搬運自：微信公眾號【評論搬一堆】（在原文基礎(chǔ)上添加了英語原文與排版調(diào)整）?

翻譯：Jennifer C

審譯：Nina Wang

排版：SpencerC

This odds-and-ends compilation features tracks originally released between 2010 and 2016, and presents a more vulnerable version of the pop colossus we know now.

這張專輯整合了Drake從2010年到2016年發(fā)行過的零零碎碎的歌曲，為我們展現(xiàn)了這位流行音樂巨頭更加脆弱細膩的一面。

During his creative peak, from 2011’s?Take Care?through 2015’s?If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late,?Drake?processed his memory through his music. He plumbed the depths of his skyrocketing stardom, processing it all with a weary stream-of-consciousness. It was almost as if he was rapping names, places, and scenes as a way to remember them. (Never forget Courtney, from Hooters, on Peachtree.) Some songs included snippets of voicemails from irritated girlfriends. Others felt like rhyming notes to self, including one where he spent four minutes apologizing to his mother.

在Drake創(chuàng)作的巔峰期，也就是2011年的《Take Care（珍重）》到2015年的專輯《If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late（為時已晚）》期間，他把音樂當(dāng)作自己回憶的釋放口。Drake不知道自己青云直上的明星生涯還能延續(xù)多久，因此歌曲都帶有一股疲憊的意識流。他在說唱中提到各種名字、地點以及場景，似乎想以此來銘記過去，例如“在桃樹街Hooters工作的考特尼”。（譯者注：為Drake“From Time”的歌詞）。此外，有的歌收錄了女友們憤怒的電話留言；有的歌就像是押著韻的自言自語，其中一首歌里他就花了4分鐘跟媽媽道歉。

Drake will be 33 in October, and he’s no longer that person. His music has become more of a narrative running alongside his celebrity than the main product. Yes, he still?breaks records, but his albums and songs now seem to be in service of the bigger, more lucrative business of being Drake.

今年10月，Drake就33歲了，同時他也將跨入全新的階段。音樂已經(jīng)不再是Drake的全部，反而越發(fā)成為他名人生涯的附屬品與記錄者。他的唱片仍舊在刷新銷量紀(jì)錄，不過現(xiàn)在看來，他所有的專輯和歌曲似乎都是為了塑造Drake的個人品牌形象這一宏偉又撈金的愿景而鋪路。

But when his breakthrough mixtape?So Far Gone?turned 10 earlier this year, Drake decided it might be time to relive some formative memories. Or at least, to remember—and reap streaming royalties from—them. His OVO imprint celebrated the occasion with a physical release and digital release, and?So Far Gone?made its debut on the?Billboard?albums chart,?hitting?No. 5. In that same spirit comes?Care Package, an odds-and-ends set that collects tracks that were originally released between 2010 and 2016. It’s an accessible time capsule, a concise document of his growth as a musician and a primary source for his OVO imprint’s signature sound, which has since anchored?multiple?careers. For Drake, who has had a relatively quiet year musically, now’s as good a time as ever to reflect on where he’s been.

但是，就在年初，他的混音專輯《So Far Gone》迎來了十周年生日，Drake覺得是時候重溫一下那些對他影響深遠的作品了，或者說起碼得讓它們登上流媒體以被銘記。（譯者注：10年前這張專輯并未連接數(shù)字平臺，10年后的現(xiàn)今才上架流媒體）。于是，Drake的個人品牌OVO推出了《So Far Gone》的實體專輯和數(shù)字專輯，其中數(shù)字專輯在Billboard專輯排行榜上首次亮相，就拿到了第五的好成績。同樣出于紀(jì)念目的，他發(fā)行了專輯《Care Package》，收錄了他2010-2016年零零碎碎發(fā)行的歌曲。這張專輯是一個時間膠囊，是Drake音樂生涯成長的簡歷，也是OVO音樂廠牌標(biāo)志聲（譯者注：signature sound，標(biāo)志聲，是編曲人在歌曲前奏打水印cue自己的一個方式）的主要來源，奠定了他多樣的職業(yè)生涯（譯者注：Drake不僅是一個說唱歌手，還是詞曲作者、演員、主持人、商人）。對于Drake來說，他在音樂上沉寂了一年，現(xiàn)在正適合回望過去，重溫初心。

While many of the songs on?Care Package?had logistics-related reasons for never seeing wider release—for instance, “Dreams Money Can Buy,” “Girls Love Beyoncé,” and “Draft Day” all contain expensive samples—they were all easy to find online, and quickly emerged as fan favorites. (Drake, a seasoned product pitchman at this point,?described?the release as “Some of our most important moments together available in one place.”) Many of these songs find Drake dredging up his rawest emotions while utilizing R&B textures and moods, speaking to a broad audience while still maintaining a singular perspective. There are tracks here that winningly delve into vulnerability, defeat, fear of failure—subjects his music rarely addresses anymore. Several songs once served as warm-ups for eventual full-lengths, musical mile-markers from a guy overflowing with great ideas. Drake could hardly miss during this period, a fact that?Care Package?definitively underscores.

當(dāng)然，哪怕其中很多歌曲都花了重金進行采樣（譯者注：采樣就是從一段樂曲中抽取出一部分，進行編曲工作），出于某些后期發(fā)行原因，它們之前未能和廣大聽眾見面，比如“Dreams Money Can Buy（夢想可以用錢買）”“Girls Love Beyoncé（女孩兒們喜歡碧昂斯）”以及“Draft Day（選秀之日）”。不過現(xiàn)在我們馬上能在網(wǎng)上找到這些歌，它們也很快成為了粉絲們的心頭愛。Drake這個推銷老手還形容這張專輯是“把我們某些最重要的時刻濃縮在一起”。專輯里的很多歌曲都融匯了R&B音樂的質(zhì)感和情緒，Drake在音樂中返璞歸真，深入內(nèi)心最質(zhì)樸原始的情感，雖然專輯面向大眾，但仍舊保留了個人的視角。還有些歌曲探討了脆弱、失敗以及對失敗的恐懼，十分引人入勝，盡管現(xiàn)在Drake的音樂已很少涉及這些主題。如果說Drake的音樂旅途是一場馬拉松，那么專輯中的一些曲目就是他之前的熱身跑，是這個才華橫溢的創(chuàng)作者的里程碑?！禖are Package》這張專輯也在向我們強調(diào)，Drake離不開創(chuàng)作這些歌曲的那段時光。

“Paris Morton Music,” the oldest song on the collection, is a throwback to the time immediately before the entire radio started to sound like Drake featuring Drake, with a blurry-streetlight score that would become a rap radio formula for the first half of the decade. It’s a huge sound, by design—in producer Noah “40” Shebib’s production, Drake could easily find pockets to rap, pockets to sing, or both.

“Paris Morton Music”是這張專輯收錄的發(fā)行最早的歌，它把我們帶回到過去，那時所有的電臺頻道還沒有鋪天蓋地播放Drake的音樂以及他ft.的音樂(ft：指做伴唱或rap）。這首歌的配樂像是朦朧之中透出的路燈光影，是2010-2015年電臺說唱頻道的風(fēng)格。配樂的聲音很明顯，是特意設(shè)計過的。只要Noah Shebib(又名“40”?)擔(dān)綱制作人，Drake就能縱情說唱、唱歌，或兼而有之。

Throughout the compilation, from the after-the-afterparty trap of “Days in the East” to the versatile performance and soft-bellied synth twinkle of “The Motion” to the music-blog-friendly “Dreams Money Can Buy,” Drake is also presented not only as a versatile pop vocalist who could impress himself on almost any trending sound, but also as someone who could add a new dimension to that sound. His appeal as a pop musician was growing, and songs like “Club Paradise,” released a few months before?Take Care, previewed Drake’s forthcoming leap; candid and funny, the song served as self-indulgent, status-update music way before “mood” was a hashtag.

無論是風(fēng)格像“After-the-afterparty”(譯者注：Charlie XCX的歌曲）的“Days in the East（東部的日子）”還是呈現(xiàn)了多樣表現(xiàn)方式、伴有舒緩的合成器閃現(xiàn)配樂的“The Motion（世間規(guī)律）”，亦或是音樂博客都喜歡的“Dreams Money Can Buy（夢想可以用錢買）”,Drake告訴我們他不僅僅是一個能夠涉獵多種音樂潮流，表達自我想法的全能歌手，還能為某種音樂風(fēng)格開拓全新維度。作為一個音樂家，他的吸引力日漸增長，“Club Paradise（俱樂部天堂）”等歌曲的發(fā)布就已經(jīng)預(yù)示了數(shù)月后《Take Care（珍重）》的面世將給Drake帶來的飛躍。有趣的是，在#mood（#情緒）成為社交網(wǎng)站熱議話題之前，《Take Care》就在音樂層面上實現(xiàn)了情緒上的自我放縱與升級。

Certainly, there’s a few corny or dated moments—listening through?Care Package, you’ll hear hashtag rap (“I got that Courtney Love for you/Crazy shit”), epically cloying vocal runs, and overly cutesy wordplay like, “Brunch with Qatar royals all my cups is oil.” However, the best songs here stand up with Drake’s best music. Take “Trust Issues,” perhaps the most meta moment on an extremely meta release, a song where Drake echoes his own hook from the DJ Khaled hit “I’m on One,” casting a shadow on all of its implied excess. Or 2013’s “Girls Love Beyoncé,” featuring a “Say My Name” sample that Drake and 40 reorient as a lonely plea for connection. “You know how this shit goes,” Drake sings, over soft drum claps and sampled vocal snippets. “This isn’t like four years ago.” The version of Drake that Drake is referencing on that song is the?Drake of 2009, a guy with humbler ambitions. A guy that was gone, but not totally forgotten.

當(dāng)然，這張專輯也不乏一些落入俗套的部分：轉(zhuǎn)音油膩；“I got that Courtney Love for you/Crazy shit（我得到了考特尼對你的愛/太瘋狂了）”在推特上都被說爛了；“Brunch with Qatar royals all my cups is oil.（與卡塔爾王室共進早午餐，我杯子里裝的都是石油）”的文字游戲略顯矯情。還有，DJ Khaled有一首成名作“I’m on One（我獨自一人）”，而Drake則在“Trust Issues（信任問題）”中不斷重復(fù)“I’m on One（我要喝一杯）”，直白地把它當(dāng)成自己的hook（譯者注：在音樂上，hook指的是一首歌曲中最能鉤人的部分），這就使歌曲原本含蓄的醉酒意境消失殆盡。另外，2013年最初發(fā)行的“Girls Love Beyoncé（女孩兒們愛碧昂斯）”，不斷重復(fù)“Say My Name（呼喚我的名字）”，Drake和40將這句歌詞定位為孤獨者尋求聯(lián)系。Drake伴著輕柔的鼓點和和聲片段唱道：“You know how this shit goes（你知道是怎么回事兒）”“This isn’t like four years ago（這跟四年前不同了）”。四年前，指的就是2009年那個野心不那么大的Drake。Drake已不復(fù)從前，但仍舊追憶往昔。

The Drake of 2019 has moved into the future—he now owns an?eSports team. He is likely no longer driving his girlfriend through the snow so she can make the bar exam. He’s far more protected, far wealthier, far more inaccessible. As opportunistic as the release of?Care Package?is, the reminder of Drake’s work at the margins during his most prolific creative period is a timely one. The compilation layers history upon history, creating a dense nostalgia. We may no longer have the Drake from five or 10 years ago, but we’ll always have the memories.

而2019年的Drake，已然邁入新階段。他擁有一支電競戰(zhàn)隊，他不再會為了開車送女友去律師考試而穿越茫茫雪地，他周圍保鏢更多，他更富有，卻也更難接近。《Care Package》的發(fā)行雖是機會使然，但這些誕生于他創(chuàng)作高產(chǎn)期的歌曲也下了場及時雨，讓人再次想起Drake。一首首歌，就是一段段的回憶，充滿了濃濃的懷舊風(fēng)。5年前或10年前的Drake或許已經(jīng)不在了，但那些回憶永駐我們心間。