Drake announced last month that he would be releasing his sophomore album, Take Care, on October 24th, his birthday. Over the weekend, Drake let his fans know that he would not be meeting that release date, and pushed his album back to 11/15. The reason for the delay is a few samples that have yet to be cleared. It’s a case of hitting a release date vs. waiting to present the album with the full creative vision in tact. I’ve seen some other sites with fans reacting in a negative way, indicative of our McDonald’s mentality of wanting things fast, vs. fully finished. Drake is going for the well-cooked route, and I think he’s making the right decision. People will always remember the material on the album, not the day it dropped. See his full statement below.
“The new date for Take Care is November 15th, 2011. I managed to create this album in my hometown of Toronto and the thoughts and stories I wanted to get across just became so clear. It truly felt like when I was here 3 years ago making So Far Gone. So I have completed 19 songs (17 on physical and 2 on bonus), and have run into a roadblock of clearing 3 samples in time to make the October 24th date. My options were to take the songs off and make the birthday release happen, or to take an extra couple weeks to get the paper work right and give you the album they way I NEED you to hear it. The choice was clear as day for me. November 15th you will get Take Care the exact way I created it with no trimmings. This music means too much to me to get attached to dates and I do apologize for the delay but I promise that it is only for the benefit of our experience together. Club Paradise Tour will also be moved to when students are back from the Christmas/New Year break so that I can get to more schools. New dates will be released in the next week…see you all soon.”