Toronto rapper Drake is one of the most decorated artists in hip-hop. With five Grammy awards, 13 BET awards and a whopping 34 Billboard awards, the Young Money artist has broken all kinds of musical records. In fact, for the 2010s, Drake was unstoppable.
However, the Toronto emcee’s latest album has received some scathing criticism from music publications and radio personalities alike. For All The Dogs was released on October 6th but failed to meet the expectations of a lot of Drake fans.
In a review by The Ringer, journalist Charles Holmes wrote, “For All the Dogs, Drake’s 14th project in 14 years, sounds like a haggard gasp of impending, middle-aged exhaustion. To be clear, Drake being on the verge of 37 isn’t his problem. It’s his stature and the middling creative returns that happen when you operate at such a massive scale.”
As Drake ages, many have highlighted what they see as a trend of diminishing creative returns, and this isn’t the first Drake album that has received this kind of reception. In comparison to his peers such as J Cole, Kendrick Lamar and others, fans of the Thank Me Later lyricist have noticed a stunt in his growth as an artist and recognised his use of more relevant acts to bolster his projects.
Droves of critics have been quick to label it a midlife crisis, and one of Drake’s harshest critics, Joe Budden, has had a lot to say about For All the Dogs. In an episode of his podcast, The Joe Budden Show, the New Jersey musician exclaimed, “He rappin’ for the children. I had to look up how old this n*gga was when I finished listening to the album!”
He continued, “You’re gonna be 37 years old, get the f*ck away from some of these younger n*ggas! I wanna hear adult Drake rapping for adult people! Go find some n*ggas your f*ckin’ age and hang out with them. Get some of that sauce!”
Critics of Drake have been quick to highlight how, previously, Drake seemed to hand-select his collaborations, whereas now, with the likes of SZA, Bad Bunny and Lil Yachty, many feel that For All The Dogs was produced by a focus group rather than with an artistic vision in mind.
