Take Care
by Drake · music · 2011
Always sourced & cited
secret
The most counterintuitive true thing about this object.
drake signed to cash money in 2009 under terms that gave the label full ownership of his masters, yet by the time he released certified lover boy a decade later he owned his own catalog.[04][08]
turn
What you assumed, and why the secret breaks it.
take care is remembered as the album that established drake's signature sound—moody, introspective, produced by noah '40' shebib. the standard story is artistic: drake and 40 locked in, refined the template from thank me later, delivered a classic. but the structural fact is contractual: drake entered cash money in 2009 giving up his masters, then unwound that deal over the next decade to own his catalog outright by 2020. take care was made inside that original cash money term, which means the album's existence as a young money/cash money/republic release was a condition drake later bought his way out of.
proof
The evidence in plain prose. Every claim traces to the record below.
stakes
Subtract the secret. Here’s what doesn’t happen.
if drake had not signed the 2009 cash money deal giving up his masters, he would have owned take care from release and avoided the decade-long process of reacquiring control—owning the catalog outright in 2011 rather than buying it back by 2020.
apparatus
The full record. Every condition, every source, every gap we couldn’t close.
40's home studio, metalworks, and the a&r vacuum
drake and 40 wrote and tracked almost everything at shebib's home studio, an apartment across the street from his house in toronto with dampening on the walls. they brought in no a&r at all, selecting every outside producer themselves and routing around label input entirely. when drake's schedule allowed, they stopped at metalworks studios in ontario, where 40 would plug his hd cards into his laptop, rip out the studio's digilink cables, and slot his own rig in.[07][09]
for the final six weeks of mixing, 40 brought in ruben rivera, an engineer he'd met working with dr. dre, to track drake full time at metalworks while 40 hid in another room mixing. noel gadget campbell mixed during the last month so 40 could focus on overall production, pushing the low end hard and keeping drake's vocal on top.[07]
aspire took a third, cash money kept the advances
aspire music group signed drake in 2008, then cut a deal with cash money in june 2009 giving aspire one third of net profits and one third of master recording copyrights for drake's first six albums, including take care. aspire sued in 2017 claiming cash money failed to pay, alleging that cash money's distribution deal with universal brought in $100 million in advances that were never shared. cash money also signed drake directly in january 2013, paying him $10 million, $4 million of which aspire claimed was due to them under the original agreement.[10][04]
oliver felt the jamie xx remix never got its shine
oliver el-khatib and drake felt jamie xx's remix of gil scott-heron's "i'll take care of you" never got the attention it deserved, so 40 reworked it into the title track. xl recordings granted permission and license for the sample. jamie xx told q magazine he was honored but didn't have much say in the final product and would have preferred to be in the studio, noting "in that world there's a lot of people involved."[05][01]
the weeknd contributed writing to five tracks on take care. abel tesfaye said in 2013 he gave up almost half of his house of balloons album but was thankful for the light drake shined on him. 40 later clarified that the weeknd contributed to four songs out of 22, that he saw abel maybe two days while he was in the studio for a year, and dismissed the suggestion that weeknd's role was larger.[02][06]
conditions of production
the conditions that had to be in place for the work to exist, across seven dimensions
legal
organizational
condition dependencies
how those conditions depend on and pull against one another
- legalprecondition for →organizational
the cash money contract determined the label structure (young money/cash money/republic) that drake and shebib worked within to deliver the album
what shaped this
the makers, scenes, and predecessors this work came out of, grouped by how the influence reached it
lineage
- I'll Take Care of U · Jamie xx and Gil Scott-Heron
sampled
the title track samples jamie xx's 2011 remix of gil scott-heron's cover, with 40 reworking the beat.
“We've always been a fan of Jamie as well as the xx, and we had been to their studio and sat with them prior to this when we were in London last year. We had loved that Gil-Scott [Heron] record, and the remix Jamie had done”
source ↗ - Anything · SWV
sampled
"shot for me" samples swv's 1994 track.
“Shot for Me" contains a sample from "Anything" as performed by SWV, written by T. Armstrong, B. Morgan and R. Smith.”
source ↗ - Sailin' Da South · DJ Screw
sampled
"over my dead body" contains elements from dj screw's track.
“Over My Dead Body" contains elements of "Sailin' Da South" (written by Cedric Hall) performed by DJ Screw.”
source ↗ - Baby Got Back · Sir Mix-a-Lot
sampled
"the motto" contains elements from sir mix-a-lot's 1992 track.
“The Motto" contains elements of "She Will" (written by Dwayne Carter Jr., Aubrey Graham and Tyler Williams) performed by Lil Wayne featuring Drake; and elements of "Baby Got Back" written and performed by Sir Mix-a-Lot”
source ↗ - It's My Party · Lesley Gore
interpolated
drake reworks gore's 1963 lyric "it's my party" into "it's my birthday" on the title track.
“Additionally, Drake makes reference to Lesley Gore's 1963 number one single, "It's My Party" by re-working the lyrics, "It's my birthday, I'll get high if I want to, can't deny that I want you, but I'll lie if I have to."”
source ↗ - Swanging And Banging · E.S.G.
sampled
track 15 contains elements from e.s.g.'s 1994 track.
“Track 15 contains elements of "Swanging And Banging" as performed by ESG.”
source ↗ - Back That Azz Up · Juvenile
sampled
"hyfr" contains elements from juvenile's 1998 track.
“Track 16 contains elements of "Back That Azz Up."”
source ↗ - Calling On You · Jon B
sampled
track 11 samples jon b's 2001 track.
“Track 11 contains elements of "Calling On You" performed by Jon B.”
source ↗ - Remember My Song · Labi Siffre
visual reference
the album cover's composition resembles labi siffre's 1975 album cover.
“With a striking resemblance, the album cover is likely inspired by Labi Siffre's 1975 album, Remember My Song.”
source ↗ - The Listening · Little Brother
referenced
drake thanked phonte at the 2011 bmi awards and told him directly "you're a huge influence on me."
“He told me at that time, 'Yo, you're a huge influence on me.'”
source ↗
open gaps
what isn’t documented yet, and what would close each gap
- needs primary researchthe terms of drake's 2009 cash money deal beyond master ownership are not documented: advance, points, term length, reversion clauses
would close: the original cash money/young money contract or a contemporary legal filing detailing its terms
- needs primary researchthe renegotiation that allowed drake to reacquire his masters between 2011 and 2021 is undocumented: date, price, structure
would close: legal filings, financial disclosure, or a primary interview with drake or cash money principals
- needs primary researchtake care's recording budget, advance, and sales figures are not in corpus
would close: riaa certification data, label financial statements, or a contemporary trade report with hard figures
- needs primary researchshebib's compensation structure (points, producer fee, work-for-hire vs. royalty) is not documented
would close: an interview with shebib or drake, or liner notes detailing producer points
what would change this entry
the evidence that would revise or overturn this account
- if if another artist signed under similar cash money terms in the same era later disclosed their contract structure→would clarify whether drake's master-ownership renegotiation was standard label practice or leverage unique to his commercial success
- if if the price umg paid for drake's catalog in 2024 were disclosed→would reveal the compounded value of the albums drake made under cash money and later reacquired
citations
every source this entry is built on
- [01]
Follow The Sample: Drake's 'Take Care' Comes From The Blues : The Record : NPRsingle-source· article
“Drake did something similar with the title cut from Take Care, but so far, only…”
- [02]
Take Care | Drake Wiki | Fandomsingle-source· article
“It is the follow-up to his 2010 debut album Thank Me Later. Production for the…”
- [03]
UMG's Sir Lucian Grainge refutes 'ridiculous' claims in Drake lawsuit, confirms UMG bought star's recorded music and publishing catalogssingle-source· article
universal music group confirmed it purchased drake's recorded music and publishing catalogs, including albums from take care onward
- [04]
what label is drake signed tosingle-source· article
drake's 2009 cash money records deal gave the label full ownership of his masters
- [05]
Take Care (song) - Wikipediasingle-source· article
“"Take Care" was written by Drake (credited as Aubrey Graham), Noah Shebib, Anthony Palman and…”
- [06]
Take Care - Wikipediasingle-source· article
“Take Care is the second studio album by the Canadian rapper Drake. It was released…”
- [07]
Take Care - Wikipediasingle-source· book
noah '40' shebib is credited as producer on eight of take care's seventeen tracks
- [08]
Drake Owns His Masters on 'Certified Lover Boy' & Other OVO Releasessingle-source· article
drake signed to young money in 2009; by certified lover boy (2021) he owned his masters
- [09]
Take Care: How Drake Made His Second Album A Classicsingle-source· article
drake abandoned thank me later's multi-producer approach and worked primarily with noah '40' shebib on take care
- [10]
Drake Once Had To Sue Cash Money Records — Here's What Happened - AfroTech | AfroTechsingle-source· article
““Aspire claims that in 2008, it signed an exclusive recording agreement with Drake, then entered…”
- [11]
Stereogum Q&A: Drakesingle-source· article
noah '40' shebib described as drake's chief collaborator on take care