Undoubtedly, Drake is one of the best rappers of the 21st century, but it’s safe to say his older albums blow his new ones out of the water.
“Take Care (Deluxe),” Drake’s most popular studio album released in Nov. 2011, is a great representation of his signature mix of R&B and romance.
The album’s first song, “Over My Dead Body,” is an amazing R&B track that shows examples of perseverance when having doubt. This song was on the more popular side of the album. He details the complex layers of his life, including past relationships, and then goes through more current problems.
The next two songs, and my personal favorites, are “Shot For Me” and “Headlines.” They are very different because in “Shot For Me,” he raised a toast to his exes on a slow beat. Then, “Headlines” is a fast and hype song that explains the consequences that come with fame. I love this song and how it always can get me in a better mood.
“Crew Love” and “Take Care” come after and they are on the less popular side of the album. Personally, I don’t enjoy listening to these two as there are many better songs coming up. Not many people have them in their list of top songs on the album, but I think Drake did a really good job of where they were placed in the order, making them sort of filler songs leading up to the next.
Next, a fan favorite, is “Marvin’s Room.” In this track, he is on the phone with his ex-girlfriend and talks about how lonely he is. This moved a lot of people and the lyrics are very meaningful. It tells the story of heartbreak and his sadness coming from the failed relationship. It was a successful track as other popular artists made their own versions of it, such as Lil Wayne and Chris Brown.
These next four songs are more of filler songs, and they really complete the first half and transition into the better second half of the album. They include “Buried Alive Interlude,” “Under Ground Kings,” “We’ll be Fine” and “Make Me Proud.” They all have good lyrics, but many fans aren’t all about these four.
“Cameras / Good Ones Go” is up next and is an amazing track where Drake’s astonishing voice really comes out. There are multiple different beats in this song which captures all the different emotions throughout it. Up next, “Doing it Wrong” is a very popular one as he is representing confidence and the beat is slow and calm. After, “The Real Her” is a song that not many people recognize, so I like how he put it there and has the last great songs all in a row.
The final five, in my opinion, are the top five best songs of the album, and I really like how he put them all at the end. First, “Look What You’ve Done” is a meaningful song as he reflects on his childhood to adulthood. The song was made as a tribute to his mother, grandmother and his uncle. Also, at the end of the song, there is a voicemail of his mom saying she is grateful for everything he has done for her and how the roles switched from her taking care of Drake to the other way around. This song is number one on my list because I know every lyric and the flow is so easy to sing the words to.
Following, “HYFR” is a great track as it has a hype tone and beat to it. Lil Wayne is a feature and Drake and him both got to work with the lyrics. The song talks about his past relationships and the lessons he learned from them. Next is “Practice,” which has a slow beat, but he lets his voice out as most of the songs he is rapping rather than singing. He sings about his current love at the time, and you can see a repetition, as most of these songs are about his dating history.
The last two songs are “The Ride” and “The Motto,” and they are completely different as “The Ride” is slow and depressing and “The Motto” is a hype song. “The Ride” has a really nice background sample and beat while he talks about wealth and fame and how to get to his position. The last song on the album, “The Motto,” is very popular to his fans and I also personally really enjoy it. Once again, his close friend Lil Wayne is a feature on this song, and it has a really hype beat as most of Lil Wayne’s singles tend to have as well. He goes back and forth trying to get out the message “you only live once,” as he calls it his motto. Later on, he released a song by the name of “You Only Live Once,” with Lil Wayne as a tribute to this track and it is now a fan favorite of the album “Certified Lover Boy” which he released in 2021.
During this album, Drake revisits many sentimental events in his past to rap about and gives tributes to a lot of his loved ones. “Take Care,” Drake’s best album, is much better than newly released studio albums and singles.
