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On Oct. 6, commercial rap’s playboy poster child, Drake, released his eighth studio album, “For All the Dogs.” The highly anticipated project was marketed as an accompaniment to his Instagram caption-style poetry book, “Titles Ruin Everything,” in July. The perennial superstar has remained relevant as ever, coming off a massive tour with 21 Savage.

Although “For All the Dogs” features an eclectic roster of trap megaproducers like 40 and Tay Keith, the biggest takeaway from the album is Drake’s toxic persona. With every new album, the child-actor-turned-popstar seems to compound his reputation as rap’s corniest womanizer.

Despite being a father, whose 5-year-old son even features on the outro of “Daylight,” the first words Drake chose to put on the record were a sarcastic monologue where he denied that he could have treated his ex any better. Moments before beginning the record’s opening verse on “Virginia Beach,” Drake remarks, “I coulda treated you better, that’s crazy / Nope.”

On the track “Tried Our Best,” Drake raps about a terrible relationship. He sings “Leave you at home if I wanna have a good night / Leave you at home if I wanna have a good time,” before crooning about how he “Treated you right,” with Ty Dolla $ign adding vocal support. Across the record’s 23 tracks, Drake produces some occasionally witty bars but the vast majority of his lyrics are toxic, masculine vitriol.

Even on tracks with brilliant melodies, crafty production or smooth, flowing verses, Drake simply can’t avoid littering cringy lines everywhere he goes. The final verse on the intro track is tarnished by the line “Put a baby in you, you a hot mom,” and on “Members Only,” Drake sings, “Feel like I’m bi ‘cause you’re one of the guys, girl.”

“For All the Dogs” spans almost 90 minutes, becoming Drake’s third album in the last five years to feature 20-plus songs. While Drake has been highly prolific since his 2016 hit parade “Views,” his recent records have settled into a formula. These bloated albums full of features from the biggest names in music always lead to trendy songs and streaming dominance, but a vast majority of the songs won’t be replayed in a few months.

The record is full of the trendiest artists in the game right now, like the significant contribution of Working on Dying producer BNYX (pronounced Benny X), the undeniable SexyyRed feature over a PinkPantheress-esque breakbeat and the reggaeton collab with Bad Bunny, where Drake sings in Spanish about how much he likes watching women twerk.

“For All the Dogs” also seems to serve as an extension of some of Drake’s most recent releases, including his two previous albums (“Honestly, Nevermind” and “Her Loss”), his 2023 standalone single “Search & Rescue” and his feature on Travis Scott’s “Utopia.” Most of the album serves as an extension of the sleek and dark sonic palette of “Search & Rescue,” thanks to the stamp marked on the record by BNYX, who also produced the single.

In the last few years, the Philadelphia producer has made his way to the top of the rap industry by producing for Yeat, whose trendy gibberish rap also appears on the album. The rage-rap crossover, “IDGAF,” sounds like a typical high-octane Yeat song, marred by an awkward Drake feature.

Plenty of the album also continues the tone of Drake’s feature on Travis Scott’s “Meltdown” which ranked No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop charts after its release this July. The track hinged on menacing lyrics and a punchy beat switch, a format that was often emulated on much of “For All the Dogs,” most noticeably on “First Person Shooter” featuring J. Cole.

Lil Yachty features on the third to last song, delivering a sleepy rap verse with some questionable lyrics, but the verse ends up being his least memorable contribution to the record. Yachty appears on a handful of tracks for ad-libs and production, very similar to his appearance on last year’s “Her Loss.”

Aside from when he was given the mic, Yachty’s assistance on “For All the Dogs” certainly added some spice to the sound, particularly on the rare highlight “What Would Pluto Do” (a song dedicated to Drake’s longtime friend, Future). Towards the tail end, Drake’s dance influence from “Honestly, Nevermind” appears on tracks like “Gently” and “Rich Baby Daddy,” making the album slightly disjointed but also producing songs that are primed to do major streaming numbers.

Even with melodious features from SZA and Teezo Touchdown, a sizzling rap verse from J. Cole, a Frank Ocean sample and spoken word appearances from legends Snoop Dogg, George Clinton and Sade Adu, Drake didn’t do himself many favors while putting “For All the Dogs” together. Aside from proving how difficult it must be to date Drake, this album says a whole lot of nothing.

Published on October 12, 2023 at 11:08 am