Take Care

 Arguably one of the most hyped albums of the year has just been leaked nine days before its scheduled release on the 15th of November.

I should probably start off by stating the obvious. It is not the typical hip hop album and most of the people who like it will accept any Drake song, no matter what it is. However, this album is an experience. It's rare for a rapper, let alone any artist, to take the actual experience into consideration and that appears to be the main focus on this album. The continuation of musical ideas that Justin Timberlake used in Future Sex/Love Sounds translates here with a screwed sample of Headlines at the end of Shot for me. If anything it just creates a massive wall of sound and doesn't make you feel like you're listening to a schizophrenic artist whose mood changes with each song.


You can immediately hear the affect on The Weeknd and other artists he's been influenced by. The song Take Care features Rihanna and samples Jamie XX's remix of Gil Scott-Heron, I'll Take Care of U creating a heavy atmosphere. The spoken word/poem at the end of Headlines is a kind of nod to the late grandfather of hip hop. Drake isn't shy about showing his music preference and these samples follow his summer remix of SBTRKT's Wildfire and it's always good to see an artist support other artists.

Admittedly, the album begins to drag a little as most do, it picks right up again and makes you wish you never doubted him.