After teasing his new album for the whole summer, Canadian rapper Drake released his long-awaited studio album For All The Dogs. The twenty-three-track studio album was released on October 6, and features 21 Savage, Bad Bunny, J Cole, and more. 

The album had more R&B songs and less rap than previous albums like “Her Loss” and “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late.” The production was perfected by its attention to detail: classic samples; Drake’s six-year-old son Adonis debuting on the track “Daylight”; and dogs barking in the background throughout the album on various tracks. The featured artists on the record are straight off the A-List and it shows. J. Cole gave us a monster verse on First Person Shooter, PARTYNEXTDOOR brought back nostalgic vibes on Members Only, and SZA did her thing on Slime You Out and Rich Baby Daddy. There was also a Frank Ocean sample on the opening track “Virginia Beach”. As always, Drake put newcomer artists in the spotlight with Yeat on IDGAF, TikTok sensation Sexyy Red on Rich Baby Daddy, and Teezo Touchdown, who has made waves of late for his unique sound, on Amen.

Although the album is long and a bit bloated, the tracklist boasts several instant classics. “First Person Shooter” (track no. 6)  is an energy-laced banger that features J. Cole and Drake trading bars before a sinister beat switch. J. Cole cooks up a five-star meal on this track and also addresses rumored beef with NBA Youngboy when he raps, “I still wanna get a song with YB, Can’t trust everything you see on IG.” 

One of my favorite tracks on this album is, “8am In Charlotte.” This might be one of Drake’s best rapping performances ever, replete with funny bars and entendres. It’s impossible not to laugh when listening to this track, you can tell Drake is having fun and being himself when he raps, “Where I go, you go, brother, we Yugoslavian.” 

Despite the great tracks, there are some definite misses on the record. “IDGAF” with Yeat left me wondering how the track even made the final cut. Drake released a preview of the track on his Instagram account, building much anticipation and hype for the song prior to the album dropping. Sadly, the track did not live up to my high expectations. The start of the song is a minute-long soul sample that is abruptly cut off by the BNYX-produced rage beat. Yeat takes up the whole song save a horribly mixed thirty-second verse from Drake. He announces himself on the track by talking over Yeat, but his voice is so loud it sounds very unnatural — and he raps the whole verse at that volume. Honestly, it sounds like it was originally a good Yeat song that just got “Drake-ified” and put on this album. Sadly, it doesn’t matter whether you enjoy the song or not. This track will be on every social media platform known to mankind in less than a week, so get used to hearing it. [update at time of publishing: this track is on every social media platform known to mankind]

Perhaps the worst track on this album was the fourth track, “Fear Of Heights.” Drake seemed to have run out of ideas on this track as he started the song with a slow melodic flow throwing subliminals at his ex-girlfriend from 2016, Rihanna. Obviously low on musicality, he then decided to switch to a heavy-hitting rage beat with the worst ad-libs I’ve ever heard. Drake needs a subtle reminder that he is neither Playboi Carti nor Yeat and he needs to stop rapping on rage beats ASAP.

I give this album an 8.5/10. It definitely isn’t Drake’s best record, but it was a return to form following the sub-par albums he’s been releasing for the past few years. He had several good rapping performances and his singing seems to have seriously improved. The material in his music hasn’t changed much but this album was definitely a step in the right direction. I think that this album was a fresh start for Drake and his fans should be quite content with this release.