Canadian native Drake makes his much anticipated debut, bringing along with him an all star line up of artists and producers to create inevitably the most hyped album of the summer. Anyone team Drizzy would hope the album to exceed the hype, while the other side of the bleachers will continue to postpone their gratitude till later.

“Thank Me Later” is an emotional train ride through Drake’s battles of fame, success and love, interpreted in clever lyrical content, catchy hooks and a lot of  rapping singing. While the same rapper many grew to favor from the mixtape “So far Gone” is blatant, we get to take a microscopic listen into his more vulnerable side. This is good and bad.

Tracks like “Fireworks” feat Alicia Keys open up to his much publicized and very short relationship with Rihanna and her allegedly using him.

“now all of a sudden these gossip rags wanna cover me

and you making it seem that it happened that way because of me

but I was curious and I’ll never forget it baby

what an experience you coulda been the one but it wasn’t that serious

their was smoke in the air before now its me clearing it”

Although juicy details are always appreciated here at YNTK, there is something missing. Perhaps its the common emo themes and consistent mid tempo to low tempo production that often allows the album to drag or sound like a 60 minute song. The strong confident rapper that showed and proved on tracks like “Forever” has adopted a softer more Shade-esque persona. This doesn’t work when he has features as strong as Jay Z who won’t change lanes to him get by (See “Light Up”) Don’t get it twisted, we still get to hear Drizzy’s call and answer flow go hard on tracks like “Miss Me” and “Up all Night,” however the album lacks singles with mass Billboard appeal like his other offerings (See “Best I ever had”). The exception being the 808′s and Heartbreak inspired ballad “Find Your love” which currently peaks at # 13 on the Hot 100.

Overall Drake delivers a solid first album but far from a classic debut like his hip hop precedes. (See Jay Z’s Reasonable Doubt or Kanye’s College Dropout). It instead becomes more appropriate as a rushed sophmore album for an artists who established enough hype on their own and has now called upon their friends to sustain it. Sound familiar?

Stand outs:

Find Your Love

Up All Night

Miss Me

Show Me a Good Time

Unforgetable

Fireworks

What do you rate Drake’s Album?