“Girl, I’m the king of my city, I’m the one,” popular Canadian rapper-singer Aubrey “Drake” Graham pretentiously raps on “Calling for You,” the third track on his eighth studio album, For All the Dogs. Drake’s latest album hopelessly falls into his classic formula: Over-the-top Auto-Tune, lyrics lusting after money and women, and an overall lack of effort by choosing quantity over quality, prioritizing money over the satisfaction of fans.
Drake’s recent albums have felt bloated and thin on quality; For All the Dogs only continues this trend. With 23 total songs, this project has barely 10 minutes of music that’s worth listening to, most of which is by featured artists (notably J. Cole on “First Person Shooter”). While it’s nice to see a good variety of artists on the album, Drake’s performance is the worst it has ever been. His use of Auto-Tune is almost unlistenable, while his lyrics are simply there to make you either gasp in disgust due to his constant use of random graphic language or to be taken aback by his horrible, politically incorrect references — including referencing slavery in “Slime You Out.”
Drake clearly sees music as a money-making business rather than a passion. Signing a $400 million dollar deal with Universal Music Group in 2022, Drake chose to release albums quickly and without effort, displaying his obvious money-grabbing attitude. His 2022 albums, Certified Lover Boy and Honestly, Nevermind, were some of the most disappointing rap releases yet. Drake’s first projects, including 2011’s Take Care and 2013’s Nothing Was the Same, clearly showed effort and were thus very well-received, but his recent albums have fallen flat and unoriginal — For All the Dogs being the worst yet.
You can’t help but feel bad for Drake fans, who have had to go through the rollercoaster of getting excited for an album, just to be let down again and again.
Although issues like lack of effort and releasing albums too quickly are not isolated to Drake himself, it is disappointing to see one of the music industry’s most prominent figures decline so quickly. You can’t help but feel bad for Drake fans, who have had to go through the rollercoaster of getting excited for an album, just to be let down again and again.
