Modern rap music owes a tremendous debt to Dr. Dre. Dre was a founding member of N.W.A., a group that helped bring rap music the forefront of the American consciousness for the first time in the late 80s. Dre then went on to sign such household names as Snoop Dogg, Eminem and 50 Cent thus cementing his legacy as the father of modern rap. Rap has commonly been associated with misogyny, profanity and violence. Rap music has found itself collectively at odds with the moral establishment more often than perhaps any other genre due in part to the anti-police sentiments Dre and others popularized in the early days.
Such attitudes soon became necessary to earn a legitimate reputation in the industry. It was not until recently with the arrival of Lil Wayne in the mid 2000s that rap music began to move away from such sentiments. The misogyny, profanity and violence were just as common, but the music of Lil Wayne and his associates, mostly under the label Young Money Entertainment, was much more hedonistic rather than highlighting social issues like police brutality and institutional racism.
Another crucial development was the emergence of Kanye West, who took home four Best Album Grammys between 2005 and 2012. Rap had long been a very masculine enterprise, but Kanye’s dark, brooding and emotionally infused music paved the way for more introspective albums in the future. Riding the wave of Young Money’s success and building on the shifts in the genre Kanye set in motion, Drake produced a masterful, conflicted and existentially meaningful collection, a collection indeed quite deserving of Best Rap Album. Powerfully wielding relatable themes like love and sorrow, Drake builds a unique work taking rap deeper than has historically been done. Although this album is best known for popularizing the acronym YOLO (you only live once), I see it as a reflection that goes beyond the superficial and truly delves into questions of meaning, being and relationships.
Drake tells his stories and admits his insecurities with a raw honesty unheard of in rap up to this point. The principle theme of the album is the despondency and loneliness that ironically results from fame because no one wants him for who he is but only for what he has. For this reason, when it comes to women the result is rarely love, only a string of meaningless, materialistic relationships. Money certainly solves some problems, but it also creates unanticipated dilemmas. The real currency in life is loyalty, love, clarity and passion, none of which can be bought. A worthwhile dialogue perfecting the fusion of rap, R&B and modern electronic music, “Take Care” sets a new standard for a fledgling genre, a new breed born from West Coast gangster rap, a breed that has now found its definitive work.
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