★★★☆☆
Drake’s latest studio project, For All the Dogs, was released on Oct. 6 at 6 a.m. sharp.
The rapper’s tendency to reference his hometown of Toronto as “the 6” was popularized in 2016 after he released Views, his fourth studio album. Four albums later, the five-time Grammy winner promised a return to “old Drake.”
The only problem: What is “old Drake?” Is it 2013 Nothing Was the Same Drake? Is it 2010 Thank Me Later Drake? Or 2018 Scorpion Drake?
For All the Dogs contains 23 tracks which seem to touch on the varying Drake styles that the hip-hop world has experienced over his 15-year reign in the industry. The album plays as if the artist had sat down and tried to make a couple of songs in each of his separate styles and threw them all in a track list with no purposeful narrative. And who are the dogs? His homies? His fans? His many different sexual interests?
“Lean in, lean in soda,” are Drake’s first sung lyrics on the album’s first track “Virginia Beach.”
The weak word choice at the onset of the project sets the tone for subsequent songs. If Drake named the song “Virginia Beach,” he should have at least taken a stab or two at Pusha T, the rapper from Virginia Beach who has had historical beef with the Certified Lover Boy and is commonly perceived by the public as the winner of their exchanged disses.
There is a theme in the work of song titles feeling contextless. Lyrics are conjured by ill-spirited label demands and algorithmic approaches to streaming success. Take “Calling For You,” for example. Drake sings in soft falsettos about being “the king of [his] city,” and having “liquor in his cup” before an interlude of a woman’s voice complaining about flying economy and eating “jerk chicken and oxtail” all vacation long. The song concludes with a quintessential 21 Savage verse.
“I treat the rap game like a toilet (on God),” 21 Savage sings.
Continuity and progression were clearly of no concern on this track, with each segment of the song lyrically and thematically fragmented from the other. The result is, at best, two separate mediocre verses and an intriguing interlude of a pouty unidentified female, probably representing many of the women whom the rappers have had sexual relationships with.
“First Person Shooter,” touting a J. Cole feature, gives the project some fresh air at track six. Cole’s opening verse immediately delivers a warranted G.O.A.T-claiming attitude.
“Love when they argue the hardest MC / Is it K-Dot? is it Aubrey? Or me? We the big three like we started a league, but right now I feel like Mohammed Ali,” the rapper sings.
Cole references popular ongoing debates about the greatest rappers and sparks this inquiry in the listener’s mind. Juxtaposed with Drake’s less creative lyricism in the subsequent verse, “Man if your pub was up for sale, I buy the whole thing,” it seems Cole took his sole verse to stealthily settle the debates. Less is more, and Cole’s only bars on the album are the best of them all. Maybe that answers the question of who is the best rapper of all time.
Cole references popular ongoing debates about the greatest rappers and sparks this inquiry in the listener’s mind. Juxtaposed with Drake’s less creative lyricism in the subsequent verse, “Man if your pub was up for sale, I buy the whole thing,” it seems Cole took his sole verse to stealthily settle the debates. Less is more, and Cole’s only bars on the album are the best of them all. Maybe that answers the question of who is the best rapper of all time.
Some alternate sounds show up in tracks “IDGAF” (featuring Yeat) and “Another Late Night” (featuring Lil Yachty). Another counterpoint to the “old Drake” declarations: Both of these tracks bite from 2020 Playboi Carti vibes with their whispered “pew pew” ad-libs and arcade-sounding instrumentals. The Drake album formula is incomplete without features from fad-like artists such as Sexyy Red on “Rich Baby Daddy” and Teezo Touchdown on “Amen.”
Thankfully the project isn’t wholly underwhelming, as Chief Keef delivers a catchy, smooth hook on “All The Parties” and it only takes 16 songs to get a less-shallow, more thoughtful Drake on “8AM in Charlotte.” His Spanish-speaking attempts alongside Bad Bunny on “Gently” earn him marks for effort, and the percussive reggaeton swings encourage head-bobbing and hip-swaying.
In sum, For All the Dogs suffers from a lack of originality.
On “Drew A Picasso,” Drake sings about a mystery lady, but he may as well have been singing about his lackluster efforts toward his own project.
“Way I’m feelin’ on this album took it easy on ya, coulda written more,” he sings.
Twenty-three songs are far too many for a project with such little to say, and after 15 years of domination, Drake should have spent a little more time brainstorming cohesive and continuous lyricism for For All the Dogs.
Update (Oct. 18, 2023 11:27 a.m.): An unedited version of this story was previously posted in error.
