Back when I was the music editor for this magazine, I always had to deal with questions about how the ratings were determined? How could two albums of obviously different calibers get the same ratings? So on and so on…
I can’t speak for our current music editor, Rondell, but I judged each project as a body of work on its own merit or against the particular artist’s catalog. Sometimes, it was a matter of where the album stood amid the current crop of music and what the project meant in that moment in time.
Needless to say, it was/is a tough job—especially now with albums leaking early and everybody and their baby mama thinking their a critic because they have access to a computer.
The latest project of the moment is Drake’s long-awaited debut, Thank Me Later. After springing online earlier this week, everyone is tossing out his or her opinions about the disc. I hit up the @XXLStaff Twitter account earlier today and asked folks what they thought of the project so far.
The reaction?
Mixed reviews.
Some good, like, @iamMATTF @XXLStaff gr8 album. So far gone status…lived up 2 my expectations
And some bad, like, @jesse_wildcat @XXLStaff it sucks!! I don’t wanna thank him later, I want an apology.
And some indifferent, like, @TrapSquad76 @xxlstaff some songs were cool but wasn’t really for me.
Whichever way you look at it, I can’t call it and neither can some of my colleagues. Since yesterday we’ve been talking about the disc and getting a similar array of feedback. It’s a little too early for an official review—we’ll wait for the retail album in its entirety to keep it one hunnid—but I really want to know what the people think.
Everyone’s a critic, right? So here’s your shot. Vote below for the rating you’d give Thank Me Later if you had the chance. Since anyone can click a button, why not make it interesting by actually supporting your unbiased rating in the comments section.
Thank ME later. —Anslem Samuel
