Drake – Take Care : Tracks 7 – 11

So we all know I’ve already failed at the ‘Write-About-A-Drake-Song-A-Day’ self-imposed challenge (Think I failed at like, the two or three week mark, lulz), but I’m still trying to get through writing about each album cut before his Auckland show. And then, waddya know HE GOES AND DROPS A BLOODY NEW ALBUM/MIXTAPE ON ME. So, I’ve just been listening to ‘If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late’ for the last few days, and loving every minute of it, though it’s rather counterproductive to this lil project. Look guys, I really don’t know if I will complete this whole thing before the show, but I’ll definitely try my hardest, cos I really want the five or so people who read these to be proud of me.

Take Care, Track 7 : Buried Alive Interlude – Kendrick Lamar.

Hey, remember that time Kendrick Lamar did an entire interlude on Drake’s album?

Take Care, Track 8 : Underground Kings

There are heaps of little sing-along bits that I love in this, like, “Rich off a mixtape, got rich off a mixtape”, or “How’d I know, how’d I know, that’s me on some psychic shit,” & “tell me lies make it sound good, make it sooound good”. The nod to Lil Wayne is also a nice touch, but I think my fave part of the song is when he says, “that was back in the days, Acura days, I was a cold dude, I’m getting back to my ways”, with the upward inflection on ‘ways.’ Do you guys always kinda sweep your hand upwards when you rap along to the ‘ways’ part? Just me? All goods.

Take Care, Track 9 : We’ll Be Fine feat. Birdman

The flow he does starting from ‘In the Presidential, do you like your new room?’ is dope ay. But really, we’re all just here for this line : “She said ‘you’re such a dog’, I say ‘you’re such a boooone’.” Cos dogs like bones, and also boning means sex, and…ha, good one! word play n daaat.

Take Care, Track 10 : Make Me Proud feat. Nicki Minaj

Do you know why so many girls love the line, “I like a woman with a future and a past?” Cos it describes literally every woman, ever. lol. Nah jokes, it’s actually one of those really great, deceptively simple lines, that can have as much meaning as you, and your life experiences, allow to attach to it. We all have pasts, and I hope we all feel like we have great futures ahead of us, so yeah, we hear that and go, ‘wow, that’s totes me! Come to think of it, I also have a slight attitude problem, so…OMG, SOUL MATES!’ As per, Drake says heaps of choice shit in this, but I don’t like the beat, and though the bridge is dope, I have never been sold on the, “I’m so, I’m so, I’m so proud of you” hook. It’s not catchy, it’s just fucking repetitive (whoa, calm down g).

I don’t feel like Drake makes these kinds of songs anymore though, do you? I’m meaning these kinda ‘pop-rap’ type songs. This song sounds like it was crafted specifically as the ‘urban radio’ song, and I don’t think he’s doing that anymore. I think he’s confident enough now to no longer pander or conform to specific radio formats. But who knows, maybe his next album will be full of straight cheesing it up, though I’m loving the way more rap-heavy/harder sound he’s come with on ‘If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late’. I also love that he’s now big enough where he can release songs as disparate as ‘Started From the Bottom’ and ‘Hold On, We’re Going Home’, and both will get played.

Take Care, Track 11 : Lord Knows feat. Rick Ross

OK, I remember everyone going on about how dope this beat was when the album first dropped. But, doesn’t it sound really, really, un-mixed to you? It just doesn’t sound as big as the rest of the beats on this album. I was like, did Just Blaze not send through the stems in time or something? And basically, I could never get past that. The End.