Drake – Thank Me Later [2010]

Who would’ve thought that a cast member from Degrassi, perhaps the palest show ever concocted (next to 7th Heaven and Friends) would end up becoming one of the biggest superstars in music?? Lil Wayne, most likely a closer Degrassi fan, signed Drake to his Young Money Entertainment label and began to build hype around the Canadian by pushing his various mixtapes that he did, an EP called So Far Gone, and guest spots on songs with Jay-Z, Eminem, and Wayne himself. With the assistance of hitmakers like Kanye West, Alicia Keys, Timbaland, and Jay-Z, Drake was ready to make waves in the industry. Drake’s debut LP Thank Me Later was one of the more anticipated mainstream releases of 2010.

While it is appropriate to place Thank Me Later in the rap section in your local music store, placing it in the R&B section wouldn’t really be farfetched. Even from the first time I gave Thank Me Later a spin, I realized quickly that the album was about as manufactured as it can get with a commercial release, its sole purpose to make Drake a star as far as fourteen year old girls in the suburbs go. Thank Me Later however manages to inject artistic integrity into the record while still undeniably being pop music for all fourteen songs. Folks; good music is good music, and if it sounds good, despite it being laboratoric, its still good. Drake’s comfort zone is primarily based on self-inspiring introspection, love, loss, and dealing with fame. No club songs needed; but pop as hell. Drake is definitely comfortable singing hooks and crooning, doing so on nearly every song while keeping his rhymes relatively clean and making open-ended songs. Drake never calls a woman a “bitch” or “slut” on this album, nor does he kill anybody on the album. He barely even mentions getting high! No denying it: Drake is the 2010 equivalent of Will Smith.

Realistically, almost every song on this album can be a single. But the actual singles themselves do the job. The analytical rags to riches track, “Over” was a huge success as a lead single, even in this dry landscape. One issue I take with Drake is that he sounds a little too much like Lil Wayne, in cadence, raspy voice, disjointed structure, and aven the “akch” sound Wayne makes. I understand that Wayne is one of his mentors, but it’s to the point where I can’t even tell if it really is Drake rapping or Wayne substituting. The second single was the Kanye West-produced “Find Your Love” which sounds like a leftover from 808s and Heartbreaks, as there is no rapping whatsoever on the song, filtered & robotic vocals, and drums that can only be described as “gulping”. Drake croons about saving a failing relationship, providing that platinum R&B sound that fattens wallets – so why not? The third single was the Lil Wayne duet, “Miss Me” where Drake both sings and raps about the woman who he wants to marry. I’m not a Wayne hater, but his verse is weak as fuck. Drake is the star here though, and even though his rhymes are sub-par for the most part, he makes up for it with is singing skills.

There is no shame in his game; Drake’s love songs are his forte, which really makes me wonder why he didn’t just release this as an R&B album. I suppose he just liked to rap. The aforementioned “Find Your Love” is an excellent example, as is “Shut It Down”, which was blatantly ripped out of the Ne-Yo playbook. When his R&B vocals are pushed to the forefront, Drake is phenomenal, and this is smooth love music at its finest. The album’s opener, “Fireworks”, features Alicia Keys and acts as both a song about love and as a song about Drake’s arrival in the industry. What’s an Alicia song without piano Keys (see what I did there?) and this definitely has that to start with, and then segues into airy, spacey composition held together by a drum and background vocals. “CeCe’s Interlude” is definitely NOT an interlude, but rather a seductive, slow love ballad. Drake’s desires come off genuine and sincere rather than the typical thug-rap hyperbole that commercial rap is loaded with. Same goes for “Karaoke”, except with rapping. Drake is on some real shit here, dissecting a failing relationship and hoping for the best. Even though Drake’s love songs are the best, not every song about the opposite sex is greatness. Drake’s collab with Nicki Minaj “Up All Night” starts decent, and Nicki has a dope verse, up until I heard her say “I look like yes and you look like no”. That bar is so bad that it actually managed to kill the ENTIRE VERSE! The Swizz Beats produced “Fancy” examines the high-maintenance chicks and is a song that is so blatantly manufactured for women. The issue is, it bores the hell out of me.

Other than the love songs, Drake is at his best when he goes into introspective mode, primarily with tracks where the canuck deals with fame, which is a bit odd considering that the guy was on television for years before this album dropped. Regardless, some of his best written lyrics are about adapting his life to stardom while simultaneously trying not to lose touch with his identity. One song that sticks out to me as excellent is the Kanye West produced “Show Me A Good Time”, where Drake actually addresses the people who called him manufactured. Sorry Drake, but you do very little to prove them wrong. For the rest of the song, Drake essentially demands respect, a topic he addressed once again on “Light It Up” with Jay-Z. The former though is a far superior song, simply due to the fact that Jay is off-topic. “Unforgettable” is one of the few Young Jeezy performances that I actually dig, but the song is carried by the haunting singing in the background vocals. The most introspective piece on the album comes in the form of “The Resistance”, another song about fame adaptation, except this time much more detailed, going in depth with memories about his family and his drive. The album’s closer, “Thank Me Now”, is a fitting finale to cap off the album while brushing off the haters. Timbaland provides an airy violin assortment that compliments his trademark drums and claps.

The comparisons between Thank Me Later and 808s and Heartbreak have been made time and time again, Thank Me Later just comes off better, possibly due to Kanye’s dickhead persona making me legit not give a shit about him. Seriously, Kanye has “go away” heat with me, which is worse than me thinking he’s whack (because he isn’t). Production on the record was almost all crafted by Noah “40″ Shebib, with Kanye West, Timbaland, and Swizz Beats throwing in their jawns.

Thank Me Later was surprisingly a pretty fun album. It’s gotten mixed reviews up and down the boards and it is understandable. It’s very polarizing. Here you have a record that manages to take very little risks in terms of topics or musical experimentation, but at the same time refuses to fall into the cliches that one would expect. It’s relatively PG rated and carefully calculated for the MTV crowd, but in this case really doesn’t hurt the record. So yes, you can feel safe in purchasing Thank Me Later, and if you DO like it, don’t forget to thank me later.


3.5 Stars