Reviewing The Arts

Review of Thank Me Later "revised"

Twenty-three year old, Toronto-born Aubrey “Drake” Graham’s highly anticipated hip-hop album of 2010 “Thank Me Later” isn’t exactly what hip hop fans expected. A lot of fans have a bittersweet feeling towards the album. Prior to releasing the album, Drake released left and right really hot mix tape tracks with amazing metaphors and catchy lyrics that one couldn’t avoid seeing or hearing, whether on a Facebook status or blasting in someone’s car. “Thank Me Later” was so highly anticipated because Drake’s mix tape tracks were on every hip-hop lover’s itunes list without even having an album out yet. With experiencing an unsuccessful singing career, Drake turned to rapping and with the collaborations of his mentor, Lil’Wayne, he became a phenomenon. “Thank Me Later” is a very personal album. He talks about his life, women, fame, family, and his notoriety. His album is reminiscent of a musical journal or diary. On a positive note, Drake portrays himself as a normal, down to earth, self conscious, imperfect, regular guy rather than an overrated cocky jerk (cough, cough Kanye West) like most famous people. Drake claims that he wanted fans to feel the different layers of the debut.

One thing that a lot of people notice is that Drake shines the most whenever he has a veteran hip-hop artist featured on the song. The best songs on the album are “Over,” “Up All Night” featuring Nicki Minaj, “Fancy” featuring T.I. and Swizz Beatz, “Shut It Down” featuring The Dream, “Show Me A Good Time,” and “Unforgettable” featuring Young Jeezy. They are the best songs because the cameo appearances. Drake’s album would not be the same if he had done it all by himself.

In “Fancy,” a lot of women would get a sudden boost of confidence when listening to this song. Everyone who had there hair, nails, and everything done were considering themselves fancy. Swizz Beatz sets things off with a crowd-hyping “Go, go, go, go ahead” chant and T.I. eventually jumps in with a relaxing, yet easy type of flow. Mary J. Blige isn’t credited, but her voice is faintly heard in the chorus.

“Over” and “Show Me A Good Time” seemed to re-energize the album. The opening beats of both songs are head nodding. Perhaps it has something to do with the tracks being produced by Kanye West. Although “Over” was overly played and was highly popular, Drake dropped simple, yet sharp crowd-pleasing bars. The tempo of the song goes from low to medium with a modern hip-hop beat for the verses.

In “Shut It Down,” the Dream heats things up and slows things down in this smooth ballad. It is seven minutes long but is mood setting music so the length is not bad. This song is dedicated to a particular woman in Drakes life at the time and he says so a little after the middle of the song. The song pretty much ends after the five-minute mark but Drake singing over the very slow drumbeat is relaxing.

“Up All Night” has that classic sound with the deep and extended electronic pulse. It leaves you with no time to prepare while he opens with “Kush rolled/Glass full/I prefer the better things.” The message is about having fun, but still has that bit of reality to it.

Drake is one of the artists who can transition between an R&B sound and a hip-hop flow, and he does it well on this track. The tracks on this album were hits and misses. There a few favorites but the ones that weren’t favorites were skipped. It’s not an album where you can sit and listen to without skipping around. Arguably, “Thank Me Later” is an album that successfully balances commercialism with true hip-hop.

posted by Sara Hunt @ 5:34 PM