It was November 11, 2011, my senior year of high school when a rapper/singer, who would later be known as the King of All Summers, dropped his second studio album entitled, “Take Care,” changing the scope of Urban music forever.
Since then, Aubrey “Drake” Graham has been topping the charts, appealing to the millennial audience with unforgettable rhymes, and giving heart to a genre that wasn’t always defined as loving. Simply put, he is one of a kind: lyrical, relatable, and sultry. He’s the most passionate, but volatile guy to ever do it.
Nevertheless, “Take Care” came at a time where we needed another wave of alternative Rap. When everyone started to bang out trap rap, Drake opted for a newer sound. Still offering us hard hitting one liners and establishing the era of “Instagram quotable lyrics,” Drake helped us turn a mirror at ourselves and look at the monsters of a generation pop culture made us into. He taught us that showing emotion makes us realer than ever, and when you’re true to yourself, you win every time…exactly what he’s done his entire career.
With world class features and nonstop hits, “Take Care” is undisputedly one of the best Rap albums released in the last 10 years. Drake gave us what we wanted in a second album and kept going. That’s why he’s celebrated today.
Let’s take a journey through this iconic album, track by track, and celebrate Drake’s success being the hottest mainstream artist out right now.
1) Over My Dead Body
“Shout out all to all my n*ggas living tax free| Nowadays its six figures when they tax me| Oh well, I guess you lose some and win some| Long as the outcome is income”
For the most part, iconic Rap albums will usually start off with a hard-hitting, up tempo, production-heavy track. However, Drake swoons us into his second album with a melody and soft toned verses that would solidify his position as an artist to be reckoned with.
2) Shot For Me
“First I made you who you are, then I made it| And you're wasted with your ladies| Yeah I'm the reason why you always getting faded| Take a shot for me, ooh”
In my opinion, this song is probably the most perplexed I’d ever heard “Mr. All In My Feelings” ever be! I mean, he literally sings his disappointment at this woman whom, apparently, left him at the most inopportune time of his life. Then he begins the second verse with “Okay, look I’m honest. Girl, I can’t lie I miss you.” Like whaa?! Still one of my favs, though. *shrugs*
3) Headlines
“I might be too strung out on compliments| Overdosed on confidence| Started not to give a f*ck and stopped fearing the consequence”
What a monster of a first single to release from this album!!! I mean, this is the song that I would have thought he’d listed to open the album up, but in retrospect, its placement couldn’t have been at better timing. This song is the beginning of the hype! It’s rambunctious, arrogant, and yet still sensual. The rest of the album follows suit.
4) Crew Love
“Smoking weed under star projectors| I guess we'll never know what Harvard gets us| But seeing my family have it all| Took the place of that desire for diplomas on the wall”
Honestly speaking, at my first few listens of this album, I didn’t think this song would be as popular as it was at the time. But then I went back and listened to it from the perspective of a man and I was mind-blown! I’m now very aware of the entire idea of “crew love.” Lol
5) Take Care
“'Cause that truth hurts, and those lies heal| And you can't sleep thinking that he lies still| So you cry still, tears all in the pillow case| Big girls all get a little taste| Pushing me away so I give her space| Dealing with a heart that I didn't break”
The line above is the exact reason why so many girls LOVE Drake! Not to mention, he borrowed vocals from our favorite bad gal, Rihanna. And for some reason, Rihanna on this song just made so much sense at the time. We all thought they had a thing anyway, but getting down to the meat of what they’re singing about is actually a beautiful thing. Side Note: I still think sometimes that Aaliyah would’ve been an amazing alternative feature for this song.
6) Marvin’s Room/Buried Alive (Interlude)
“I'm just sayin', you could do better| Tell me have you heard that lately?| I'm just sayin' you could do better| And I'll start hatin', only if you make me”
There has always been something so special to me about music that uses telephone conversations and Drake does this well. I love it and obviously everyone else loved it too because this song had numerous remixes and responses. An under-the-influenced Drizzy has the most iconic phone conversation with a woman from his past and he simply doesn’t hold back at all! This one takes the crown for the most relatable of any other song on the album. We’ve all wanted to say these things one time or another.
7) Under Ground Kings
“I swear, it's been two years since somebody asked me who I was| I'm the greatest man, I said that before I knew I was”
No, he really said he was the greatest before he knew he was! And I honestly don’t mind at all! This track was straight FIRE and he knows it. He established that he was a sure thing early on and I think this one went over people’s heads. He never bragged about being the “King of Rap” or a “Rap God” like some of our favs, so I’ll give him that because he had reason and it’s all in the verses.
8) We’ll Be Fine
“But girl you ain't the only one that's trying to be the only one”
It’s safe to say that Drake snapped on this one. This song was a well-orchestrated production and his flow was insane. It’s just one of those traditional Hip Hop formulas that I just can’t get enough of.
9) Make Me Proud
“I love it when your hair’s still wet ‘cause you just took a shower| Running on the treadmill and only eating salads”
I love it when Drake makes music for the ladies! This is that song we needed for a night out with our girls. Plus, he provided us with so many Instagram captions and quotables. And it was only right that he added Nicki Minaj on it. She was on fire at the time and the song fit so well with her persona.
10) Lord Knows
“I’m hearing all of the jokes, I know that they tryna push me| I know that showin’ emotion don’t ever mean I’m a pussy”
This one is that song that every rapper puts out that’s synonymous to them venting to a diary of some sort. He puts every aspect of his success into a single, fully-versed rant. Judging by the title, maybe this one could’ve even been a prayer of some sort. Regardless, he put it all out in one take, unapologetically.
11) Cameras/Good Ones Go
“You just know what you get told girl I see behind the scene| She spilled whiskey on her shirt, she gonna have to get it cleaned| She been going way too hard, someone has to intervene”
Here’s the point of the album where we see another phase of Drake. Many people in the beginning didn’t think Drake would succeed in the Rap game, simply because he didn’t “struggle” to get there, but here is where we start to learn the truth. “He looks like a star, but only on camera…” In comes vulnerability…
12) Doing It Wrong
“Cry if you need to, but I can't stay to watch you| That's the wrong thing to do”
I don’t think anyone can listen to this song and not get in their feelings about pretend relationship problems that they may or may not be having with their partner. He hit us all in the core when he says, “We live in a generation of not being in love and not being together, but we sure make it seem like we’re together because we hate to see each other with somebody else.” The harmonica at the end was the icing on the cake. Generational tears…
13) The Real Her
“But I gotta say, oh babe, oh babe, why is this so familiar?| Just met, already feel like I know the real her”
More relatability. Drake is truly the King of pinpointing our generation’s mindfulness when it comes to maintaining situationships. The uncertainty we feel is expressed so well in the lyrics of this song. Millennial love at its finest. Plus, how’d TF he get Andre 3000 AND Lil Wayne on a track like this? Amazing!
14) Look What You’ve Done
“Is this sh*t real? Should I pinch you?| After all the things that we been through, I got you| Look what you've done, look what you've done for me”
It’s no surprise that women tend to be the source of a lot of Drake’s pain. In this autobiographical performance, he leads us into memories with the two of the most important people in his life. However, he starts each verse with a mention of women he was associated with at the time of his memories. He’s a clever storyteller, and the stories are truly heartwarming if you listen closely.
15) H.Y.F.R
“All my exes live in Texas like I'm George Strait| Or they go to Georgia State”
Now we’re back to the turn up! But if I’m being serious, this might be the only song on the album that I feel is severely misplaced. It doesn’t really belong at all, but commercially it just made sense. Drake was determined to be a chart topper and this one went straight up! It was even Grammy nominated…
16) Practice
“All my girls from the five o four, need to drop it right now, need to drop it right now”
Knowing that he had to include a song for our every mood, Drake adopts Juenvile’s mega-hit “Back That Thang Up”, while paying homage to New Orleans and Houston, where he adapted a lot of his Rap influence. The fact that he screwed down everyone’s favorite club banger for the sake of it being a compliment to the rest of this album says that he’s great at balancing what his fans want with his own artistry.
17) The Ride
“You know it's real when your latest nights are your greatest nights| The sun is up when you get home, that's just a way of life”
This song reminds me of those long summer nights when you’re riding around the city, thinking about life and how it’s all played out to put you in the position that you’re in at that moment. Written in second person, he does this effortlessly, and reminds us that his story isn’t that much different than ours. Again, relatable and iconic.
What do you think about “Take Care”? Do you have any other favorite albums that you think should have an honorable mention? Tell us about it in the comments below!
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