After a couple delays and an acclaimed single with SZA, on Oct. 6, popular Canadian rapper Drake finally released his highly anticipated 15th studio album, “For All The Dogs.”  With features from popular artists such as Chief Keef and J. Cole, two highly successful singers with multiple platinum hits, and a 23 song tracklist, everything seemed to line up for the album to be a classic. 

The album starts off very strong with “Virginia Beach,” which samples Frank Ocean’s “Wiseman” and features smooth songwriting. After listening, it leaves a feeling that this is just the start to another classic Drake album. 

The next couple songs featured some hard hitting samples from up and coming artist Teezo Touchdown, and frequent Drake collaborator 21 Savage, who have released many critically acclaimed tracks.  The problem with these samples is they left the Drake verses feeling lackluster because of his repetitive and, honestly, stupid-sounding lyrics. This was immediately broken by “Fear of Heights,” my personal favorite because of how Drake delivers arrogantly honest lyrics that flow together over a similarly intense beat. 

  After a few more songs where Drake is in the shadow of his own features, Yeat and SZA, Drake has another run of lackluster songs with “Bahamas Promises,” “Tried Our Best” and “Drew a Picasso.” He breaks this streak with the help of features from PARTYNEXTDOOR, Chief Keef and Bad Bunny, all of whom are respected artists on their own.

The next song on the album “Rich Baby Daddy” (featuring Sexyy Red and SZA), name drops Cincinnati. Referencing his collaborator Sexyy Red, Drake says “I’m with Red like I’m at a Cincinnati game.” This obviously stands for the Cincinnati Reds, who over exceeded expectations but under delivered when it mattered most. This isn’t the first time Drake has referenced our city, with him singing “When I was pumpin’ gas on to road trips to go from Cincinnati onto Dayton,” in his 2018 song “Elevate” off of his album “Scorpion.”

Drake then finishes the album with a couple of forgettable songs that weren’t anything to write home about. Drake’s performance was subpar (for him), but some of the features carried the album into the conversation for one of the better albums this year. For me, the album did not meet my standards and even though it was a good album, I expect more out of an artist like Drake.