Chosen Music: Drake’s Thank Me Later

Ever since the self-anointed “Drizzy” announced his arrival with 2009′s consistent mixtape So Far Gone, people–but mostly his record label’s accountants–have been anticipating his debut album wondering if this was a case of lightning striking once or not. Drake’s first album finally comes out Tuesday, and Thank Me Later album is unarguably the most anticipated hip-hop album of the summer, if not one of the most anticipated albums of the year. The good news is that it’s fairly competent for a rap album. The bad news is, it’s also not particularly compelling.

The album starts off strong with a song titled “Fireworks” featuring some sizzling rhymes from Drake and cooingly sweet vocals from Alicia Keys. He boldly refers to himself as “the rose that grew from concrete,” (also a reference to the title of 2-Pac’s posthumously published book of poetry), which makes us wonder: how hard was life growing up  in Degrassi High for a Canadian, Black, and Jewish rapper?

Unfortunately, the album lacks a singular stand-out, like last year’s hit “Best I Ever Had,” and after repeated listens, Later unfurls into an hour of indistinctness. It’s true that “mediocrity” isn’t necessarily the same thing as “bad,” but mediocrity is also surprising when considering that marquee names like T.I., Lil’ Wayne, Jay-Z, and Keys are staking their reputations by stepping up to the witness stand to testify for the commercial power that is Drake. And speaking of Jigga, his cameo on “Light Up, isn’t his best flow–”Ho’s turning heads?” and “I don’t do too much blogging?” Really?–and about that reference to Microsoft Version 7…? In 2010, it’s hard to tell if it was a sponsored shout-out or not.

However, it’s undeniable that Drake is a supremely talented triple-threat. He can sing, he can rap, and, as Rihanna can attest, he’s incredibly charming. There’s also no question in our mind that this century’s most bankable rap star will have a long career of hits–in fact, the music industry will do everything in its power to ensure that this happens–but this isn’t the record that’ll seduce America. In Drake’s defense, the hype leading up to Thank Me Later was, without exaggeration, enormous and it was probably impossible to meet them. Which is fine because as his title suggest, he’ll eventually give us those hits, and we’ll listen to them, and we’ll love them. And then, as he knows full well, we’ll thank him later.