He had not only rid himself of the sort of major label requirements and expectations that often come with a big debut, and even fulfilled certain fan demands he also took the necessary steps to create an environment for himself that would foster the best possible new music, and he recognized what he needed to put into the songs, lyrically and melodically, in order to do that.
With this, we can clearly see the framework that allowed Take Care to be one of Drake’s best albums. I’ve been here for the longest time since my career started.” He later personally ranked his albums as follows Thank Me Later last, So Far Gone second, and Take Care first, when asked by GQ. For this album I spent a lot of time in Toronto. I didn’t have that much going on other than work. But it was hard to give people a huge part of Aubrey at that time. It was kind of hard to tap into the psyche of myself. I was in such demand at the time that I was almost disconnecting with what was going on around me. While Drake mentioned in an interview with EW : “.With the Thank Me Later process I was almost trying to create some stories for myself to rap about because everything was going so fast.
Also Thank Me Later being our first major-label project, we really were more restricted than we are now.” And that made it feel a little bit more like So Far Gone as far as the process was concerned. In an interview with Complex about the album, executive producer 40 said at the time, “We had a little bit more of an opportunity to stay home this time. He returned home, to Toronto, surrounding himself with familiar faces and territory the nostalgia of which would also seep into the music. It’s not only something he touched on himself in the interviews that lead up to the release of Take Care - he made a pointed effort to ensure a better quality body of work, too. Quite the opposite, and he was aware of it, too. So, it’s not like Drake (still) didn’t have something to prove. After all, Drake’s debut, Thank Me Later, despite being as hotly-anticipated as basically any and all Drake albums are, proved to be a bit dull, a seemingly watered-down version of the sound we were expecting, with a few moments of brilliance such as “Over.” Two years later, and Drake was on the precipice of his sophomore album, the album that inevitably arrives with a certain amount of concern and speculation- an idea that was verified enough times to coin the term “sophomore slump.” And there was apprehension with Take Care. So Far Gone solidified the rapper as someone to pay attention to our ears collectively perked up with the pop-friendly, but H-town-inspired, slowed-down sound of “Best I Ever Had.” Drake not only tapped into a side of hip-hop that had yet to be fully explored, but it was also a side that allowed the artist to cast a wider net when it came to his fanbase, at least when compared to the overt gangster, and aggressive approach of someone like 50 Cent.
The logical continuation of this budding trend: Drake.Īnd so, in 2009, Drake dropped what would be his third mixtape, but his first with long-time collaborator and basically exclusive-to-Drake-producer, Noah ‘40’ Shebib- the not-so-secret sauce in what would come to define Drake’s sound. Gangsta rap had been on its decline, to be sure, and Kanye West helped loosen things up when it came to emotionally-charged rapping, with the divisive (that is, in 2008) 808s & Heartbreak.
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