Drake - Take Care (Deluxe) (2012)

Drake’s highly anticipated follow up to the platinum Thank Me Later is full to the brim. Made up of beautiful contradictions, tender vocals, tight flows and big name collaborations, Take Care is a more than worthy successor to the Toronto rapper’s first studio album. Amongst the 19 tracks on the album are collaborations with the likes of Rihanna, The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne and even Stevie Wonder (a harmonica solo on Doing It Wrong). Drake lays everything on the table here, displaying everything from sheer confidence (Headlines, HYFR) to mellow and fragile insights into his love life (Marvins Room, Doing It Wrong). The mix of deep, soulful singing and sharp rapping is what makes this album brilliant, and these two aspects don’t remain separated as Drake often combines the two in order to make his raps more melodic, something that has given him a more original sound during his rise to the top. Take Care also steps it up in terms of production with a team including T-Minus, 40, Jamie xx, Boi-1da, The Weeknd, Illangelo, Doc McKinney and Supa Dups. Despite the generally ambient style, the extensive list of producers makes for a reasonably diverse mix of techniques, influences (in terms of genre) and tempos.

There are certainly some rap classics in waiting on Take Care, including the title track on which Drake and Rihanna play the love game by exchanging heartfilled verses over Jamie xx’s production. Headlines and Crew Love (featuring the Weeknd) have “hit” written all over them with their hard-hitting and confidence filled lyrics. Marvins Room soothes the soul with its tender vocals and jealousy driven lyrics, a classic emotionally charged (lost) love song. Drake and his mentor Lil Wayne shrug off all the meaningless questions coming their way on HYFR, a track radiating swagger. And finally he concludes the album with The Motto (featuring Lil Wayne and Tyga), a piece of pure rap brilliance. By the looks of things, Drake is settling into his status as a superstar nicely. © Euan Decourt/Qobuz