Drake - Thank Me Later

Seen from a two-year-distance, the biggest achievement in 808s & Heartbreak was not the then-much-discussed extreme use of auto-tune. It was instead the launch of a new concept in the hip-hop world where we had dark ballads and introspective lyrics, over instrumentals that seemed like skeletons of post-digital songs. The born of emo-rap, anyone?
Fast-forward to 2010 and the first mainstream descendent of that polarizing album comes from the newest superstar in the game, the dude-next-door whom anyone can identity with. So yeah, Drake is now being acclaimed as hip-hop's saviour, and if that shows how unfair the world was to Kanye's 2008 controversial masterpiece, the truth is that, when hearing Thank Me Later, one can only think that justice is finally being done.
A direct continuation of last year's excellent So Far Gone, Drake's debut full-length further explores the qualities first revealed in that mixtape, and even accentuates them, in a very diverse collection of songs that is, nevertheless, surprisingly consistent. From his incredible ability to smoothly flow between rapping and singing, to the innumerous hooks and involving details that each song incorporates, you have it all, creating an intense and futuristic sound that, paradoxically, sounds like an instant classic.
And back again to that 808s & Hearbreak comparison: if Kanye's album seemed like a work-in-progress from a mind that is constantly flowing into different directions, Thank Me Later sounds like a definitive statement from someone pretty sure about where he's heading: with his debut album, Drake has already created a landmark (9/10)

Drake - Find Your Love (video)



www.myspace.com/thisisdrake

Drake - So Far Gone (mixtape)

With a debut album - Thank Me Later - scheduled for March 2010 on Young Money (a.k.a. Lil Wayne's own label), Drake is probably one of the most obvious tips for 2010 by any book. And judging from this mixtape alone, he's definitely headed for very big things indeed. Basically, imagine the day after 808s & Heartbreak, a post-hip-hop world where main rap-artists start singing, baring it all (ok, in some cases with a big help from auto-tune, guess you can't win them all), over instrumentals that defy any categorizations... and you get closer to what Drake does in So Far Gone. This guy has basically achieved the creation of a new brand of electro-soul, as elegant, smooth and charming as it is futuristic, banging and sexy, in a post-melancholic record of post-electronic-r&b, studded with an absurd amount of brilliant synth-lines and hooks and post-whatever verses. But it doesn't stop here: for example, we also have the songs he chooses to sample, from the likes of Lykke Li, Peter Bjorn & John, Santogold (before she turned into Santigold) or, you guessed it, Kanye West in 808's... This is a selection that could be a bad thing if it was just meant to show how supposedly cool he is, but in here these songs are given the right treatment, meaning he doesn't rap or sing over them, he actually duets, twists and makes them his own. And a final word to his natural flow: it's a pleasure to see how someone can switch from rapping to singing and back to rapping with such an amazing ease, while being pretty good at both, and using this not as a gimmick but just to serve the songs structure. "Tonight I’ll just fuck you like we’re in Houston" - also great to see someone getting away with lines like this. (8,5/10)

Drake - Best I Ever Had (video)



www.myspace.com/thisisdrake