With a career at the very top of the music industry spanning a whopping seven albums, one-hundred and forty-one singles, and seven mixtapes, Canadian rapper and producer extraordinaire Drake is one of the most prolific and popular artists of our time. After dropping the collaborative project Her Loss with 21 Savage in 2022, which broke numerous billboard records and was well received by audiences, hopes for his eighth studio album, For All The Dogs, were high. For the most part, despite a few high points – more on that later – the 23-song release felt both bloated and uneventful.

The first single, chart-topper “Slime You Out” featuring SZA, was released on September 15th of this year and heightened anticipation with its melodic R&B goodness and a wonderful feature, with the following prerelease “8 am in Charlotte” featuring Drake’s son Adonis also being standout. Another high point was the excellent collaboration with rapping legend J. Cole in “First Person Shooter,” in which the latter dropped an exceptional feature (as has become expected of him). The rest of the album was, frankly, quite poor – featuring some lamentably awful and cringe-worthy lyrics and mostly monotonous beats, as well as cheap shots at other artists, including Rihanna on “Fear of Heights” and Esperanza Spalding on the penultimate track, “Away From Home,” Drake disappoints throughout. That being said, contributions from the likes of 21 Savage, Bad Bunny, Teezo Touchdown, Yeat, and others successfully carried much of the album, with Drake taking a bit of a backseat. 

Overall, despite a hit-or-miss miscellany of different styles and a slew of inane lyrics against R&B and hip-hop beats, the album is somewhat cohesive and certainly has hits. The tastelessness of some lines in particular, most of which we can’t publish, detracts greatly from the record. Though Drake has had a few great projects, this isn’t one of them.

5/10