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29 of 34 found the following review helpful:
 3.5 stars: Almost, but not as crispy as I expected. Jul 01, 2010
By RonDO
Alright, Drake's rapid rise to fame is much more warranted than other artists who come out with a monster song and fade away. If this was true, he would have been his plateau last year and he'd be in everyones rear view mirror. Instead, with MAJOR support of young money and other huge names in the biz like Kanye and Jay, he got propelled to the top quick. However, unlike other artists, he had hit after hit after hit! Also, SICK verses like on I'm goin in with weezy, say something, and lets not get it twisted, best I ever had is just one of the illest songs in a hot while. This is very characteristic of pop artists currently. Look at artists like Katy Perry, a couple cookie cutter hit songs and now she's one of the biggest pop stars in the world! Thats how it works now. The problem with hip hop is that its much more difficult to create hit song after hit song when compared to pop music. That being said, Drake has been able to put together catchy versus with a pretty sick flow that makes many of us wanting more. Also, he's different, he's form the burbs, he's educated, he doesn't have the "traditional" hip hop background; I just hope he embraces this and doesn't try to put on a fake show of being thug life, that would be a travesty. Living thug life is not prerequisite for hip hop artists. I have found that this type of lifestyle simply provides anecdotal situations to rap about. Hip hop music is bigger than ever now an it cannot and will not be reserved only for those from the hood.
Let's face it, when you hear "Kush roll, glass full, I prefer the better things.." with your speakers blasting your whole situation gets hyped. Drake sounds great rapping, without questions, he sounds like a coherent less wheezy, weezy, which is a good thing. True, he does not have struggle to rap about, he raps about popping bottles and women with some songs from the heart. On the other hand, lines like "I dont really know who I'ma lose this year.." front a thug life that he simply isn't living. Also, his liberal usage of n---- just seems like he's trying to hard to fit into some thug mold that is just not believable. I'd have much more respect for him if he told stories in his raps (ala "fireworks"), kept his flow, and stop referencing anything remotely related to struggles experienced by those in the hood.
This album has its ups and downs:
Ups:
Over
Find your love (ehh, repetetive, mediocre singing, but fun to listen to)
Up all night
Fancy (love the swizz beats influence)
Fireworks (perfect example of what Drake should be -- rapping flawlessly about who he is, his vulnerabilities, and whats real)
Karaoke (Lot of people don't like this song, I think it has a nice, chill flow)
Over (although he sounds like he's trying to be too hard on this son)
Show me a good time (great showcase of the ability to rap quickly while enunciation without sounding gimmicky)
Miss me (his style of R&B)
light up (jay's verse)
Thank me know (love the flow, the cockiness that exudes from this song, and the infectious hook)
Downs:
The resistance (nice hook, rest is eh)
Shut it down (unnecessary, boring, sounds like a bad r. kelly karaoke)
Unforgettable (sounds like one verse on repeat..)
light up (drake's verse)
Drake's not going anywhere, thats a fact. He can rap, kinda sing, and kinda act so he's got the triple threat. Plus he's intelligent and has high expectations. If he can limit his singing to appropriate times (like singing hooks, and singing catchy songs like "find your love," singing will work for him. If he raps about real life situations and tells interesting stories, his flow is tight enough to keep his rap career on full blast. He's close to creating a legendary album I think, he just needs to get focussed and cut the fat.
45 of 55 found the following review helpful:
 "....THE GAME NEEDED LIFE, SO I PUT MY HEART IN IT" Jun 28, 2010
By DA THRILLA
Back in 1997, a young, up and coming rapper seemed like he was on everybody's remix, collabo & posse cut all before his first album dropped. He was the must have MC. That rapper was DMX. And he brought a new energy that had everybody hyped about his debut album. Now in 2010 we have Drake,who has been everywhere since his mixtape "So Far Gone" dropped last year. Since then he has been everywhere singing or rapping on your favorite rapper or R&B artists' song. Now its time for Drake to hold his own with his major label debut, the highly anticipated "Thank Me Later".
This is Drake's official introduction to the music world. No more buzz. No more guest collabo's. This album is all about him. And if you can get past all the hype, he did a pretty good job. Right now, he is not an A+ rapper. He's more average. His raps shine the most when he has a veteran hip hop artist on the track with him. He seems motivated on the Jay-Z-assisted track "Light Up". When Lil' Wayne shows up on "Miss Me", Drake feels like he has to compete. Young Jeezy shows up on the Aaliyah-sampled "Unforgetable", but Drake is singing most of that song. "Up All Night" shows Drake's true rapping potential over the albums hardest beat. And when he gets a chance to shine on his own, he's at his best on "The Resistance" As far as the R&B side of the album, Drake falls short in a lot of ways with the only ones any good being "Find Your Love" & "Shut It Down" ft The-Dream (Even though I had trouble figuring out who was singing which verse)
All the hype around Drake has destroyed his credibility. Its easy to dis mainstream hip hop like we did back in 1990 when MC Hammer was flying across the stage. But how many rappers today would like to sell Hammer records? How many rappers want to have top selling albums? If these rappers truly talk about making money why wouldn't they. I'm a a music fan first, not just a hip hop fan. And as a music fan I cant knock Drake's hustle. His music is not that bad. He's not the best singer or the strongest rapper. But he has clever rhymes and that "I'm-going-to-ride-this-train-til-the-wheels-fall off" mentality . That can get annoying but it worked for Lil' Wayne, Plies & DMX. How does Plies, with two Gold selling albums and three Top 5 singles, get more credibility than Drake?
The rap/R&B genre is not new. But a new wave of hip hop/R&B acts are hitting the shelves. Kid Cudi & B.o.B have been doing it for years. T-Pain was a rapper before he found auto-tune. And Andre 3000 made an R&B album. Now its Drake's turn to put his bid in. Drake's singing is no better than other hot R&B artist like Trey Songz & The-Dream. And he is not Rick Ross or Young Jeezy when it comes to rapping. But he is only 23 years old. Drake's lyrics has an early Kanye West feel to them. Which isn't bad. But just like Kanye, I expect his rhyming skills to improve. This album is not as overhyped as people think. Sure there are something's Drake could have left out. And there are things he should have added. But if you just woke up from a coma and never heard of Drake and listened to this CD, you would notice a young artist laying the ground work of more to come. And his growth has no ceiling.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Stick to singing hooks Jul 07, 2010
By Solid Snake
"Greatone"
It been a weird trip for Drake, as by the time of the release of Drake's first full-length album, the Canadian rapper was already a star. Therefore Thank Me Later needs to lives up to the hype and it does to a degree but not enough. Thanks to the rich and nuanced production and Drake's thoughtful, playful, and intense lyrics, Thank Me Later is a friendly, chart-topping collection of singles but also a serious examination of Drake's life that holds up as an album. However, Drake is not the hip-hop savior he was hyped to be. Instead, he flows through what should have been his energetic coming-out party, he comes off as a weird kid, missing the days when he was 19 and it was just about him and his girlfriend. Memo to Drake the days of being Jimmy from Degrassi are over.
The record mostly finds the rapper conflicted about his growing stardom and fame. He continues to splits the difference between rapping and singing, his quite serviceable voice occasionally distorted and made to sound better due to auto tune. I was really looking forward to this album since Drake had not put out a bad record since he came out but this "Thank Me Later" album is decent not good. I am disappointed, as he does not sound good on songs by himself as he only shines on features. He reminds me of Nate Dogg because he kills hooks and puts out good music with other people but he just sounds like something is missing on this album when he is solo.
So in the end if you're an huge Drake fan your going to pick this album regardless of what I think. However if your on the fence just download it from LimeWare. It is not worth paying full price.
32 of 45 found the following review helpful:
 Only because 1 Star was the minumum Aug 20, 2010
By Seth S. Shelton
"seth3esq"
Another nail in the coffin of the genre that I watched come to life a few blocks from where I grew up on 219th Street in The Bronx when Kool Herc first set-up The Herculords and brought Jamaican "toasting" to the widest audience it'd seen.
I've heard (and countered) all the "evolution" arguments ... all the "the game needed new life" arguments ... and, especially, the flaccid "you're just hating" excuses.
Drake's lyrics are trite & weak and his flow is non-exsistent. Hip Hop has always been forgiving in one of those two requisite areas: but never when both are lacking.
Unfortunately, the commercial success of today's rap (which has absolutely no semblance to true Hip Hop whatsoever) is predicated not on the talents of the rapper but the producer.
The creations of a Swizz Beats, Neptunes, etc. can ... and most certainly HAS ... led to undreamt (and undeserved) success of rappers who would've been laughed off the mic as little as 20 years ago; if they were even allowed to go near the mic at all.
The reviews here that talk of "the hype" have hit the nail on the head. Today's rappers are hand-picked and pre-packaged, then put on the public relations converyer belt, and served to the masses as "The Next Big Thing".
Hey, "business is business" ... I get that. So far as business is concerned, this release is yet another milestone in the rise of rap music.
However, like nearly every other pre-packaged product, it lacks soul.
No, I'm not talking about what he, Drake, put into it. I'm sure he puts every ounce of talent (God bless him) he has into every rhyme. Does a 3 year old put any less heart into his fingerpaint? No ... so that's not my point.
If I have to take the time to explain soul .. if I have to name drop Tupac, Biggie, Rakim, KRS, Chuck, Mel, etc .. then I'd waste a lot of bandwidth and be completely off topic.
This is about Drake's release and it's impact; history class it ain't.
Hip Hop (rap, graffiti, breaking) once meant something: it was a medium by which, for example, kids from The South Bronx told their stories of superiority to the kids from Bushwick Brooklyn. Brooklyn, in turn, would tell their stories ... and those were the parameters of battles.
Rap once was just as fun as the cuts played on the radio and clubs today without ever compromising its soul or, for that matter, integrity. The difference is the conduit ... the rapper.
Yes, we did have the "one and off" novelty rappers like The Rapping Duke, but that's to be expected in every arena where a something new has found some commercial success.
If this sounds elitest, then I accept that wholeheartedly because I have nothing but pride and respect for the pioneers and visionaries who paved the way for rap music. Due to the life's blood that they and untold numbers of others put into getting rap music beyond areas like my old neighborhood in The Bronx, we were able to see Lauren Hill hold an Album of the Year Grammy Award ... something that was once unthinkable.
If all that still has you in "he just hatin'" mode, consider this"
of the three areas of Hip Hop, Rap has become the most commercially successful and, some would say, the one most wanted to do.
Why?
because unlike dance and art, which require a talent from birth, Rap has been devoled into just making words rhyme over a beat; the hotter the beat the more successful the rapper.
Like I said, I'm fine with "business is business" ... but let's cal it like it is:
"Thank Me Later" is the first major label release of rap's Justin Beiber
From that perspective: congrats and good job.
... but dissing those that came before you is not only bad form but it betrays your middle class pseudo-priviledged upbringing and exposes you for the poser you truly are.
Just smile & wave and perform your Bubble Gum Rap for your fans.
(The Rock said it best "Know Your Role ... and Shut Your Mouth")
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Rap album of 2010 imo Aug 27, 2011
By J. Jones
"Stone ROck"
I don't understand how recovery got better reviews than this. I listened to eminems recovery album a couple of times then I got bored with it. I found myself listening to thank me later constantly even till this day. I think this is a solid sophomore album, and it makes me look foward to all drake has to offer in the future... I think this is only the beginning for him, this guy is so talented.
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