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Drake, one of the most recent contributors to Young Money’s dominance of the current state of Hip Hop, is primed to give the industry more of what it has asked for with his new release, Thank Me Later.  In 2009, Drake established himself as hip hops prime MC, delivering pop oriented hits, and another welcome departure from gangster rap upon the release of his mixtape So Far Gone.  An EP rerelease of his mixtape and two Grammy nominations later, Drake provides us with another escape into his world. Thank Me Later, plays out pretty much as you would expect it to, and considering the excellence of Drake’s most recent work, this is not a disappointing quality.

Drake provides us with about 60 minutes of self analysis, 808 and heartbreakish crooning, lifestyle and fame commentaries, hip hop posse tracks and in short a good listen. Drake supplies us with good deal of quality material with little filler, but a lot of high quality production and a tight coherent album.  His lyrics are top notch, easily able to convey his analysis of music against sports and then back against itself, all the while revealing his imminent implosion from the pressure of his new life; as demonstrated in the following section from the song Thank Me Now:

“damn, I swear sports and music are so synonymous / ’cause we wanna be them and they wanna be us / yeah so on behalf of the demanded / and the entertainment you take for granted / you could thank me now… / and oh my goodness you’re welcome / you’re welcome /  at this point me is who I’m trying to save myself from /rappers hit me up and I never know what to tell them / cause they think that I can help them get back to where they fell from”

The supporting cast on Thank Me Later appears to have been handpicked, with most of the other artist offerings actually contributing to the creative work of the song. Like Jay-Z’s verse on Light Up “Drake, here’s how they gon come at you / with silly rap feuds try to distract you / in disguise in the form of a favor / the barzini meeting, watch for the traitors” The other contributors, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, The Dream and more are more likely a highlight then a hindrance for the songs on which they appear, functioning as a complement to Drakes commanding of the track.

So in short, if you like Drake’s album will largely hinge on if you appreciated So Far Gone, which if you didn’t, it is something I would recommend you revisit. Drake’s crooning sounds sincere and his edge isn’t outclassed by rappers heralding a hood; not to take away from his upper tier lyricism. Thank Me Later demands that you check it out, I suggest you comply.

4.5 out of 5 Stars

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