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Monday 21 June 2010

Drake - Thank Me Later

Thank Me Later“Hip – Hop is dead.” professes Nas and the stream of under par debuts and less than bad hip hop songs, concede to this statement. Though the veterans still cast their shadow over hip hop (even bloody P Diddy), the game has lost so much. Introspection left with Arrested Development and Common still struggles to get airplay. Love is bumping, grinding and booty shakin’. Either way, it’s not like I’m struggling from romantic nostalgia or anything but what hip hop needs is an injection of performance enhancing beats and steady stream of excitement. Lucky for us Drake is this; integrating what Hip Hop has lost as well as excitement on this hotly anticipated debut.

For all its pros Thank Me Later is neither bold nor original despite its attempts. Vocoder?  Yes, but no 808’s. Karaoke’s is the only left field song, a Smooth Operator for the hip –hop generation. Regardless, originality isn’t everything despite what Pitchfork says. Drake delivers a strong album exhibiting his RnB credentials with help from RnB machine The Dream on Shut it Down and the fact that he does not shy away from his inner most emotions.

It is on this note that Drake has revamped Hip – Hop/R and B. While his contemporaries churn out songs about their ability to ‘hold an erection for aaagggess’ Drake anchors his material in emotion. He's not out  for ‘Making Love in a Club’, he’s up for the true kind. Fireworks tells of the short exhilarating relationship he had with some girl called Rihanna.  The Resistance shows a man in fear of losing his character as a result of the limelight ‘what am I afraid of/this is supposed to be what dreams are made of’  he laments in the first person. In Over he begins in a stream of consiousness format giving you chance surf the mind of Drizzy. In hip hop men want to retain their hood-like image yet he’s not afraid to say he's vulnerable.When you open the album you are entering the psychology of the man; the man of the moment and the man vulnerable and searching for love.

With Alicia Key’s honeyed vocals on the first track, you know you’re in store for some more big hitters. With the likes of Jay Z and TI featuring, Drake plays the name game successfully. Up all Night features his Young Money acquaintance Nicki Minaj. The lone female rapper (who’s Trina, really?) on top of the game she has managed to steal all the Young Money songs she’s featured in accept for this. He couples with Young Jeezy on the Aaliyah sampled Unforgettable and again Drakes floetic prowess is shown outshining Jeezy’s signature wheezy vocals. But these strong collaborations are somewhat marred by  Drake’s hip – hop Santa Clause Lil Wayne’s feature on Miss Me. Drake as strong as ever, starts the song well and leaves Weezy to ruin it showing how two dimensional his rhymes are; call me a prude but I don’t really appreciate lyrics like “man I swear my bitches do it  til they suck the brown off” to which he continues ‘urgh/ that’s nasty”. Nasty it is, but more importantly it shows that Weezy’s game lies firmly in songs that do not expose his lyrical inferiority. The album shows that if Weezy’s reign as the Nu School’s Head of State is up, Drake is bound for the torch.

Drake was the hype and though hype only ever lasts 15 minutes max, his debut shows that the furore over the Canadian saviour was justified. Far from his days as a wheelchair bound Degrassi character, Drake is making the steps to certified success. Kanye aside, he’s making mainstream hip hop art again. He’s asking those who thought they could ride off the success of the Dirty South the questions. Drake is here to stay and long may his tenure as Hip – Hop’s MVP continue.

8.5/10
Listen to: Fireworks, The Resistance, Over, Shut it Down, Unforgettable, Light Up, Show Me a Good Time

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