Review 1
By Elysa Gardner, USA TODAY
Drake, Thank Me Later
* * * (out of four) THE GLAMOROUS STRIFE
Apparently, it's not easy being the brightest young star in your galaxy. Ask Drake, whose breathlessly anticipated debut album (reviewed from a leak online) has it all: existential angst, self-pity, arrogance, paranoia — and that's just on the first three tracks.
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Luckily, the 23-year-old rapper has the dexterity to back up his boasts, and enough wit and grace to mitigate his whinier and more callous musings. Over is as artful an account of the elation and confusion that accompany fame as you'll hear, with Drake rhyming exuberantly, then lowering his voice to a grainy drone for the chorus: "What am I doin'? Oh yeah, that's right/I'm doin' me."
The perils of romance are, predictably, addressed; if Karaoke and Fancy share a sexist slant, Drake sounds downright tender on the sinuous Shut It Down, featuring The Dream. He also sings fluidly on the catchy Find Your Love, and proves a worthy partner for Jay-Z, who dazzles as a father figure on Light Up.
Other A-list guests pop up, including Alicia Keys and Lil Wayne, but Drake, even at his most disconsolate, leaves no doubt that he's in charge of this party.
Review 2
Fame's downside is a
frequent topic for Drake, the Degrassi actor–turned–hip-hop heartthrob, who spends half of his debut Thank Me Later rapping about the anxieties and disappointments that have come with his success. The rest of the time he croons in the seductive monotone that made him so popular in the first place. EW's Grade: B
Review 3
SPIN Magazine
Drake, 'Thank Me Later' (Aspire/Cash Money/Young Money)
SPIN Magazine
Drake, 'Thank Me Later' (Aspire/Cash Money/Young Money)
Hip-hop's improbable star enjoys the decadent fruits, but vulnerability always lurks
By Ben detrick
Due to his unorthodox pedigree—half-Jewish Canadian kid from a comfortable neighborhood who played a wheelchair-bound hoops star on Degrassi: The Next Generation—Drake has enjoyed a level of rap stardom (engineered by Lil Wayne) that often feels like an elaborate hoax. But vulnerabilities become strengths on this cagily self-aware debut album: He's an emotionally fragile guy who relishes fame and fortune while second-guessing every smile from a new chum or overly friendly woman. Beside Alicia Keys on "Fireworks," he yearns to find the love his divorced parents never had; on the title track, he ponders whether former girlfriends discuss him over "double-pump lattes and low-fat muffins." Drake's personal anecdotes lack the bravado of bullet-wound boasts, but they're intimate and lyrically detailed enough to draw blood.
A reformed backpack rapper with enough brains to move beyond regressive '90s-worship, Drake unspools his usually clever witticisms over airy, wide-open production (Boi-1da, 40, Kanye West, many others) that's more suggestive of contemporary R&B: "Toodles to you bitches / And if you dolled up, I got the voodoo for you bitches," he quips atop the menacing strings of "Up All Night." The abundance of spacey synths and clattering, reverbed percussion makes Thank Me Later feel like ideal cruising music for a ramshackle UFO, but it also incorporates dynamics like few other hip-hop albums before it. Drums disappear, phasers distort everything, and Drake comes in crooning about one stripper or another.Due to his unorthodox pedigree—half-Jewish Canadian kid from a comfortable neighborhood who played a wheelchair-bound hoops star on Degrassi: The Next Generation—Drake has enjoyed a level of rap stardom (engineered by Lil Wayne) that often feels like an elaborate hoax. But vulnerabilities become strengths on this cagily self-aware debut album: He's an emotionally fragile guy who relishes fame and fortune while second-guessing every smile from a new chum or overly friendly woman. Beside Alicia Keys on "Fireworks," he yearns to find the love his divorced parents never had; on the title track, he ponders whether former girlfriends discuss him over "double-pump lattes and low-fat muffins." Drake's personal anecdotes lack the bravado of bullet-wound boasts, but they're intimate and lyrically detailed enough to draw blood.
It's a testament to the album's weird cohesion that the menagerie of guests—Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, The-Dream, et al.—doesn't overwhelm the host and turn the entire operation into an unseemly, DJ Khaled-esque bukkake party. Ultimately, Thank Me Later's revelry concludes with emotional disgorgement, but no messy hangover.
LINKS:
USA TODAY: http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/reviews/rapp_rb/2010-06-11-drake11_VA2_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20392152,00.html
SPIN MAGAZINE: http://www.spin.com/reviews/drake-thank-me-later-aspirecash-moneyyoung-money
