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Drake’s “Take Care” Reviewed: “Practice”

Posted by Emily Exton on 11/07/2011 at 7:04 PM Reviews

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

Track 16: “Practice”

Sounds Like: An attempt at creating a slightly more politically correct version of Juvenile’s “Back That Ass Up,” that’s more concerned with how “backing it up in style” makes a young woman feel, rather than the act itself.

Pros: Drake makes his first foray into a quasi-dance anthem by borrowing the city of New Orleans’ love for partying and revisiting the 1999 classic, which we sincerely appreciate. Of course for Drizzy, encouraging women to dance comes with lots of feelings—in this case, pain and regret—adding layers to the meaning of “practice” that reach beyond the dance studio or nearest block party. In his appreciation of a woman and her attributes, he takes time to acknowledge what a good thing he’s landed for himself (“All those other men were practice, they were practice / Yeah, For me, for me, for me, for me”). It’s an understanding we’d normally expect other men to be boasting about in a much larger way, but as you’ve noticed, these moments of full-on bravado don’t come all that often.

Cons: The Juvenile sample is a nice shout-out to Young Money’s godfathers, but Drake’s need to both sample the pulsating—and at this point, iconic—beat and borrow its titular chorus results in a watered down version which ultimately leaves us wanting to revisit the original.

Emo Alert! “Everything for a reason, There’s things you had to learn from them.”

Drake Hashtags: Young Money, Strippers, Hoes in different area codes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV83lkxrDYA&feature=related

Previous Reviews: “Over My Dead Body,” “Shot For Me,” “Headlines,” “Crew Love,” “Take Care,” “Marvin’s Room — Buried Alive (Interlude),” “Under Ground Kings,” “We’ll Be Fine,” “Make Me Proud,” “Lord Knows,” “Cameras — Good Ones Go (Interlude),” “Doing It Wrong,” “The Real Her,” “Hell Ya Fuckin’ Right,” “Look What You’ve Done”