"Thank Me Later"

So you run home from FYE tear the plastic off and rip that annoying little sticker that keeps you from your own musical nirvana. After making sure nothing else is hindering you, you slowly and carefully crack open the CD case and gently remove the CD. You place the CD in the CD Player Press play and sit back. Two seconds later you hear the keys playing which almost tricks your brain to think you’re listening to an R&B album but just when you’re about to sit up his voice captures the beat smooth and soothing like milk and honey. This mid temple intro intelligently titled, “Fireworks” featuring the Grammy Award winning songstress Alicia Keys fills the room like scented candles. This is a great way to start the journey off into Drakeland.

"Thank Me Later," is the highly anticipated debut album from Young Money Cash Money recording artist and international sensation Drake aka Drizzy. This 14 song masterpiece starts off nice and melancholy like southern ice tea with sweet melodies as Drizzy croons over soft beats but cuts you with the swiftness of his rhymes. On the track “Karaoke” Drake sings/raps of a love lost and his vivid rhymes make you feel as if you’re the chick who plans weddings who up and left him for the ATL like he described in the verse. “The Resistance” is a free flowing tale of fame gone wrong. You know how it is when you find success and then life spends wildly out of control and you lose sight of why you started it all …yeah its one of those songs. Kind of makes you want to take a slice of Humble Pie. Next up is the hit single “Over” …you’ve all heard this song enough to know whats up. Moving on, “Show me a good time” is Drizzy’s plea for a little normalcy and fun on those seemingly rare occasions when he’s not super busy doing interviews and shooting music videos. His flow on this track has a Midwest feel to it and his lyrics reign true more than anything. He raps about going from a backpack rapper to thee only rapper really worth talking about besides Wayne at this point.

“Up all night” is what I like to call motivational music…this is the song you put on when people constantly doubt you and you have to get that extra bit of swag just to let em know whats up. It features Nicki Minaj and as usual she delivers her catchy bars and hard spittin’. And as if on cue Mr. Swizz Beats himself comes on chanting “Oh you fancy huh?” and with the previous track putting you in that “feeling myself” type of mode “Fancy” makes the mission complete...well if you’re a female. This track also features T.I. and his sleek southern style with Drakes cool breezy style really compliments the Swizz Beat laced track and it’s a must for any ladies getting ready to hit the club. By the time you get to “Shut it Down,” your confidence is probably through the roof and this song featuring The-Dream just makes you wish you had your own personal Drizzy in your pocket book besides the MAC lip gloss and mirror because of all the sweet encouraging compliments he delivers in totally Drake fashion. Not to the video to this song already! Then all of a sudden the sweet innocent voice of Aaliyah comes on as she sings the lyrics to her classic song “At your best (you are love)” and Drake starts off flowing mentioning that this is one of his “Dumbest flows ever” and following his swift level verse is followed by vocals by Young Jeezy and oddly the combination of the soft spoken, silky smooth style of Drake and the Rough and rugid style Jezzy has makes for a great combination on the track “Unforgettable”.

Next up to bat is “Light Up” the classic song featuring hip-hop juggernaut Jay-Z. It starts with Drizzy rapping in the style usually heard on his mixtapes…quick tongued and fast paced sort of reminiscent of his song “I’m still fly.” The drums gives the song a hard feeling and the beat is triumphant…truly fitting for the hip-hop royalty on this track. Jay-Z of course kills his verse with his confident never wavering swag as he raps advice to the kid most likely to take his spot one day. “Miss me” blares through the speaker next and the track sounds like a musical circus that sounds a little familiar…but that’s only because this was one of the songs leaked on the net before the album came out. But like most of their collaborations, this is a true Drake Lil Wayne banger full of catchy lines and witty word play. And if you are one of the little chica’s running around longing to be Drizzy’s Wifey then “CeCe’s Interlude” will surely pull at your heartstrings and its followed by the smash single “Find you love.” After this its time to thank my Drizzy Drake for his classic contribution to the ailing rap game. The final track entitled “Thank me Now,” and one can’t help but think of Lebron when he spits about becoming rivals with the one you once looked up to just to survive (LeBron VS Jordan) and one can’t help but think if this will become of Drake and Lil Wayne’s relationship considering that depending on who’s listening…Drake killed the game with this album. But who knows.

Despite the rumors bloggers and extra b.s. “Thank me later,” is a classic new age hip-hop album. What makes Drakes unarguably great is his incomparable style and original deliverance. It almost doesn’t feel right labeling him a hip-hop or rap artist seeing as he sings better than a lot of R&B dudes so we just won’t label him anything…well anything other than great music. So now as the remaining track dwindles and the lights in your head fade…the image of Drake starts dispersing from your mind and you leave Drakeland for reality…remember to thank this man next time you see him for delivering such a good album.