Canadian rapper and culture icon Drake released his 13th studio album “For All the Dogs” on Friday, Oct. 6th.
The album was teased in a book the rapper released back in June of this year.”For All the Dogs” shows off Drake’s versatility in a mix of both rapping and melodic and singing cuts.
The record plays more like a playlist of Drake’s mindset rather than a full-fledges album with a concept and message. There are a total of 11 features from artists such as 21 Savage, J Cole, and Bad Bunny just to name a few.
Many of these features seem forced. On the tracks with 21 Savage and Bad Bunny, they sound as if Drake put these together just to have them on the album. A standout however is J Cole on the track, “First Person Shooter.” Cole brings flare and passion into the track and has one of the best verses on the whole album.
By far the best song on the record is track 17, “8am in Charlotte.” A song with a classic vocal sample and groovy production, accompanied by streams of consciousness from Drake.
This is one of the weaker albums from the rapper in recent years. People always say that they want the old Drake, but I believe that the old Drake will never return.
Drake does not rap with that same hunger and swagger that he once did. Sure, there are songs here and there that show glimpses of that guy we all fell in love with, but throughout a full-length studio album, I do not believe that can ever be achievable.
We are now seeing rappers and other artists release these 20-plus track records. I am not the biggest fan. To me, it is hard to construct a solid album without having album fillers. The 23-song album could have been shrunk to 10 to 12 songs and it would have been a much better and concise record. The album is full of fillers and tracks that are simply useless and a waste of a track.
There is little that I take out of this album. Most of the tracks are not memorable. The rollout for this album got me excited because there was hope for a short and rap-focused album. This hope was lost without even listening to the album. As soon as I opened it, I knew that there was no way that every song was going to be a hit.
“For All the Dogs,” after a couple of listens, has left me questioning if Drake has hit a downward slope in his career. I come away from the record with little remembrance or desire to listen again.
