Aubrey Drake Graham is a Canadian singer and songwriter who is one of, if not the biggest artist in the world right now. Drake dropped his 13th studio album on October 6 titled “For All The Dogs.”
Drake has had a very long and very successful career since dropping his first studio album in 2009. So, it’s safe to say that the rapper has very high expectations for every time he drops an album; however, many believe that Drake is on the downside of his career after dropping many mediocre albums for his past few releases. People need to start listening to Drake for his music and not just because his name is Drake because he’s been very lackluster recently, other than a handful of songs. Either way, when it’s all said and done, Drake will have to go down as one of the all time greats because of his continuous record-breaking music.
The album starts off very strong with the song “Virginia Beach,” which takes a sample from American singer Frank Ocean, and it really makes the song what it is. The next few songs even seem to give a lackluster Drake performance with his features doing good such as “Amen” with Teezo Touchdown and even “Calling For You” with 21 Savage, which Drake indefinitely ruins with his part and the over a minute interlude in the middle of the song. The next few songs are some of the strongest on the album such as “Fear of Heights,” “First Person Shooter” with J. Cole, and “IDGAF” with Yeat. The third of the album is very strong and starts off very promising but it soon falls flat with disappointing song after disappointing song. This brings you to almost the end of the album with what might be the best song, “8am in Charlotte.” This song is incredible and really does remind you of the old Drake; however, the album ends up losing its footing and ends not too good.
The backstory of this album is that Drake titled it “For All The Dogs” as a message to its original audience calling them “dogs.” Drake made a promise to give his old fans what they want and that’s the old Drake. As Drake’s career progressed, he slowly started to integrate R&B into his music. Some were a fan of it and some just missed the old Drake. So, it was a big deal for the rapper himself to deliver on his promise. However, the rapper failed miserably with this promise and released the exact same sound that he’s been releasing for years.
The rapper did do some very cool things, like letting his son have an influence on the album. His son, Adonis, drew the cover for the album and he even had a feature on the song “Daylight.” Drake having his son involved in the album is easily the highlight of the whole thing as it really shows Drake’s love for his family. He even turned Adonis’s small 50 second feature into his own song that just recently dropped on his birthday. Overall, the message of family shines through on this album with Drake even taking time off after dropping the album to be with his family.
All things considered, the actual album isn’t very good and wouldn’t be recommended to someone who’s trying to get into Drake. The album deserves ⅖ stars as Drake has dropped better music in the past, but continues to disappoint as of recently.
