Drake’s new album is his fourth full-length in under two years. While his peers like Kendrick Lamar and J Cole disappear for years at a time, Drake seems to be afraid that leaving the limelight means he will evaporate into thin air. As a result, For All the Dogs arrives with a side-order of Drake fatigue, which isn’t ideal considering the album is 23 songs and an hour and half long.
For All the Dogs is filled with moody R&B, trendy rap and a stacked roster of guests. Like recent Drake albums it is terminally bloated and coloured by Drake’s cagey worldview and distrust of women. At this point, you begin to wonder if the few bright moments are even worth it.
It's not the sheer output that has made Drake feel tiring in recent years, it is the way he has fully embraced his rich-boy bachelor schtick and become more petty, distrustful, and venomous along the way. In Drake’s world, every woman has slighted him, especially by being with other men (“Drew a Picasso”) or ruining his vacation (“Bahamas Promises”).
Casual misogyny is not new to Drake or rap music, but on For All the Dogs it feels particularly bitter and emblematic of how Drake panders to manosphere-adjacent rap fandoms. These are corners of the internet where Future is the “king of toxic masculinity”, and Tory Lanez has been unfairly framed against Megan Thee Stallion (something which Drake co-signs). This misogyny frames his worldview and is grating. On “7969 Santa” he cuts to the chase and presents a neat laundry list of complaints to a woman: “I don’t like what you did on them trips / I don’t like what you did to your lips.”
Among the petty grievances, there are some undeniable moments. The Miami bass song “Rich Baby Daddy” with Sexyy Red and SZA is fun and “Virginia Beach” samples an old unreleased Frank Ocean song to hypnotic effect. Snoop Dogg calls in to say hi and Chief Keef has a short but sweet verse on “All the Parties”. There’s a trippy intro on “IDGAF” which samples 70s Jazz trio Azimuth before Yeat beams in and steals the show. The good moments are mostly thanks to others, though.
If it’s tiring to listen to Drake at this stage of his career, it must be even more tiring to live it. This might explain why Drake has said he is taking a break from music for at least a year. Some fresh air, a long walk and reduced screen time is exactly what he needs.
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