On this day, November 15, in hip-hop history...

2011: Following his highly successful debut album, 2010’s Thank Me Later, Drake was expected to avoid the sophomore slump and deliver an extraordinary follow-up project.  Ignoring the pressure and focusing on the task at hand, Drake decided to create an album merging the best of his two previous works: The hypnotic beats of So Far Gone, and the quick wit of Thank Me Later. While creating his second album, Drake named it “Take Care” because he was going to take his time with this album, compared to his debut which he felt was rushed.

While working on the album, he gave fans a sample of the sound the album would have by releasing songs on his blog "October’s Very Own” for free.  During the summer of 2011, he released songs “Dreams Money Can Buy,” “Trust Issues,” “Club Paradise,” and “Free Spirit.”  The most successful song that he released was “Marvin’s Room.”  The honest confessional feeling of the song inspired many artists to do their own interpretation, including Chris Brown, Jhene Aiko, and JoJo.

Take Care included many hit singles like “Headlines,” the title track “Take Care,” and “HYFR.”  The single “Make Me Proud” made Drake the artist with the most number-one singles on the Billboard Rap Singles chart with 11 songs reaching the top spot. Bonus track “The Motto” popularized the acronym “YOLO,” which became a cultural phenomenon.  Take Care was commercially successful, debuting at Number 1 in the Billboard 200 and selling over 631,000 copies in its first week.  It also won Drake his first Grammy for Best Rap Album in 2013.  Drake also had a successful tour supporting the album. -Ariana LaBarrie

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