Critics-and he’s had plenty-like to point out that he started as an actor: He played Jimmy Brooks in the Canadian teen show Degrassi: The Next Generation. Was he an R&B singer who rapped or a rapper who sang? Was he really that sad, or just doing a bit? And if it wasn’t a bit, how could this guy-talented, intuitive, hardworking-really be so down?įrom minute one, there was something a little different about him: He could be confessional, vulnerable, but also incredibly coarse he could make an earnest commitment one minute (“Take Care”) and be drunk-dialing the next (“Marvins Room”) he could convince you he was an underdog from his perch on top of the world (“Started from the Bottom”). After all, he figured, you get someone hanging your name next to Tupac’s, even if it’s only to take a shot at it? You must be doing something right.īorn Aubrey Drake Graham in Toronto in 1986, Drake became-like Tupac-something of a generational voice, a prism for his pop-cultural moment. 1.A couple of years after he broke into the mainstream with 2009’s So Far Gone, Drake was browsing art in Los Angeles when a piece caught his eye: a big neon sign that read, “LESS DRAKE, MORE TUPAC.” For a minute, he felt angry, embarrassed-he wanted to walk up and rip the sign off the wall.
From the jump, “Over My Dead Body” didn’t just feel like the perfect opener for his first classic album it was also the beginning of the Drake Regime. His vocals sat comfortably behind 40’s airy production, a distorted piano loop, and an eerie hook sung by Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk. “ I think I killed everybody in the game last year, man, fuck it, I was on though,” Drake raps.
Every millennial hip-hop head had cemented the album as an instant classic as soon as he sent warning shots to rivals earlier that summer on “Dreams Money Can Buy” and “I’m On One.”Īlas, the first lines of Take Care were powerful enough to erase any sense of doubt. Drake’s sophomore LP hit the Internet, accompanied by impossible expectations. On November 7, 2011, during the twilight of the pre-Instagram era-before scheduled release dates were abided by and albums arrived at the crack of midnight via streaming giants Apple Music and Spotify- Take Care sprung a leak.
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