Thank Me Later

Experimenter Drake

The Canada-born and, of course, promising rapper Aubrey Graham, or simply Drake, dropped his debut full-length effort, Thank Me Later, early in the summer 2010. Last year, music lovers had the opportunity to assess the potential of the fresher by the very good EP So Far Gone. Although the time interval separating these two releases is pretty small, the music has things that are far from common. Many are going to take Thank Me Later as an experimental work because it is simply not done by the standards of the best hip-hop works ever, unlike So Far Gone. Well, the artist is entitled to doing whatever he desires whilst his songs are being written, performed and recorded. It is good when musicians strive to work out their specific concept, approach or style since the very beginning. However, Drake, apparently, made a decision to reach out for listeners not only among classic rap fans, but in some other music communities. Only time can tell how much he can succeed.

What’s Drake’s music?

Thank Me Later cover depicts Drake in his prime looking somewhere far beyond. There is nothing extraordinary about this design: it follows tried and proved solutions used for albums by popular music performers. Now, what is Drake’s music? The first tracks, Fireworks in particular, sound like a continuation of what So Far Gone is. Yet the great majority of the set here reflects some other influences. Drake does much singing and puts it first before rapping. It is rather R&B than rap. The lyrical predominant themes are personal relationships and conquering the much desired stardom. Over is the track that became a hut and radio favorite soonest. This single is only a tine bit better than Unforgettable, Light Up, and Thank Me Later. The album highlights ballad-like melodious choruses alongside solid structures of dark and prominent beats. The tracks of higher quality and those that are not so good alter one another so that the entire record sounds very cohesive and interesting.

Thank Me Later has great chances

We may only speculate on the number of those hip-hop fans who were awaiting this album rubbing their hands with glee. And we can not even assume what they might think about what this record is about. Considering the performance alone, it is a flawless effort. Yet you could not have expected anything different. The last couple of years showed that Drake has a great many abilities and skills. Nonetheless, the considerable part of the audience were looking to hearing massive texts with unordinary rhymes and acute words. Instead of those, Thank Me Later offers repeatedly sad and sweet crooning about dates and breakups, promises and betrayals. In general, these compositions are nice and attractive, to a large extent thank to the people Drake managed to get involved in the making of the album. Lil’ Wayne, Alicia Keys and Kanye West took their individual parts in this process. However, R&B-like ballads are not exactly what the young artist’s supporters hoped and expected to have on this CD because many of them already were seeing him placed among contemporary hip-hop biggest figures. In the meantime, there will be numbers of those who will like this effort simply for the music and lyrics without paying much attention to what style characterizes it. Anyway, Drake will certainly have a large audience and following after a quality release like that