Stream Drake’s New Album For All The Dogs
Say what you want about Drake’s choice of cover art, but the man knows how to get our attention. Remember the beautifully cringe pregnant emoji brigade from Certified Lover Boy? The extreme closeup of Suki Baby on Her Loss? Those images honestly stuck with me way more than any of the music on those albums. And now we get another memorable cover courtesy of Drake’s son, Adonis, who scribbled a cool and slightly menacing ghostlike canine creature for the front of Drake’s album For All The Dogs.
The new LP arrives less than a year after Her Loss, Drake’s joint album with 21 Savage; about 15 months since his house music experiment Honestly, Nevermind; and about two years after Certified Lover Boy, his most recent attempt at a solo Drake album in the well-established mold. We learned about For All The Dogs three months ago when Drake released his poetry book, and we got a taste of it last month when he released the slow-burn SZA collab “Slime You Out,” which promptly went to #1. Now, after some slight delays, the album is here.
For All The Dogs has 23 tracks and it’s executive produced by Drake, Noah “40” Shebib, Oliver El-Khatib, and Noel Cadastre. Kevin Durant is credited for A&R. Besides SZA, tons of guests show up: J. Cole, Bad Bunny, Sexyy Red, 21 Savage, Chief Keef, Yeat, Lil Yachty, etc. On opening track “Virginia Beach,” Drake sings over a pitched-up sample from the Frank Ocean loosie “Wiseman” — the closest thing to the Drake-Frank team-up I’ve been waiting for since 2011.
Will For All The Dogs return Drake to the creative heights of Take Care and Nothing Was The Same or at least the culture-saturating power he wielded circa Scorpion? We’re about to find out together. Listen below.
For All The Dogs is out now on OVO/Republic.