertainment world can do better. The repeated synthesizers and electronic drums quickly become stale, a problem that carries over from his previous release, “Thank Me Later.”

Drake’s formulaic attempt at an album is not going to win over any new fans. If anything, it comes across as so stagnant that it could even shrink his old fan base.

One of the most glaring problems with “Take Care” is the multitude of guest spots on the album that still manage to contribute nothing to the album. 

While this is not unusual in hip-hop today, half of the tracks feature another artist working with Drake, resulting in disjointed songs that do nothing to improve the quality of the work. 

His mentor Lil’ Wayne shows up multiple times, as do other stars from the Young Money label like Birdman and Nicki Minaj, the latter giving a disappointing performance on “Make Me Proud.” 

Drake has his own distinguished style, one that is not complemented well throughout “Take Care.” Drake’s verses on singles like “Forever” prove that he does have talent, but it fails to come through in his longer studio work. 

Drake could quickly improve the quality of his songs by using less of the hip-hop-croon hybrid, blending singing and rapping, and taking a more straightforward approach. A reexamination of one’s roots has worked for other artists, and it would be an approach likely advantagous for the still growing artist.

Drake is conforming too much to an image that has been created for him. He needs at the very least to maintain his audience that has followed him after his first album. But if Drake ever hopes to grow as an artist,  he will have to break out of his formula and begin to try a new strategy.

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