Drake - Take Care (Review)
What up one & all. Sky Bento here on the check-in once again. Big Bento Energy is most definitely in full effect. Hope you & yours are doing good & well. Drinking water, protecting your mental health, knowing the vibes & all.
Say look here. The sun is down before most of y’all get out of work these days. It’s a real melancholic time. Me & my therapist even been talking about why this time of year specifically is real emotional for me. But that’s my business. Point is, it’s getting real gloomy out here. And wouldn’t you know it, a 10-year anniversary like this magnitude just crept up on us like this. Really makes you feel old, doesn’t it? It’s actually been a whole decade since Drake dropped what most would call his magnum opus (loud and wrong). Ay bruh, it’s no secret that this album isn’t my cup of tea the way it’s everyone else’s. In fact, I probably wouldn’t even be doing these reviews if it weren’t for a review of this same album by the legendary Phantom Raviolis, Big Ghost himself. It really opened my eyes to why as much as I love certain joints, this whole record is just missing something. So as it’s been 10 years, I think we can safely call it a classic but still try & take an objective look back at the music. So pour up whatever you was finna pour up, roll something sticky if you indulge, and set your smart bulbs on your favorite color because we about to take care of ourselves and we definitely not gonna talk or even think about [redacted]. This is Drake’s first major statement. This is 2011’s Take Care.
(Also, these are just MY opinions and do not reflect the views of TDN as a staff, brand or a m***********g crew. Feel free to crucify me on Twitter @plzsaythebento. Iight, run it.)
1. Over My Dead Body - Okay off the rip I know everybody loves this intro, but nah. This just isn’t how you introduce a project. This a deep cut. Some of the bars are fire. “Long as the outcome is income”. Some are, well… “Oh you wanna be a m************ funny guy, don’t make me break your Kevin Hart boy” “All of your flows bore me, paint drying.” These just aren’t classic lyrics. Drake’s singing on this is still super Kid Cudi and not as defined as it would go on to be. “I still got ten years to go, huh?” He sure did. As recycled as Drake’s themes and sounds can be, it really is night and day when you compare the music. Anyways, with this beat as repetitive as it is, this should’ve just been a one verse interlude or something like that. I do commend it on immediately letting you know that you’re going to get emotional R&B beats with introspective raps on it, but I can almost guarantee that if it weren’t for this being the first thing a lot of people heard when this album dropped, it wouldn’t rank so highly in the minds of Drake stans. I’m a fan, not a stan. Let’s keep it rocking though because…
2. Shot For Me - THIS. “I can see it in your eyes, you’re angry…” This is what the intro should’ve been. Unafraid to start by singing in his own tone. The whole beginning of this song is an incredible intro. The way the beat slowly builds and crescendos into the “I made it, yea I made it” and then into the trap drums of the simple hook. Then the melodic rap verse to follow. This is how you should start of a classic album that’s going to kick off a generation of true genre-bending in rap. For a long time, this was my favorite song on this album, so I’m biased, I’ll admit. But what I’m saying is that this was what gave me the feeling everybody else probably got from the intro. This did everything right. This is what the whole album feels like it’s about. The nostalgia of lost love mixed with the bravado that just comes with being rap’s newest superstar. Then to close it out, you have an instrumental breakdown to intro the next joint. There’s that S word I love to drop in these review.
3. Headlines - Sequencing. We go from that to a more traditional sound for Drake. Back this is what Drake mostly sounded like to the radio, or what radio rap in general sounded like. Early trap drums with horns and heavy bass. Auto-tuned melodic rap vocals. A hook that may or may not have been stolen lifted from inspired by a 2 year old Big Sean song. But them verses are damn catchy. The bars just are not up to Drake standards though. It’s super dumbed down, Drake went all in on the melodies on this one. The outro is really cool with the whole underwater synth vibe that this album goes crazy with. This is not a bad song at all, it’s just very middle of the road. It was the first single from this album, and because of that it got everybody super hype in the moment. But even then I just wanted more from the second Drake album, whatever it was going to be. This honestly just felt like more from Thank Me Later. This might even be a skip today if it wasn’t a single, but hey that’s the power of marketing I guess. Even moreso, that’s the power of Drake. Everything this man has done since has been a hit. Who am I to tell him what he should do.
4. Crew Love (featuring The Weeknd) - I’M SKY F•••••• BENTO THAT’S WHO. AND IF THIS WERE A SKY F•••••• BENTO ALBUM THIS WOULD EASILY BE TRACK NUMBER TWO BECAUSE THERE’S NO REASON IT AIN’T. Honestly, I was kinda disappointed when I got to the end of Shot For Me and it did the little medley transition thing and I remember “Headlines” was next. The one-two punch is the most essential part of an album’s track listing because it sets the tone for the entire project. “Shot For Me” should’ve definitely been the intro and in the best case scenario, we get “Shot For Me” into “Crew Love”. Worst case scenario we get “Shot For Me” into “Headlines”. Hell, even “Over My Dead Boy” into “Shot For Me” is better than Headlines being track two. It works as track 3 because by that point in an album you can start switching it up a little bit, so overall this works but as a sequencing guy, this just kind of fumbled the bag. Okay: rant over. So the music right. The intro. Whatever the hell you want to call it, it’s amazing. It’s memorable, even meme-able. Then it opens up to some rhode chords and Abel and an occasional piano descending before that weird intro thing comes back and it all repeats. You all know how amazing this song is, but we gotta praise the structure. The pulsating bass synth comes into to introduce Drake as the drums get heavier and it turns into a Drake song. History has told us that The Weeknd gave Drake a lot of tracks for this album, playing the Cudi to Drake’s Kanye. I wholeheartedly think this song was untouched by 40 until it got to Drake. This song is a masterpiece. I can’t even quote lyrics because music is to be heard, not read. Especially when it is this good. You just have to hear it. Right now. Literally, if you for some reason not listening to this album as you read this, you robbing yourself of the experience homie. Anyways, next.
5. Take Care (featuring Rihanna) - And this should’ve been track 3. If you were surprised when Drake transitioned toward dancefloor anthems with 2016’s VIEWS, you just weren’t paying attention. It’s Rihanna of all people on this hook, for a reason. This record is incredible, it’s more lyrical than a record like this needs to be at all. Drake snapped on this joint for real. This feels like a natural progression for Drake despite the large jump to a new style of instrumental. This feels like the So Far Gone sequel we were waiting for on the first project. The sampling. The bass. The Kanye influence is super apparent but taken further for one of the few times in Drake’s career, to the point where Kanye himself would be influenced by his understudy on future records like “Fade”. It’s not short and sweet but doesn’t overstay it’s welcome at all. It’s no wonder this joint tore up the radio the way that it did. We really have to give Rihanna her credit for making the landscape of popular music so tropical over the years.
6. Marvin’s Room - Another classic. Track 4. I’m doing this because there is a lot of fat in this album. It’s too bloated. So bare with me as I try to cut it down. No matter how you slice it, this feels like the REAL first single to Take Care. This was Drake’s “A Milli” & Drake’s “Love Lockdown” at the same time. He created an R&B freestyle goldmine. Jojo (the best one). Chris Brown. Teyana Taylor. Lil Wayne. Sammie. Queen Naija dropped one a few months ago. Your auntie had a Marvin’s Room freestyle. No, I’m serious. Ask her about it. But this was also the real “Wow, Drake can really make R&B” moment. Sure he had sang on records before this, and wrote one of Alicia Key’s best songs as well as one of Jamie Foxx’s. Word around town was definitely his pen game. But this was the moment where we really saw that he could do it himself, he wasn’t just a songwriter. This was the Drake featuring Drake era. From “cups of the rosé” on, everybody singing along. Then you’ve gotta clear out your peoples and stand in the middle as you confess about your addiction to nudes. Simping. Toxic masculinity. Whatever you wanna call it. Drake was the young new star, it was organic. This was the beginning of the formula, and it was a hell of a first impression. Which is why “Shot For Me” naturally should’ve been the intro. But I’m not going to beat a dead horse. We all know what it’s like to drunk call or drunk text somebody who’s moved on. Yes, all of us. With our own different ways of carrying the conversation but the same underlying feelings. “F*** THAT N**** THAT YOU LOVE SO BAD”. It’s a real universal feeling. I don’t think there is a more anthemic record for that. Marvin’s Room is THE drunk-dial anthem. Her white friend said what though?
7. Buried Alive Interlude (featuring Kendrick Lamar) - Drake probably got mad at Kendrick because he feel like he put him on with this song. He did not. At all. I always forget Kendrick Lamar is even on Take Care at all. Not going to lie, Kendrick one of the dopest MC’s ever but I do not care about this song at all. I like the content but this record is just wild unneccessary, sonically. It could’ve been fleshed out more. And when it originally came out attached to Marvin’s Room with a slash I let it play in full only the one time I initially peeped the album. The only purpose it does serve it that the druggy beat makes for a good transition into UGK. But yeah, cool little footnote as Kendrick’s biggest co-sign on record at the time. Otherwise, nobody needs to know this exists.
8. Under Ground Kingz - Drake always tries to mix in the hard joints so he doesn’t get called too soft, and still he gets called too soft. I like the idea Drake had with Scorpion because this song just doesn’t really feel like it belongs on this album. That said I loved it when it dropped so you could make an argument to make it fit since it’s still so early in his career it doesn’t hurt to show versatility. It sucks because this joint just has not aged well. Best part of this joint is hearing Drake sing the “Duffle Bag Boy” hook but the second verse does make it fit within the context of the album though as he mentions wanting do make the joints that every pretty girl tells him she likes. Unfortunately, you can tell he’s trying to make something for them instead of making what he wants to make. You can see unrealistic effort in this. It’s something Drake can do, it’s something Drake is good at, but it’s not what Drake is supposed to be doing especially on this album. I don’t know why Drake just never went all in on R&B for an album, and then returned with an amazing rap album. Kanye did it. I don’t mean to keep mentioning Kanye, honest. But even Future did it, in back to back weeks even. I’m not mad at this record at all, I love UGK for real and the influence is apparent. But 10 years later, the only way it’s not really gonna hit how it should is if it were made track 5.
9. We’ll Be Fine (featuring Birdman) - This song always made Under Ground Kingz sound better, that’s the power of good sequencing. Track 6, easy. This has that harder Southern rap feel to it but still fits in the context of a slower R&B vibe. This the type of beat Aaliyah could’ve rocked on. “But neither was making it and here I am” is an Aaliyah-type melody and that makes the line hit even harder. “Do you like. Your. New. Room.” Aaliyah flow. He knows it, dropping a Aaliyah shout-out right after. That’s what makes this project so incredible, you can clearly see Drake’s influences if you look for them even passively. But it’s still uniquely Drake. That hook so damn catchy. One of the catchiest hooks on the project so far. Second verse is super Weezy inspired. “She said you’re such a dog, I say you’re such a bone”. Ingeniously corny. She smiling after that one. I promise you. Then the outro from Baby. I really think since the Big Tymers days, this all he should’ve done and been doing. Talking that talk really his calling, he’s a true boss. Crooked business practices aside. He’s like a Southern Suge Knight. I know he gets bad rep in this generation for not being a good rapper, but the confidence dude has. The charisma. Y’all can’t do that. So put some respect on his name. All tree of y’all.
10. Make Me Proud (featuring Nicki Minaj) - This the worst collaboration the two have ever done. The beat is whack. Drake batting slightly below average. Nicki snaps but she just on her verse and can’t save it. This really a mediocre Nicki song that Drake just happened to take over, and for the worst. The hook only catchy because it’s repetitive. And not to get all feminist in the middle of a Drake review of all places (that’s like being thirsty in a desert) but it’s hella patronizing. Not knocking anybody who enjoys this, because I love more than my fair share of records that are obviously for the ladies. But those are good records. This ain’t. Get it out of here. Kill it with fire.
11. Lord Knows (featuring Rick Ross) - Track 7. It’s a real travesty that “Make Me Proud” had to keep this from coming after “We’ll Be Fine”. Lines about “going through her phone if she go to the bathroom” aside (that’s never a good idea fellas, for any of the parties involved), Drake really rapping his ass off on this joint. Just Blaze producing his ass off. I been just listening since this came on and even forgot to write for a second there. Now Rozay in it making a killing. The beat switch is fire. Rick Ross was the best rapper in the game this year, I stand by it. Mans rapped for like 45 seconds and made it his song damn near. The two got a storied history of popping up and killing each other, but this was the one that first felt like the chemistry would make for an incredible project. This one was epic every single time I listened to it over the past decade, and I’m sure it got at least another decade to go before I can actually call it stale… but its age is showing. It already felt like a classic beat when it first dropped. It could’ve came out in ‘03 and still been popping. But we can’t lie about how magnificent this joint just feels.
12. Cameras / Good Ones Go (Interlude) - Horrible to put this after Lord Knows. But this joint is great. I don’t think it’s as incredible as everybody else thinks it is, but it is the Take Care sound. It couldn’t have come out after 2015, it just wouldn’t fit. It’s a very good song, and belongs on Take Care. “Only on camera, only on camera” is such a good line to describe where Drake is at. Looking for honesty, loyalty, true connection and devotion, but now he got all these cameras on him at all times. He’s new to the life, and already exhausted by it. That bleeds into his hazy lazy delivery, in the best way. Then it changes over into “Good Ones Go” and feels even more essential. They really should be two separate songs because the transition isn’t even super clean or anything. It kinda just feels like one joint stops and the other starts. So I’m not going to say this is track 8, but I am going to put these two aside to put on my final track listing.
13. Doing It Wrong (featuring Stevie Wonder) - The Justin Bieber-ass “it’s just the end of the world that you had with one girl” opening line is horrible but when the kick comes in and it’s all like “cry if you need to” we’re back in business. This is track 8, this could’ve followed “Lord Knows” not despite the two sounds being so different, but because how they differ. It’s complimentary really. We go from a hard joint with some sensitive bars, to the bravado all falling down and it’s just you and Drake. Barely any instruments on this joint. Less is more sometimes. The intimate feel of this record is exactly what you need sometimes after a record like Lord Knows to let you know that this guy that makes himself out to be a king really is a human being. This is one of the first joints I think of when I think of Take Care. He even had the audacity to get Stevie “The GOAT” Wonder to just play harmonica. What a guy. That’s the real flex, and a hard one at that. Now Stevie gets to tell his ungrateful grandchildren who don’t realize just who this man is that he was one a Drake album. Crazy world we live in.
14. The Real Her (featuring Lil Wayne and André 3000) - This another one of those quintessential Take Care joints. With not only a rare André 3000 feature, but also the first appearance of mentor Lil Wayne on the project. But he brings Wayne into his world rather than revelling in the cosign and tying to meet the martian where he is. Obviously, track 9. Plus it’s a full Drake song even without the features. “You got a past and I do too, we’re perfect for each other.” This is a step beyond the opening up we got on So Far Gone. But it’s still so shallow that it feels like a flex, which feels like what the album is trying to do. That hook is forever memorable. “Everybody has an addiction, mine happens to be you.” 3 Stacks is so well spoken. This is what the new wave of R&B became. Open. Honest. Unabashed. Sometimes prideful and hurt, other times reflective and cold. Take Care was a blueprint for both singers and rappers, not because of itself as a project, but because of its individual songs and who Drake was as an artist.
15. Look What You’ve Done - This feels a lot like the intro but it starts off way better. Worse beat, better performance from Drake. Well, worse beat until them drums come in. Then it’s just better. No ifs and or buts. Call this track 10, or more like an outro. Over My Dead Body feels like an outro itself, but this just succeeds it in every way. It’s a better song, better production, better tone of voice, better flow, better lyrics. The way there’s only drums on the hook. Once you get them, it makes the whole beat feel a lot better because you see where it’s going, it doesn’t feel aimless. This could’ve been a Jhene Aiko collaboration. This could’ve even been a Jhene Aiko song. And then we get one of Drake’s trademark voicemail interludes. Which makes it even more outro-esque. Not the greatest outro of all time, but a good outro to this body of work.
16. HYFR (Hell Ya F•••••• Right) [featuring Lil Wayne] - As soon as that syrupy synth swangs through over that dark bass with a lingering E.S.G. sample, you already know what time it is. This is more of that “Houston Drake” sound. In reality, it’s just another one of those bangers to keep the album from feeling too soft, like “Under Ground Kingz” & “We’ll Be Fine”. But when you throw it on in 2011 at this point in the album it becomes so much more. This is the true Wayne & Drake collab. Like Drake & Ross, these two have a storied collaborative history but there’s also the mythos that comes from their real life relationship. Wayne changed Drake’s life. He not only put him on, but also famously told him to be himself and not chase after what Wayne is doing, basically getting out of the way completely for Drake to take over. So when the two link back up on some rap your ass off type of time, it’s usually incredible. We start with Drake giving us the most Drake bar of all time before speeding it up and giving birth to the Migos but on a more lyrical level.
“What have I learned since getting richer?
I learned working with the negatives can make for better pictures.
I learned Hennessy and enemies is one hell of a mixture.
Even though it’s f••••• up, girl I’m still f•••••• witcha, damn”
I never even used that formatting before, that’s how fire that section was. Some of the best lyrics on the whole album and really encapsulates Drake’s whole style at this point in time. Then he brings up interview questions before Lil Wayne delivers the best feature (shocking, I know) on the entire album (sorry, Abel).
“Do you love this sh•t?
Are you high right now?
Do you ever get nervous?”
Masterful. It doesn’t even rhyme. But you can just tell how sick and tired Wayne is of the media, and serves as him warning Drake to not put too much stock into what they say, in his own Lil Wayne way. “Hell yea, hell yea hell yea”. Then Wayne gives us a 2011 Wayne verse. Not exactly peak Wayne, not fully fallen off either. A lot of memorable quotes. But honestly, my favorite part is when Drake sings the hook himself at the end. The chemistry the two have is really incredible. The record is incredible. Easily one of the best songs on Take Care, and it doesn’t even sound like Take Care. Sonically, this would be much more at home on 2015’s If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late, Drake’s rapping aside. And that’s a better project than this. Okay, next song.
17. Practice - Side note: I remember peeping this video for the first time. I was pissed to find out (I thought) that it wasn’t the real video. I thought it had turned out to just be a viral Facebook video, until Drake himself walked out at the end. Genius marketing. But anyways, this song is kinda creepy. Dumb fire, but the sample takes care of most of that. I wish I weren’t as mature as I am now so that I could enjoy this more, because it really is a great song. It basically gave us Tory Lanez’ Chixtape series, and regardless how you feel about the man himself them tapes are full of good music. I’m actually really sad I can’t listen to them the same way anymore but yeah speaking of standing up for women, this one it’s just kinda weird. It’s just super immature sounding, it doesn’t have the confidence it feels like it should. I guess that makes it fit the project. “All those other men were practice for me” just sounds crazy, read that again. But again, the production is incredible. I feel like Drake should’ve written this and given it to somebody else, maybe featured on it. I do like how it comes right after the Lil Wayne feature given the fact he was actually on “Back That Azz Up”. I don’t think you could have Take Care without this song, but even though it feels good for a function, I’ve still never heard it outside. I think that’s quite telling. Feels like a bonus track anyway. I’m a put it at track 12, but yeah, conflicted about that. Next song.
18. The Ride - I remember there being mad freestyles to this and I didn’t care about any of them. I never would’ve seen it coming if it didn’t happen. I feel like that speaks volumes. The beat cold but never really feels like it goes anywhere and it needs to. The Weeknd’s vocals make it so much more chilling too. It’s a good song, but just never screamed outro to me, definitely not more than “Look What You’ve Done”. The beat switch at the end makes it a serviceable outro but it really just reminds me of “Dreams Money Can Buy”. This could’ve and maybe should’ve been a loosie. But Drake is rapping well, and it definitely feels like Take Care. So we’ll call it track 13. Can’t have Take Care without it, but it’s certainly not one I feel like going back to on its own, which I know goes against me calling it a loosie. I know a lot of people eat up this type of joint from Drake but it’s never been my cup of tea. “I mean sure there’s some bills and taxes I’m still evading, but I just blew six million on myself and I feel amazing.” I think that captures this project perfectly.
19. The Motto (featuring Lil Wayne) [Bonus Track] - Normally I don’t like to do bonus tracks. But yo this joint does not belong at all. At. All. Huge single though so I get it. I’m curious if this song dropped as a single first or after. It’s a good song, maybe even a great one. But it don’t belong on Take Care at all. Not one of the best verse from either of these two, not their best collaboration, but a banger for sure with hella quotables and a smooth Bay Area-type beat. A real shameless party record that needs no review. Loosie status over a bonus track, but whatever. I don’t get why this is Wayne & Drake instead of Ross & Drake, since YOLO seemed to be their thing.
20. Hate Sleeping Alone [Bonus Track] - Now this feels like a Take Care loosie at least. Soundcloud Drake status. This shouldn’t have been on Apple Music until Care Package to be honest, but I’m not mad at it. It’s a cool little joint. Does it reach the heights this album does? No. Would it fit? Yeah, as filler. “That’s just something to do when there’s nothing to do.” Drowning in the cliché Drake bars at this point. But songs like this were really Drake time. A real era of my life to live, when I thought lyrics like that were profound. I do appreciate that this record has an outro on it so it doesn’t throw off the deluxe too much.
So what’s the verdict? Well, Take Care is classic and nothing is changing that. It was exactly what was needed at the time for the game to get to where it is today, for better or worse. It felt great to listen to in my younger days because of that care free hedonistic lifestyle Aubrey portrays throughout the album. But when you take that away, a lot of the stand out lyrics don’t really stand out like they would on later projects. His junior and senior really did only get meaner. His next two projects complete the trifecta of Drake’s best albums, and if you’ve read my Worst To Best: Drake Albums article you’ll see what I mean. In retrospect this feels like the beginning of a trilogy. And in that sense, it works that this is the most immature Drake album aside from his debut. It’s all emotion with very little logic and because of that, it feels raw and pure and we love it for it. But as time has passed the cracks have shown more and more. Even down to the sequencing, I just don’t feel like this project compares to the rest of its trilogy. But up against the rest of his discography, and his competition at the time, this is an amazing project. It ushered in a new generation of not just rappers, but artists of all walks of life. Try new genres. Bear your soul. Make your art how you want to. But it also helped popularize bloated albums, and sometimes the lyricism is childish. If you’re going through it, some of these joints may hit you right where you need to be hit. But if you’re not, then you can clearly see the toxicity. And I’m not saying that from my high horse of morals or nothing, there’s just too many songs on this album so it sticks out since there’s so much of it. Which is exactly why I call for shorter albums with better sequencing. This was the album that made me realize it, again, thanks in no small part to Big Ghost’s review. With less tracks, they all get to shine a bit more. I’m just saying, he could do better. Hopefully you see where I’m coming from.
Never one to bring up a problem without offering a solution, though. Here is my amended Take Care tracklist:
“Shot For Me”
“Crew Love (featuring The Weeknd)”
“Take Care (featuring Rihanna)”
“Marvin’s Room”
“Under Ground Kingz”
“HYFR (featuring Lil Wayne)”
“We’ll Be Fine (featuring Birdman)”
“Lord Knows (featuring Rick Ross)”
“Doing It Wrong (featuring Stevie Wonder)”
“The Real Her (featuring Lil Wayne and André 3000)”
“Cameras / Good Ones Go Interlude”
“Practice”
“The Ride”
“Look What You’ve Done”
Here’s a link to that very playlist if you have Apple Music. What would you change? Holla at me on all socials ( @plzsaythebento ) with your feeling on Take Care, 10 years later. The landscape of music has changed so much thanks in no small part to this record. This was my senior year of high school, but I wanted to put my memories to the side and feel it out as just music. So if you’re still reading this, it’s not too late to let you know how much I appreciate you for hearing out my opinions. Whenever I put my feelings about Take Care out on the internet everybody wanna argue and nobody wanna listen. I’m just a “hater”. I guess this is what they call feeling seen. Drake gotta deal with that every time he puts his life in the music, you’ve gotta commend it. Despite all of my critiques. And with it being men’s mental health month, let’s try to take care of ourselves and others just a little more. I’ve been and I am Sky Bento. Have a good night.
