When it comes to music releases, Drake is one of the most consistent artists of the last 20 years when you include studio albums, mixtapes, collaborative albums, and singles. Besides a three-year break between Scorpion and Certified Lover Boy, the Toronto rapper has dropped an album almost every year since 2010. This year is no exception.
Released on October 6, For All the Dogs is Drake’s eighth studio album, and it’s just what we’ve come to expect from him: great beats, flowing choruses, and verses and rhymes only Drake can pull off. And that’s not even mentioning the features.
It’s fitting that an album about his “dogs” has one of the best features list we’ve gotten from the “6 god” in a while. The album has some of the most diverse artists in Hip-Hop, from Latin star Bad Bunny to trap artist Yeat.
For All the Dogs wouldn’t be a Drake album if it didn’t start off strong, and it sure does that. Six of the seven most popular tracks are right at the beginning of the album.
The opening track “Virginia Beach” is arguably one of the best, and just after is a streak of hits. “Calling For You” sees a familiar duo of Drake and 21 Savage converge on a reverberating beat and drop bars. J. Cole jumps on “First Person Shooter” and reminds everyone that he and Drake are the G.O.A.T.S. “Even Drake’s 6-year-old son, Adonis, is on the album, with the closing of “Daylight”.
There are too many great songs too list them all, but “Slime You Out”, “7969 Santa”, “Fear of Heights”, and “Bahamas Promises” are some of my favorites. With all things considered, its too early to tell if For All the Dogs has the longevity needed to be one of Drake’s best albums. Even still, I personally think it could be in the runnings for best rap album of 2023.