(ThyBlackMan.com) Drake’s sophomore album is really his first album if you consider that Thank Me Later was a rush job. Now that he’s actually put a quality album together, we can finally thank him..
Rap Genius got the exclusive on the Take Care’s lyrics (Drake loves Rap Genius, says it’s his favorite hip-hop site!) — but then hours later, most of the songs mysteriously leaked…
Is this lyrical hip-hop at its finest? It doesn’t even attempt to be. Drake’s album is heartfelt R&B sung in a lush voice. Andre 3000 and Kendrick Lamar provide the lyrical genius on their respective tracks. Like Kanye, Drake is a borrower. His album is a pot luck. The Weeknd brings the decadence. Rihanna brings the sexuality. And Drake? Drake is the Bar Mitzvah boy — he’s recorded an album that will undoubtedly make his mama proud. 
1. Over My Dead Body
Drake’s intro strikes all the notes — the girls in the strip clubs, the haters, the sense of world-weariness, the bragging about success — that were the hallmarks of Thank Me Later. This track, though, ups the ante by including some unusual (for him) wordplay and puns, including a relatively sophisticated one on “slave” and “field ni**a”. There’s also one instance of the so-called Supa Dupa Flow that seems to be mocking folks who picked it up after he popularized it. Overall, the mellow mood is nice, but there’s something a little too true about when he says, “Feel like I’ve been here before”.
2. Shot for Me
A revenge screed that, like all such things, tells more about the person sending it that it does the targets (one of whom is named “Alicia” — no last name given). This song marks the introduction of the “Take Care” theme, as well as the first of the everybody-in-Toronto-hates-me-now laments of which more later.
3. Headlines
On this, his second full-length album, we would hope that Drake would not have to use his half-spoken, half-sung flow on every. single. song. We would be wrong. Still, this Boi-1da beat is a highlight of the record so far, and we wait for the inevitable freestyles on it from rappers who can say, “You gonna f**k around and make me catch a body like that” and not sound ridiculous. The spoken word “open letter” that closes the song is more effective than the song itself and plays more to Drake’s strengths as a vocalist. Maybe a new career for Drake hosting Def Poetry Jam?
4. Crew Love
New hipster favorite The Weeknd get a nice feature at the top here, and Drake gets all emo about his friends (in a surprisingly non-annoying way). The tune does contain the first groaner of the album, though: “I told my story/And made his-tory”. Ouch. Still, Drake bringing “OVO and XO” into his heretofore relatively solitary rap world gives his universe a little bit of much-needed variety.
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