Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 11/07/2011 at 12:53 PM Reviews

The Popdust Files: drake, take care, track-by-track reviews

It’s almost hard to believe that there are any tracks any left to leak from Drake’s Take Care, but luckily, when you have 17 tracks to work with, you can afford to let a couple slip and still have a reason for people to get excited when the album becomes unexpectedly available in its entirety. Drake’s second full-length effort hit the net earlier today, and since Drake gave the leak a sort of unofficial sanction (as long as it doesn’t, you know, prevent you from actually buying the damn thing), we don’t feel so bad about giving the album a song-for-song review. Stick with Popdust throughout the days as we take on all 17 of the album’s tracks—old favorites and new gems alike—and determine whether or not Drizzy was able to avoid the sophomore slump.

Track 1: “Over My Dead Body”

Sounds Like: A plaintive, piano-led ease-in opener, very similar to “Fireworks” off debut Thank Me Later. Like that song, “Body” features Drake kind of taking stock of where he’s at, summing things up with the first two couplets: “I think I killed everybody in the game last year, man / Fuck it I was on though / And I thought I found the girl of my dreams at a strip club / Fuck it I was wrong though.” Also like that song, “Body” features a female voice singing the hook: “The time to take you away from me / Only over my dead body.”

Pros: Once more like “Fireworks,” “Over My Dead Body” is a truly widescreen opener, a beautiful stage-setter and reintroduction to Drake’s world, which, if you’re here in the first place, is probably a place you still find somewhat compelling. The piano hook is just as lovely even without a superstar like Alicia Keys playing it, and for a guy rightly accused of dwelling too much in self-pity, Drake actually sounds defiantly cocky on the track, bragging about how he “Just performed at a Bar Mitzvah over in the states / Used half of the money to beat my brother’s case.” It’s a good look for him.

Cons: With the previously mentioned cockiness comes a couple rhymes that are a little slow-clappy, like “You know I want it all and then some / Shout out to Asian girls, let the lights dim sum” and “Slave to the pussy / But I’m just playin’ the field ni**a. ”

Emo Alert!: “Jealousy is just love and hate at the same time / It’s been that way since the beginning.”

Drake Hashtags: NBA Players as Rappers, Living up to the hype, Toronto, Strippers, Hip-hop royalty, Haters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCTqe5Ck6O4

POPDUST SAYS:
[starreview tpl=16]