On the crisp fall morning of October 6th, Drake released his newest album: For All The Dogs. Songs quickly skyrocketed to the top of Spotify’s Top 50 – USA playlist, as hip hop’s GOAT returned to his rightful place on top.
He started his latest project with a heater titled Virginia Beach, a song sampling Frank Ocean’s “Wise Man”, an unreleased song originally written for the movie Django Unchained. Virginia Beach found itself immediately on the playlists of thousands, leading many fans to look for “Wise Man” on SoundCloud. While many fans saw “Calling For You” listed as track 3 in the album, these words were all but ignored as fans saw the very thing that they had been waiting for: the words “feat. 21 Savage”. Finally, a new Drake and 21 collab that the sports teams could play to get hype in the locker room, or students could play in their cars in preparation for their first-hour classes. The first few verses from Drake were disappointing, but not as disappointing as what came next. After Drake wrapped up his portion of the song, everyone was ready for 21’s signature flow to come in and save the song. Tragically, our hearts were broken when someone complaining about her topical vacation and not flying in first class hopped on the mic, dragging her verse for an entire minute and a half. While some argue this is artistic expression, it was really just a slap in the face to all of us who knew this duo’s true potential. 21 finishes off the song with a good verse, but unfortunately not enough to save the entire song. Just as we were all losing hope, Champagne Papi’s son, Adonis Graham, hops on the tail end of “Daylight”, a welcome addition from a future star in hip hop. The momentum is carried into the next two songs “First Person Shooter” and “IDGAF”, arguably containing some of the finest bars in the entire album with their features from J. Cole and Yeat. On track 9, SZA continued her recent streak of great features and did not let the fans down. A few songs later are “Bahamas Promises” and “8am in Charlotte”, an unmistakable return to the old Drake that many people missed. Skipping forward, SZA delivered once again on “Rich Baby Daddy”, a song that would be very hard to listen to without her feature.
All in all, For All The Dogs is a return of some of what we used to know, yet it still feels like it is missing something. Although we get to hear that old Drake in a few tracks, something still feels off. It seems as if Drake has been caught up in all the noise and produced what he thought the fans wanted, not what he wanted. His music seems less genuine than it did in the early 2010s, a time many claim to be Drizzy’s peak. Although this is not exactly the old Drake many were looking for, it is still a welcome evolution to Drake’s discography, and we cannot wait to see where he goes in the future. Most rappers would take the negative feedback as discouraging, possibly even the beginning of the end. However, Drake is no ordinary rapper. All of his current haters will soon serve as the tapestry upon which he creates his next masterpiece.
