It's a shock to hear how softly — sluggishly, even — Drake announces himself on his official debut. The tempos are slow, the beats are awash in gauzy atmospherics, and Drake raps (and, surprisingly often, sings) in the voice of a guy who's half-awake. "This is really one of my dumbest flows ever/I haven't slept in days," he says in "Unforgettable."

Drake is in total command of a style that would have been hard to imagine dominating hip-hop a few years ago: He's subtle and rueful rather than loud and lively; emotionally transparent rather than thuggy. He isn't the most naturally charismatic MC, but he is one of the wittiest, packing his songs with clever images ("I'm 23/With a money tree") and punch lines that land with a snap ("I live for the nights that I can't remember/With the people I won't forget"), even next to guests like Jay-Z, Young Jeezy, T.I. and Lil Wayne.

Thank Me Later's downtempo beats, many by Canadian producer 40, call to mind Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak and Kid Cudi's Man on the Moon. It's easy to read it as a sign of the times: Is this boom in bummer rap a reaction to the recession, or the sound of hip-hop shuffling into middle age? But more than anything, the sultry production gives Later a coherent vibe — it's an album meant to be listened to from start to finish. And judging by the anticipation around its release, it will be, many times over.

“All Along the Watchtower”

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."