Let's take a moment to talk about why I hate Drake's new record.
I've tried, okay? I really enjoy Drake. I do. I think he's awesome. It's not like Canada's overflowing with great rappers who've had a ton of international success. He's pretty much the only one, actually. (Okay, Kardi, but it's not even the same level.) It's part of that weird Canadian pride thing when someone makes it big elsewhere and we're all like, "HE'S CANADIAN!" any time someone mentions his name. Just in case they didn't know, or whatever.
(Except for Nickelback. With them we're all, "Well, yeah, but they're from Vancouver, which is practically Seattle. And everyone hates Nickelback here, too, so don't blame that shit on us.")
But honestly, Drake is good. So Far Gone was ridiculous (in a good way) and Thank Me Later was, as a true first record, excellent. I honestly thought it was a good and bad thing that his first album was as good as it was, because I figured it would be hard to follow, and I was right. I mean, if we're really going to say that Take Care is his sophomore album. Can it be considered as such if the guy has a bunch of mixtapes? I don't know.
What I do know is that it's disappointing. For a few reasons.
One? I don't buy rap albums for lullabies.
What the hell? It's like it takes seven songs on this album to even get a fucking beat. The tracks are laid back and smooth and not bad, really, but like, it's boring. If I wanted something to fall asleep to, or to have something playing that's unobtrusive, I'd go for some Joni Mitchell, you know?
Why isn't he even rapping? Know how other rappers have 'ft. Chris Brown or Trey Songz or John Legend or whateverothersingerwhocanactuallysing'? Drake should do that. (Rihanna doesn't count, so don't even try to tell me that.) He's not a bad singer, I guess? I just don't want to listen to him. I don't buy a Drake record so I can hear his vocal stylings, let's put it that way. While we're on the topic, why the hell isn't Drake spitting? We know he can. He's done it before.
So there's that. Disappointing.
My other problem is that when he does actually get around to rapping, he's talking about how awesome he is. Over and over again. On just about every song. Which, okay, is part of being a rapper, I guess? I get it. Having an ego helps you sell records and/or not go crazy. Cool.
But dude, this is your second album.
You are not Jay-Z. You are not Kanye. You are not Lil Wayne.
Step back and take a look at who you're saying you're better than. Because no.
I would go into great detail about how hypocritical his lyrics are, too, but it'd just annoy me to point them all out.
Basically, I wish this album was half the length. If he'd cut at least half the slower songs and made this an EP or a mixtape, I'd get it. But as it is a full length record, I just don't. I don't understand what he was going for. Usually when I don't like an album, I can at least say I understand the thing they were trying to create, and whether or not it missed the mark completely, or just missed the mark for me.
I honestly don't have a clue what Drake's trying to do here, but if this is who he's going to continue to be as an artist on all his future projects, we might have to have a little chat.
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