Drake released his eighth studio album, For All The Dogs, on Oct. 6, 2023. The album was promising, containing several details that set it apart from his previous works. The album cover art is drawn by his five-year-old son, Adonis Graham, and the credits section thanks NBA superstar “Kevin Durant” as an Artist and repertoire. These elements alongside a delayed release led to immense hype that the album was incapable of fulfilling.

Even without these noteworthy details, many hip-hop fans would still acclaim the album as a flop, especially when released by whom many consider the “GOAT” of hip-hop and rap music.

The opening track, “Virginia Beach”, is a very polarizing song. Unlike the rest of the album, it carries innovation with a unique reversed-style beat that you may or may not enjoy. The lyrics entail a conflict between Drake and his significant other, where they argue in their relationship. Drake symbolizes his significant other as “Virginia Beach”, being a beautiful girl but having a rough personality, similar to a Virginian Beach

The lyrics of the song make almost no sense, as Drake doesn’t define what a Virginian beach is anyways. The lyrics can be seen as quite a cliche; it’s just another lovesick vent from Drake, with forgettable lines like “I wanna get back to the days that you loved me for nothin’ but what you could see” or “I move mountains for you”. A monotonous song with lyrics that could’ve been written by anybody is certainly not how you would start an album carrying so much anticipation on its back.

Other songs were unique in some way and had the potential to be great, but Drake still managed to mess it up. The third track, “Calling For You” had a feature from rapper and best friend, 21Savage, and had an amazing beat.

Although the 21Savage feature was pretty ordinary, with no major switch-up from the rest of the song, it is the boring interlude which lasted more than a minute that completely wrecks the song. It mentions a girl who had a bad experience when she was flown out to a vacation in a spoken-word dialogue. There is no rhyming or melody, just talking. The lyrics seem completely unnecessary as well, and they don’t add any further meaning, personality, or emotion to the song. This interlude ruins the momentum of the track and makes me want to skip this specific part every time I listen to it.

The single worst track is the 20th track, “Rich Baby Daddy”. The song contained features from female rappers SZA and Sexyy Red. The song itself has a boring linear beat, with lyrics depicting Drake as someone who depends on a girl to find love inside him. However, the reason this song faces immense criticism from the internet is the chorus sung by Sexyy Red, who is a viral rapper who has releases that are very popular among social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.

“SkeeYee” by Sexyy Red was the most used song on TikTok during the week of Sept. 16, while other releases from the same album reign TikTok’s Billboard Top 50. Her chorus not only has repetitive statements but is repeated over and over throughout the song, making the song very boring and lackluster on the lyrical end. I think this song was a total “cash-grab”, as Drake undoubtedly featured Sexyy Red for her ability to make viral songs for short social media clips, rather than her actual musical talent.

In fact, it seems like the entire album was created with the intention of racking up streaming numbers, instead of producing the niche-quality music he is known for. There is no sign of the production quality Drake is recognized by on the album, with an especially disappointing grade on the production end. It has lyrics that aren’t creative in the slightest and an absence of notable elements on the album.

This is unlike the quality he is known for on his other releases. For example, Deep Pockets, from the mixtape Dark Lane Demo Tapes, has lyrics entailing Drake’s journey to fame, and the beat contains recorded vocals that sound like it is being played off of an old VHS player. To me, it sounds like Drake is taking a trip back to his past to directly tell you his story. I don’t see this kind of sparkle on any of the tracks on For All The Dogs.

For All The Dogs has been an immense letdown for me. Drake isn’t getting any younger; he has made remarks about retirement, and we never know when his last release will be. Drake could seriously tarnish his almost impeccable legacy if his last releases are as dull as this mess of an album.

2/10