Nitsuh Abebe of "New York" wrote that the album "is full of gorgeous tones ... And the lyrics surrounding them can be rich with meaning". Evan Rytlewski of "The A.V. Club" found it "plenty downbeat, but gorgeous, an immersive headphone masterwork that's tender and intimate like little else in contemporary rap and R&B." Ann Powers of NPR felt that "the artfulness of this music allows me an in to that experience. I can make that leap and identify with Drake, or at least be intrigued by multiple characters in the little dramas he designs." Jon Caramanica of "The New York Times" called it "an album of eccentric black pop that takes" hip hop and R&B "as starting points, asks what they can do but haven’t been doing, then attempts those things. In the future an album like this will be commonplace; today, it’s radical." With "Take Care", he named Drake "hip-hop's current center of gravity".