This is a tough one for me. I’ve actually thought about not giving this album a review for the simple fact I like Drake as an artist. I don’t want to say anything bad about Drake as an artist because he’s a breath of fresh air for hip hop.
With that said I still got a job to do, and over here on Skewln.com we try to keep it completely “100″. And if don’t like opinion articles head over to Cnn.com, here let me help (click here)
Let me start by saying Drake is the hottest artist in the game right now. He’s all over the radio , hip hop site, and the blogs. The name Drake is super hot right now in the hip hop market.
Me personally, I think drake on the market right now is over saturated. Drake has so much music out right now, and its fair to say 90% of it is dope. But its so much to the point where I think the fans are expecting a “classic” for his first album and nothing less.
Thank Me Later starts with a slow Alicia Keys track. Its kind of a slow drag intro. Then album continues to another slow R&B feel song ,Karaoke. The song is 90% singing.The project doesn’t pick up until the single Over drops. There’s a lot of untraditional structured songs on the project like Light Up. Differently structured songs can be cool , but at times your waiting on another verse from drake which never comes. This track was one of those. The song ends and you maybe left unsatisfied.
The R&B continues with Shut it down Feating The Dream. Its a very sexual song for grown ups. The song favors something you would hear on a official Dream album. Just when you think the song is over, the track morphs into a different feel. Shut it down is 7mins long.
Unforgettable featuring Jeezy, another R&B tempo track which is nearly dominated by Jeezy, but not to hood. Miss Me featuring Lil Wayne is a Young Money mixtape sounding track. It probably feels that way because Mr. Carter is featured. Cece’s is 100% Soul/R&B. There’s absolutely no rapping on Cece’s and the same goes for Find Your Love. Thank Me Now produced by Timbaland doesn’t have the same swag as a normal Timbaland production. Its just doesn’t really fit the project.
If your headed out to buy the Drake album expect to hear a lot of singing and a whole lot of love songs. Expect to hear a lot of mid tempo tracks. Expect to hear a few unstructured songs. If thats your thing or not I’m just giving you a heads up.
I listened to Thank Me Later more then three times and I came to the conclusion its a disappointing album. Lyrically, drake did a dope job. As a full body of work on the album, not so good. Thank Me Later has good songs, but lacks a necessary direction. The album sounds like a bunch of songs were thrown on the project with no specific vision. I think the executive producer did a terrible job. Thats what it really comes down to. I put this one of the executive producer more so then Drake. Can’t blame the rookie.
It sucks we the people had heard a large percentage of the album already before the major leak.
At the end of the day Drake has a lot of hardcore fans who will love anything he puts out good or bad. As long as his fans enjoy it thats all that really matters. Make sure you go out and buy the album Click here
Rating: 
(6.5/10)
I must say that I completely agree w/ you on this one.. Very tough album to critique.. Because Drake is a dope artist and he is def doing his thing.. And the masses expect him to be on point w/ his first REAL project.. But I feel like this.. These songs he chose mean something to him.. He is the artist so we really can’t take that away from him.. But as the outsider and the “fan” I def don’t get where he was going w/ this one.. Nothing flows.. Conceptually there is no rhyme or reason to his method on this.. Lyrics are always on point w/ Drake but I just can’t say I’m 100% convinced by this album.. I kept telling people that he was spending way too much time making other ppl hit tracks that he was going to fall short w/ his own project.. And that was evident when he kept pushing it back.. You have to do what Kanye does when he makes his records.. GO INTO HIDING!! Straight up.. Screw what is going on around you.. If you want to last in this industry as an INDIVIDUAL you have to remove yourself from everyone and everything from time to time.. Gives you a chance to refocus and get you inline to become who you want and strive to be.. GREAT!! Drake no doubt will bounce back from this “if” he learns a lesson from this.. Yeah, he’ll probably make a milli off this just because of his fan base but in order for him to continue to make a milli he has to take pride in Drake and do Drake for Drake.. Hell ,Kanye does it all the time and if you don’t like it he’ll tell you to straight up kiss his a$$.. Good article Skewln.. Ya’ll always come w/ the heat..
Thank u Missy
I AINT HEARD YET….BUT I KINDA FIGURED DAT WAS GON BE THE CASE…..IVE HEARD THE SAME RESPONSE FOR PLENTY THAT HAVE HEARD….NIGGAS GET BURNT OUT…….BUDDY CAN SPIT BUT NIGGAS I KNO IS JUS TIRED OF HEARING DRAKE AT DIS POINT CUZ IT ALL SOUND DA SAME CUZ HE BEEN OVERUSED IN CASH MONEY/YOUNG MONEY MARKET STRATEGY …WAYNE IS BOUT DA ONLY NIGGA WHO CAN DO IT LIKE DAT…BUDDY MAY JUS BE BURNT OUT AND HAFTA RETHINK HIS MAP OUT……STILL CAN SPIT THO
This doesn’t really tell me anything about the album it’s just your opinions about Drake strung into paragraphs. ‘Thank You Anyways’ …no pun intended
Yea u def didn’t tell me about the album just basically reported your feelings…
I am a fan of Drake… But I agree with a lot of what you said. Especially about him being a breath of fresh air, but we haven’t had time to miss him! Thanks!
I am a fan of Drake… But I agree with a lot of what you said. Especially about him being a breath of fresh air, but we haven’t had time to miss him! Thanks! I am going to buy the album… I’m only a fan of 10 ppl, so I always got buy them!
I was very disappointed when I listened to the album so I feel you on the review
Aight…first things first…yeah if you were expecting Drake to come out spitting fire song after song then shame on you. I mean dude can go….we all been known that, but go back to his so far gone mixtape and you can get a little more feel for what he was trying to do with this album. I still agree with the fact that it doesn’t have a clear cut direction, but maybe that was his intention. He probably would have done better calling it Further Gone or out of this world or something to that effect to continue the trend he set with the mixtape…..I’ve heard a few cuts off the mixtape he had before that, but the biggest thing I get from Drake is that he wants us to know that he can sing as well as rap….and until this B.O.B. cat reinvented himself, i would have said that Drake would have been the only person in that lane…I think he has a good mix of songs on there….for what he was tryig to do, assuming that was to follow the success that he had from So Far Gone. He is a rookie for the most part but at the same time…most people do come out swinging much harder than that for their first solo project. It’llbe interesting to see what happens on the sophomore effort. Don’t let your super high expectations or his oversaturation into the market kill this album for you. As someone who hasn’t been impressed by much of the music i’ve been hearing as a whole….i still find this album as one i could listen to. It’s no classic, but it’s still solidly put together if you ask me…
I think you nailed it on the head with “high expectations” and “over saturation”. We were talking over the weekend about his project, and some felt that his featuring on everybody’s tracks hurt him in the long run. There is no doubt he can spit, so we will have to see what route he takes next.