Take Care
by Drake

From planetneutral 11/14/2020 05:35 | #260783

Mostly entertaining, but, as is common in highly regarded hip-hop albums, entirely too long.

Cups of the rose

From jnfbn 07/17/2020 12:27 | #255727

not terrible, not great... but his best imo

From Boltzmann 01/08/2020 10:22 | #246541

I still feel it every time I listen this. Apart from all the cringy copycats his influence is a little bit everywhere, its normalcy has made it invisible. Your success as a rapper/R&B singer in the '10s was dictated by how good you could hide the fact you were ultimately inspired by Drake. Melodic rapping, it's a simple formula but it just works. He functioned as the bridge between '00s hip hop of Kanye and Lil Wayne and '10s hip hop of Chance, The Weeknd and Frank Ocean (the last two of which get more recognition solely because they use more pretentious and safe-for-rock-critics samples). And while I don't think Drake's style is too obvious in those artists, I believe he made it possible for them to exist. Some things are just not a coincidence.

I'm glad he made this album because otherwise I don't think anyone would've recognized his influence. Like he says on another album: "it's not about who did first but about who did it right". On the other hand with less hits in his pocket a lot of critics would've been much easier to praise him.

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From corenfro 05/02/2017 01:26 | #190160

A decided step up from his debut, more musically interesting, some good songwriting here and there and lyrics, while still shitty, aren't *AS* shitty as on his debut. His rapping is nothing to write home about, slightly improved. Drake can write a song, he's still just so darn inconsistent and his later albums don't change that fact.

Patience is the reason Frank Ocean is praised and Drake is shat upon. That said Drake is 10x as commercially successful as all the artists in this genre this decade.

took me too long to recognize

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From Anti 05/19/2016 00:32 | #166429

Okay, I've been listening to this album regularly for almost 5 years now and my past comments are completely cringeworthy. Here's a new reviewish thingy now that I am an "experienced listener." ;)

You know, I'm still a young adult, but I figured with age I would eventually lose my fascination with Drake, but surprisingly I haven't. I'm not entirely thrilled with his newer projects, but Take Care has always been bae, really. As life goes on, each song delivers a newer meaning, but they still reflect back to past memories, which adds even more dimensions to my love for this album. I still don't understand why this album doesn't get nearly as much love as it deserves. Does Drake's douchiness and melancholy really rub off that bad for some people? I don't know. But let's look at this album. 81 minutes is lengthy, but it is still impressively cohesive. I feel completed each time I finish the album, aside from the bonus EP of promo tracks I tacked to the album on my iTunes. And it isn't necessarily cohesive as in on giant, consistent blob. It's a ride (that was intended). Each track brings something fresh and distinctive to the table, yet benefits to the whole. I've noted before how Take Care is essentially 3 parts divided by 2 interludes. I like to call part 1 the sampler, where you can get a taste of every mood this album delivers. Part 2 is the party. Majority of the bangers and pregame music is here. This is the charismatic douchiness of Drake (in a good way). And part 3 is like that emotional feeling you get when you're drunk. All of it ends with The Ride. 40 and Drake always do an excellent job with closers as a summation of the project they finished. I do, however, wanted to also give praise to the interludes because they don't get enough attention. Buried Alive is phenomenal. Kendrick delivers a classic introspective verse while the smoky production and the faded horns in the background sounds like a stage changing the setting in the background as the story continues. And Good Ones Go is so classic Drake. Atmospheric production, moody singing, with complimentary vocals from the Weeknd. I can't get enough of it. I still can't believe my continued infatuation with this album. It is a classic album, whether you enjoyed it or not. When it came out, it was so refreshing and steered rap into a new direction (now whether that was a good thing is debatable). I think I'm gonna go pop it on right now.