Since 2011 was largely dominated by Adele’s 21, it’s easy to forget the other important releases of the year, including the debuts of Childish Gambino (Camp), Kendrick Lamar (Section.80), and The Weeknd (House of Balloons), and Britney Spears’ tie for most number one albums for a female with Femme Fatale. While Adele’s sophomore album was an impressive and successful breakthrough for her, winning Grammy Album of the Year among many other accolades, singles, and records, another sophomore album just had a more cohesive sound and story that makes it my pick for the best album of 2011, and that is Drake’s Take Care.

The Canadian Degrassi star-turned rapper’s debut in 2010, Thank Me Later, was a startling success, featuring surprisingly notable features and collaborators such as Lil Wayne, Alicia Keys, Kanye West, and Jay Z. This added the hype for Take Care, and Drake lived up to all of it. The mood and style modeled after Kanye West’s pop-rap album, 808s & Heartbreak (2008), Take Care is the thoughtful and emotional sound and lyrics of the Drake we know best. With a theme of “I’m rich and famous now, what do I do with all this?’, the album is an emotional rollercoaster of Drake’s newfound fame, including the angry and forlorn “Marvin’s Room”, fake celebrity relationships and drama on “Cameras/Good Ones Go Interlude”, his strategy in the land of fame in “HYFR (feat. Lil Wayne)”, and getting used to this exciting, new crazy life in “Crew Love (feat. The Weeknd)”. Instead of feeling like a thrown-together rap album with all the faces and publicity you can get, each feature on Take Care serves purpose, as can be heard in tracks with the helping voices of The Weeknd, Birdman, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross, Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne, André 3000 and future frequent collaborator and flame, Rihanna. With eight released singles, a Grammy Award Best Rap Album, and being certified Platinum by the RIAA, Take Care was a critical and commercial success, and rightfully so, as it officially brought a new face and new life to the front of the rap scene.

While Drake’s glory days may be over in the eyes of his fans since 2015’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late mixtape, fans of Drake and rap/pop in general can always go back to this stellar album. While critics call him “too emotional”, “not black enough because he’s mixed”, “a privileged actor from Degrassi”, or “a fraud for having ghostwriters”, I’m calling him the guy who had the best album of 2011.