“For All The Dogs” Drake Album Review: An homage to the ‘old’ and ‘new’ Drake

Before you listen, know that “For All The Dogs” is NOT for all the dogs…

In an album that was supposedly going to showcase everything that we loved about the ‘old Drake’, it fell short of expectations, but held a variety of surprises. 

Not saying that this massive 85-minute project wasn’t great, but it still had hints of the things that people despise about the ‘new’ Drake. Some verses seemed forced, meaningless and adrift but despite all that, this eighth studio album by Drake had some charming surprises. 

With features from absolute legends like J. Cole, PARTYNEXTDOOR, 21 Savage and SZA, there is no shortage of great collabs. 

The songs all had hints of each other and all meshed in a harmonious fashion, much like the other seven studio albums Drake has released. There was quite a bit of variety and Drake somehow paid homage to both his old and new styles of music. 

“For All The Dogs” consisted of 23 songs, which is the most songs on a Drake album since one of his most iconic albums, “Scorpion” in 2018, which had 25 songs. 

The album opens up with “Virginia Beach” which showcases both J. Cole and 21 Savage in what was a great choice for the opening piece. There is no doubt that both J. Cole and Drake aren’t in their golden years, but they sure gave it their all. 

“Amen” featuring Teezo Gonzalez, was a little taste of ‘old’ Drake, it had the undertones of the traditional chill-rap and R&B style while also incorporating Drake’s lyrical geniusness. 

It’s hard to compare an iconic collaboration of Drake and 21 Savage on the album “Her Loss” (2022), but the song “Calling For You” featuring 21 Savage does not even stand a chance when it comes to the absolute bangers that the duo have previously created in years prior. 

Of course, Drake had to throw in some shade with his piece “Fear of Heights”, where he threw major shade at Rihanna, one of his exes. In the song, he references Rihanna’s “Anti” album and starts the song with, “Why they make it sound like I’m still hung up on you?” That’s a “Rude Boy” if there ever was one. 

A Drake album would not be a Drake album without an iconic sample, and that is exactly what “Daylight” contains. It opens with an elite sample from the movie “Scarface” quoting Tony Montana (Al Pacino), but other than that, the song is mediocre at best.

There is no denying the influence J. Cole has in the music industry, and “First Person Shooter” featuring J. Cole met every expectation. The iconic duo has deprived listeners of collabs for years and this piece makes up for all the hurt. The song shows why J. Cole, a legendary rapper, is still a lyrical genius. 

“Slime You Out” featuring SZA had to be one of the most disappointing songs on this album. Though it came out as a feature single a few weeks prior, it was lacking. SZA, who is a lyrical genius in her own right, hardly played a role. It was heartbreaking that such an iconic duo fell so short of what could’ve been.

One of the more nostalgic songs, “8am in Charlotte”, does in fact bring back the ‘old’ Drake. It gives an ode to Drake’s previous works; “4pm in Calabasas”, “5 am in Toronto”, “7am on Birdie Path” and “6pm in New York”, Drake loves consistency. 

Another song that brought out the ‘old’ Drake vibes was “Members Only” featuring PARTYNEXTDOOR. With a feature with PARTYNEXTDOOR, Drake was forced to revert back to a simple and slow R&B piece that accentuated his older style of music. 

“Gently” featuring Bad Bunny will give you a good laugh as Drake incorporates his strange Jamaican voice. Let’s just say it was “madness and badness … combination”. Surprisingly, Bad Bunny was the only good part of this song. 

The issue with the song, “Rich Baby Daddy” featuring SZA and Sexxy Red, was that there was absolutely no need for this song to be the longest song on the album at over five minutes. The only good thing that came out of this piece was the incorporation of SZA’s beautiful vocals. 

“Another Late Night” featuring Lil Yachty was one of the stranger songs lyrically as Drake decides to bring actress and close friend, Millie Bobby Brown, into play by calling out “weirdos in my comments talkin’ ’bout some Millie Bobby”. After much scrutiny throughout the years between the two’s friendship regarding their age gap, the shade was in fact, thrown. 

One of the best surprises on the album came at the end of “7969 Santa” with a sweet feature from the legend himself, Snoop Dogg. Of course Drake had to include the OG “dog” on an album called “For All The Dogs”. 

On the last song of the album, “Polar Opposites”, it showcases a deep dive into the perspective of an inconsistent and emotionally unstable romantic relationship. It was one of the only songs on the album that gave flashbacks to Drake’s “sad boy” hours, like many of his pieces on his “Take Care” (2011) album.

With 23 songs on an album, there has to be some discards that just don’t deserve too much attention. Those would be; “IDGAF” featuring Yeat, “All The Parties” featuring Chief Keef, “Screw The World – Interlude”, “Bahamas Promises”, “BBL Love – Interlude”, “Tried Our Best”, “Away From Home”, “What Would Pluto Do” and “Drew A Picasso”. 

Overall, for the hype that surrounded this album, the talk of it being like ‘old’ Drake and the numerous delays on the release date, it was simply mediocre. Listeners can’t help but be sad that Drake hasn’t been able to create good projects consistently since his “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late” (2015) album.

By no means is this a “no-skips” album, but if you are able and willing to sit through 85 minutes of some pain and suffering, you can find some really great Drake gems.

BEST SONGS: “8am in Charlotte”, “First Person Shooter” featuring J. Cole and “Amen” featuring Teezo Gonzalez

WORST SONG: “Fear of Heights”