Album review: Drake, 'Thank Me Later'
The most heavily touted and highly anticipated hip-hop debut of 2010 is here, but it doesn’t exactly seize its moment.
Fame seemed preordained for Drake with Lil Wayne’s tutelage, countless cameos on other artists’ singles and a well-received 2009 EP and mix tape -- which might be why the 23-year-old, Toronto-born Aubrey Drake Graham sounds almost skittish on “Thank Me Later” (Cash Money). In a genre that demands boldness and bravado, Drake turns his first full-length release into an inward-looking, slow-moving, psychedelic psychodrama. If not the expected commercial juggernaut, “Thank Me Later” is personal and eccentric, the journal of a flawed, self-doubting regular guy rather than a strutting icon-in-waiting.
So Drake isn’t the hip-hop savior he was hyped to be. Instead, as he drifts through what should have been his boisterous coming-out party, he comes off as muted and rueful, missing the days when he was 19 and it was just about him and his girlfriend in a college dorm room.
“I’m really too young to be feeling this old,” he complains on “Over.” Is he being disingenuous? Whiny? Mostly he just comes off as conflicted.
He splits the difference between rapping and singing, his quite serviceable voice occasionally distorted and made to sound even more bereft by Auto-Tune in the mold of Kanye West’s “808s and Heartbreak” (2008). Like that album and its close cousin, Kid Cudi’s “Man on the Moon: The End of Day” (2009), “Thank Me Later” comes off as more of a brooding mood piece than a collection of would-be singles. Beats never wallop, they tap-dance and skitter. Keyboards drape chords and drip melancholy. And Drake beats himself up: “I heard they just moved my grandma to a nursing home/And I be acting like I don’t know how to work a phone/But hit redial you’ll see I just called some chick I met at the mall/That I barely know at all”
It’s a wonder that he isn’t overwhelmed by his long list of assertive guests: Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Young Jeezy, Lil Wayne. Yet none of the star turns disrupt the album’s cohesive feel, a testament to the subtle pervasiveness of Drake’s personality.
Even on “Shut it Down,” what could’ve been a standard-issue seduction ballad with the Dream, the track morphs into a hazy reverie, as if Drake were too distracted to fully embrace his inner Casanova. Like much of the rest of “Thank Me Later,” it plays like an off-kilter dream by a reluctant rap star.
greg@gregkot.com
Young money have ruined Drake.
Posted by: De Rante | June 17, 2010 at 02:46 PM
yo is u hating cause u mad or is u mad cause u hating
Posted by: maurice | June 17, 2010 at 04:32 PM
your an idiot its about his life you cant rap about something you don't know. Do you want him to rap about money girls and clothes like everyone else?
Posted by: Blayre Bell | June 17, 2010 at 08:00 PM
100% true, but because the exact comments you said, I would give the album 1 out of 4 stars. Very boring album. Maybe 2, to be generous.
Posted by: Ghost | June 17, 2010 at 10:29 PM
Could not have said it any better!! Great review.
Posted by: B-Ratliff | June 17, 2010 at 11:03 PM
The way you write the article above,It seems like you can give people a very great album that can take HipHop to new levels if you would "wish" to.You see,most people are loving this new work from Drake.Now ,so far,it's only you that seems to disrespect Drake's "work" as "not good enough" and you also say "it can't save HipHop".You know my advise:Get in the studio and do exactly what you pinpointed in the above article.Then I think,at that time,we will be able to listen to "the best album ever"!!!
Posted by: anthony | June 18, 2010 at 09:04 AM
best album ever
Posted by: Leviev | June 18, 2010 at 09:52 AM
Plain and simple, Drake is just being himself. He's not living up to societies prejudgmental view, but he's showing what hip hop can be if you take a step out the brightness of the limelight, and see what it does to you.
Posted by: j5 | June 18, 2010 at 10:19 AM
I think Drake is cool, He really feels his music. He also has a lot of Drake Mixtapes out some are better than his album!!!
Posted by: mrvip | June 18, 2010 at 07:09 PM
Drake is the most overrated rapper since Lil Wayne went mainstream after the carter II however I think its cool he doesnt try to be a hardass like the rest of Young Money. All in all I'd say he's talented but hes more of a celebrity than an actual emcee and his music is a reflection of that.
Posted by: ZroG | June 18, 2010 at 09:07 PM
On some real stuff I was really looking forward to this album since Drake hadn't put out a bad record since he came out but this "Thank Me Later" album is wack. It's definitely not a 3/4, it's more like a 2/4 and I'm not hating I'm just dissappointed. He doesn't sound good on songs by himself, he only shines on features. He reminds me of Nate Dogg because he kills hooks and puts out good music with other people but he just sounds like something is missing on this album when he is dolo.
Posted by: Do you care | June 19, 2010 at 12:48 PM
I was left a little disappointed.... I was expecting some more summer jams, like "Over" and "Find Your Love"..... mehhh. Oh well, I still love Drake anywayzzzz
Posted by: Janis | June 19, 2010 at 03:45 PM
Nice review, I would give this album a 8.
Posted by: Drake Fan | June 20, 2010 at 01:53 AM
I like Thank me later, but i wish the he would have saved some of the songs that came out before the album and included them on this album. For example, drake gavethe track "money to blow " to birdman, a hit he should have kept, also forever he should have most definitely should have been on this album, not to mention some tracks from the "So far gone mixtape. If Drake would have kept these songs for his album Thank me later would have been a much better album.
Posted by: lamar scott | June 20, 2010 at 03:37 PM
I think its a great album...especially Find Your Love! Drake has nothing left to prove, look at all the singles (hot singles) he's dropped before an official album was released. He is multifaceted and a great addition to hip hop. This album is definitely easy on the ears and you don't have to struggle to find the meaning in his lyrics. Give the kid his kudos because he is so deserving of it.
Posted by: NikNik | June 21, 2010 at 10:03 AM
I love Drake's music but he can not sing. He should continue rapping or singing hooks. He does not have a good singing voice. The Tonight show performance that just aired tonight was awful. Thank goodness for sound equipment like autotune or the CD version of Find your love would be awful also. If that were American Idol he would not make it to Hollywood. The new CD is good but it's now what I expected but still a good CD.
Posted by: Tacari | June 23, 2010 at 11:55 PM
This album is absoulutely incredible. 4/4 stars. At the end of the day drake is a regular person like us all outside of the fame. Drake is being real to himself and thats what matters. Drake is definately overwhelmed and befor his album dropped was overrated. But after this album he has proved himself and can get on just about anytrack and kill. Through his music he expresses himself. he didnt beat himself up he was only being honest with himself and his ambition was exemplified through each and every song. His voice is amazing and He makes extremely sexy songs ex. Shut it down. Who could say " Put those ... heels on and work it girl" like he did? and make it sound so sexy and demanding.
Posted by: Quita ma | July 15, 2010 at 12:16 PM
I definitely liked this album. I think that many people have not learned to handle music that is differerent and most of all it is not a lie. Its real. The beats were smooth, the transitions were amazing, and the lyrics brought everything to life. Whoever doesnt like this album are more than likely the same people who think that Lil Jon, Souja Boy, and countless others that make simply club music are absolutely musical genuis. HAHAHAHA, open yourself to new things
Posted by: Damion | November 16, 2011 at 05:16 PM