Thank Me Later

Untitled

Thank Me Later is the debut studio album to be released by rapper Drake. The album is slated to be released on Valentine's Day 2010 on Young Money, under a joint-venture with Cash Money and distribution by Universal Republic. Possible collaborations are with Trey Songz, The-Dream, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Eminem, Chamillionaire, Lil Wayne, T-Pain, Danny! and Young Jeezy. Drake has also stated a desire to work with Andre 3000 and Kid Cudi on the album. In mid-October, Canadian rapper K-os announced a collaboration with Drake, which will be a cut off the album.

Confirmed Tracks

• "Best I Ever Had"
• "Successful" (Featuring Trey Songz & Lil Wayne)
• "Forever" (Featuring Kanye West, Lil Wayne & Eminem)
• "Shut It Down" (Featuring The-Dream)
• "Faith" (Featuring K-OS)
• "The Winner" (prod. by Tha Bizness)

Background

According to Billboard.com, with his knee nearly healed from a July 2009 stage incident, Drake said in October 2009, that he was ready to get back to work in earnest on his debut album, still tentatively titled Thank Me Later and due out in February 2010.

"I'm able to walk around, so I'm working very hard on the album," Drake tells Billboard.com, adding that his rehab period impaired his writing as well as his mobility. "I've been out of the scene for so long because I've been off my leg," explains Drake, who's planning to head out to Los Angeles on Oct. 11 for more writing and recording. "Sitting at home in your apartment and having a doctor come over every day and eating healthy and going to the gym -- there's not much of a rap album to be made off that. I have to get my inspiration and start seeing things and going to dinners and meeting people again and just finding stories to tell for this album. I'm trying to make something timeless."

Drake describes the "Shut It Down" which features The-Dream, as "an R&B song...It's sexy. It's slow, but there's an energy to it. I rap on it. Me and Dream both sing on it. It's cool." It also has a "message that's never really been explored by male singers," he says. "This song is sort of like an anthem for women, like pre-the club. It's like an anthem for you to be at your house with your girlfriends getting ready, what you listen to before you get there. It's a song for the non-famous woman to make her feel special and just to let you know that even though I'm up here and have the option to mingle with these 'upper-echelon' women, if you will, that sometimes I'd rather be with the girl from back home or a student or a girl that works at Wal-Mart. They don't have to be a star or rich or anything like that; that's kind of the gist of the song. It's an empowering song for all women."

As he prepared to get back to the album, Drake said Jay-Z, Kanye West and his Young Money Entertainment chief Lil Wayne are still slated to be on it, and he promises "a couple of guest that may be very much surprises for a hip-hop album. I just want to give people a musical experience. I like to open up the minds of the fans in my genre."