Drake – Take Care Album Review: The Blueprint of Modern Rap
- Jay Jewels
- 4 days ago
- 7 min read
Introduction
Released on November 15, 2011, Take Care is Drake's second studio album and arguably the most influential rap record of the past two decades. It didn't just arrive — it shifted the entire axis of hip-hop culture. Before Take Care, vulnerability in rap was a liability. After it, it became a superpower. Drake took everything that had made him a curiosity on Thank Me Later — the introspection, the melancholy, the unashamed romanticism — and weaponised it into something that felt genuinely new. Moody, atmospheric, and emotionally raw, Take Care drew from R&B, soul, and electronic music to build a sound that was entirely its own. Over a decade on, its fingerprints are everywhere. This is the definitive review of one of rap's greatest ever albums.
Contents
Background & Context
By 2011, Drake had established himself as one of rap's most compelling new voices with Thank Me Later, but Take Care was the album that turned a promising artist into a generational one. Recorded primarily in Toronto with his longtime collaborator and producer Noah '40' Shebib, the album was two years in the making and drew heavily from the city's emerging R&B underground. Crucially, it was Take Care that introduced The Weeknd to the mainstream — Abel Tesfaye appeared on three tracks including the emotionally devastating Crew Love, giving the world its first real taste of his singular talent. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, moved over 600,000 copies in its first week in the US, and was eventually certified six times platinum. At the 2013 Grammy Awards, it took home Best Rap Album, cementing its place in the canon.
Track-by-Track Highlights
Take Care is a 19-track album with a deliberate, cinematic flow. Rather than a collection of singles, it unfolds like a late-night confession — each track feeding into the next. Here are the standouts.
Over My Dead Body
The opener sets the tone perfectly. Over a sparse, ghostly beat from 40 and Chilly Gonzales, Drake quietly announces who he is and where he stands. The Chantal Kreviazuk sample weaves underneath like a cold wind, and Drake's tone is contemplative rather than boastful. It's an unusual way to open a rap album — no aggression, no fanfare — but it immediately communicates that this is a different kind of record. A statement of artistic intent.
Marvins Room
Possibly the most emotionally naked song Drake has ever recorded. Delivered in a near-whisper over a hazy, lo-fi beat, Marvins Room captures the specific misery of drunk-dialling an ex at 3am. It's uncomfortable, uncomfortably relatable, and unlike anything else in rap at the time. Critics debated whether it was pathetic or brave — in hindsight it was clearly both, and that tension is exactly what makes it great. It spawned a genre's worth of imitators and introduced the phrase 'sad Drake' into the cultural lexicon.
Headlines
If Marvins Room showed Drake at his most vulnerable, Headlines showed the other side of the coin — the confident, street-credible rapper who knew exactly what he was building. The T-Minus production is claustrophobic and menacing, all low bass and cinematic strings. Drake's delivery is measured, unhurried, almost predatory. It became one of the defining rap singles of 2011 and showed that vulnerability and confidence weren't mutually exclusive — Drake could occupy both spaces simultaneously.
Crew Love ft. The Weeknd
This is historically significant beyond its quality as a song — though the quality is exceptional. Crew Love was the first time most people heard The Weeknd, and Abel's hook is so immediately striking that it essentially hijacks the track. The hazy, drugged-out production from 40 creates a world that feels nocturnal and slightly dangerous, and the contrast between Drake's verse and The Weeknd's chorus is one of the album's great sonic decisions. A genuine landmark.
Take Care ft. Rihanna
The title track samples Gil Scott-Heron's I'll Take Care of You via Jamie xx's rework, and the result is one of the most hauntingly beautiful R&B-rap hybrids ever committed to tape. Rihanna's vocal sits like smoke in the room — warm, restrained, and perfectly matched to the mood. Drake's verses feel genuinely tender rather than performed. It won a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration in 2013 and remains the emotional centrepiece of the album. One of his finest moments, full stop.
Look What You've Done
The most personal track on the record, and the most devastating. Drake writes openly about his relationship with his mother Sandi Graham and his uncle Steve — including a voicemail from Steve that plays at the track's close — and the result is genuinely moving. It's a piece of art that transcends rap entirely. Quiet, piano-led, and stripped back to almost nothing, it sits near the album's end like a confession you weren't expecting to hear. Many fans cite it as Drake's greatest song, and it's hard to argue.
HYFR ft. Lil Wayne
The album's most straightforwardly fun moment. HYFR — Hell Yeah F***ing Right — is Drake and Lil Wayne at their most celebratory and unguarded, bouncing off each other with genuine warmth and chemistry. The Boi-1da production is thumping and immediate, a deliberate contrast to the album's more introspective stretches. It also contains one of Drake's most memorable lines about his Jewish bar mitzvah, delivered with the casual confidence of a man completely comfortable in his own skin.
Production & Sound
The production on Take Care is its secret weapon. Noah '40' Shebib handles the lion's share, and his aesthetic — cavernous reverb, slow tempos, muted bass, and samples from soul and R&B — gave the album its signature feel. The sound is nocturnal and introspective, like music made for empty rooms at 2am. Other producers including T-Minus, Boi-1da, and Hit-Boy contribute, providing moments of contrast and energy that prevent the record from becoming oppressive. The Jamie xx-reworked Gil Scott-Heron sample on the title track is a masterclass in creative sampling — finding the emotional core of an existing piece and making it entirely new. Collectively the production defined what became known as 'the Toronto sound' and influenced an entire generation of producers.
Features & Collaborations
The guest list on Take Care reads like a perfectly curated roster. Rihanna on the title track delivers one of her finest performances outside her own discography. Lil Wayne on HYFR brings exactly the loose, charismatic energy the song needs. Nicki Minaj appears on Make Me Proud with a ferocious verse that briefly steals the album's thunder. Rick Ross lends his baritone gravitas to Lord Knows. And then there's The Weeknd, appearing on three tracks — Crew Love, Doing It Wrong, and the extended Belong to the World — in what amounts to a star-making cameo that changed music history. Drake's ability to curate and complement his features rather than compete with them is one of the album's great underrated qualities.
Legacy & Impact
Take Care's legacy is immense and still growing. It fundamentally changed what was permissible in rap — male artists could be emotionally open without sacrificing credibility. It launched The Weeknd's career and helped define an entire aesthetic that dominated pop music through the 2010s. It influenced artists as varied as Post Malone, Bryson Tiller, PartyNextDoor, and a generation of SoundCloud rappers who absorbed its DNA without necessarily knowing the source. Pitchfork gave it a Best New Music designation and a 9.0. Rolling Stone later placed it among the 500 greatest albums of all time. More than any other record, Take Care is the album that made Drake Drake — not just a successful rapper, but a genuine cultural force.
Final Verdict
Take Care is a masterpiece. Not in the inflated, throwaway sense the word gets used today — but in the genuine sense that it is a fully realised artistic vision executed at the highest possible level. It is Drake's most cohesive, most ambitious, and most emotionally resonant work. It holds up not just as a great rap album but as a great album, period. The production is timeless, the songwriting is honest, and the sequencing is near flawless. Over a decade on from its release, nothing has come close to replacing it — not even Drake himself. Rating: 10/10.
Q&A
When was Drake's Take Care released?
Take Care was released on November 15, 2011. It was Drake's second studio album, following Thank Me Later (2010), and was released through Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records, and Republic Records.
Did Take Care win a Grammy?
Yes. Take Care won Best Rap Album at the 55th Grammy Awards in February 2013. The title track featuring Rihanna also won Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the same ceremony.
Who produced most of Take Care?
Noah '40' Shebib was the primary producer and executive producer of Take Care, handling the majority of its beats and giving the album its distinctive dark, cavernous sound. Other contributors included T-Minus, Boi-1da, Hit-Boy, and the production duo Nineteen85.
Is Take Care considered Drake's best album?
By most critical and fan consensus, yes. While Nothing Was the Same (2013) and Certified Lover Boy have their advocates, Take Care is most frequently cited as Drake's finest work. Rolling Stone included it on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, and it consistently ranks at or near the top of Best Rap Albums of the 2010s rankings across major publications.
References
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