The Lowdown on Drake’s ‘Take Care’

My ultimate fantasy and the worlds most sought after rapper/singer/songwriter Drake is returning to our eardrums this month with his highly anticipated album, ‘Take Care.’

The ‘October’s Very Own’ artist was due to release his album on his birthday in, well, October (duh). But the October 24th birthday release was delayed due to some samples on the album not being verified for use. Drake took to his blog to explain:

“The new date for Take Care is November 15th, 2011. I managed to create this album in my hometown of Toronto and the thoughts and stories I wanted to get across just became so clear. It truly felt like when I was here 3 years ago making So Far Gone. So I have completed 19 songs (17 on physical and 2 on bonus), and have run into a roadblock of clearing 3 samples in time to make the October 24th date. My options were to take the songs off and make the birthday release happen, or to take an extra couple weeks to get the paper work right and give you the album they way I NEED you to hear it. The choice was clear as day for me. November 15th you will get Take Care the exact way I created it with no trimmings. This music means too much to me to get attached to dates and I do apologize for the delay but I promise that it is only for the benefit of our experience together.”

The album has a lot of expectations to keep up with, much like the severely delayed ‘Tha Carter IV’ album. However, if Drake keeps up with what he has been dishing out onto our airwaves, we will not be disappointed.

He said about his craft: “I push myself in a lot of aspects when I write a song. I write a piece and where most people would stop and say ‘Oh, that’s the hook right there’ I’ll move that to the first four bars of the verse and do a new hook. That makes the song easy to learn and catchy. That’s how I like to challenge myself. I’ll write something and everyone that’s around might be like ‘Oh that’s that hook right there.’ And then I’ll write something better than that.”

Drake has been releasing tracks and teasers for the album almost half a year now. Tease. Lets look back at what he has delivered so far.

The Canadian triple threat released ‘Dreams Money Can Buy’ in May which he described as “a story of dreams, mixed with reality” which he said would be included on his forthcoming LP.

‘Marvin’s Room’ was released as a buzz track in June but due to its phenomenal popularity and the many people taking to YouTube to do their own version (including Chris Brown and Weezy) Drizzy couldn’t NOT have the song on the album.

‘Trust Issues’ was released shortly afterwards and although it was a hit, Drake stated it would only feature on the Birthday album (there will be a OG Ron C version, a Standard version and a Birthday edition) as it was “just for fun” after messing around with some lyrics from ‘I’m On One’.

September brought the serenely beautiful ‘Club Paradise’ which was shortly followed by ‘Free Spirit’ featuring Rick Ross. Not one to stop when he’s ‘On One’ (sorry), Drake then released ‘The Real Her’ featuring his boss and friend Lil Wayne.

So you would think he had leaked half of his album online already, right? But it was ‘Headlines’ that became the first official single to be released from the album, followed by his current single featuring Nicki Minaj, ‘Make Me Proud’.

He then released the art work for the album with an explanation of what it represented to him: “I used to stare at this world through a glass window and, like, two to three years later, I become a king in that world.”

“That’s who’s sitting on that album cover, that kid that’s just somehow gone from his mom’s basement in Toronto to becoming a king. “That’s what that album cover is about and there is a lot of deep thought involved in that cause you can go crazy doing this.”

Since there is only two weeks left until the release, what can we expect?

Well to start, ‘Take Care’ will feature contributions from the legendary Stevie Wonder. Drake said of the collabo: “He helped me out with a lot of the music, just came and sat with me, listened to my music, told me where I could add a couple things to make it more sonically appealing, and not only that but we actually are writing together, which is an incredible experience.”

As well as working with the legend that is Stevie, there are other exciting collaborations on the album with artists such as Rihanna, The Weeknd, Lil Wayne (of course) and Andre 3000. I am glad the 19-track album is not overloaded with collaborations – it doesn’t need to be.

For now, we can mull over the track list and imagine how exciting it is going to be.

01 Over My Dead Body
02 Shot for Me
03 Headlines
04 Crew Love [ft. the Weeknd]
05 Take Care [ft. Rihanna]
06 Marvin’s Room
07 Under Ground Kings
08 We’ll Be fine
09 Make Me Proud [ft. Nicki Minaj]
10 Lord Knows [ft. Rick Ross]
11 Cameras
12 Doing It Wrong
13 The Real Her [ft. Andre 3000 and Lil Wayne]
14 Look What You’ve Done
15 HYFR [ft. Lil Wayne]
16 Practice
17 The Ride
18 Hate Sleeping Alone (Bonus)
19 Untitled [ft. Lil Wayne] (Bonus)

Share your thoughts and opinions on the Young Money members’ sophomore album with Flavour Magazine (good and bad) later this month. For now, Take Care.