Our favorite moments from Drake’s new album For All The Dogs
Here are the bits that stuck out after our first listen to Drake’s latest LP.
Like most event albums in rap today, Drake's new project For All the Dogs was analyzed, dissected, and reassembled sans context as first-time listeners streamed the album upon its release at 6 a.m. on Friday. Naturally, The FADER's writers were there as well, pouring over each track with a depth of concentration usually reserved for telekenesis. After playing the albums once each, we each selected a standout moment from the project. Sometimes cringy and sometimes cool, all of the moments are listed below.
Chief Keef warbling for a few seconds on "All The Parties," followed by Drake referencing the Pet Shop Boys
We're probably never getting Almighty So 2 at this point, so we'll just have to settle for Chief Keef randomly popping up for the foreseeable future. His brief, glossy appearance on "All The Parties" is enough of a left-turn to warrant a beat switch, and the track stays playful up until the end when Drake briefly croons an interpolation of "West End Girls." I love when a song keeps me guessing, especially when the train of thought leads to Sosa and '80s pop classics. — Jordan Darville
Lil Yachty bringing some much-needed chill
Drake never really sounds like he’s having any fun on For All The Dogs. Even when he’s trying to sound lighthearted, the smile seems forced, eyes fixed in place. Instead, he bristles and grumbles, bitter residue everywhere. Well over an hour in, on “Another Late Night,” when he should really have got it all off his chest already, he’s still threatening to mutilate and locate the mother of anyone who brings up Millie Bobby Brown in his Instagram comments. So, it’s a relief to hear Lil Yachty tucked in there at the end, bouncing from line to line, rifling off some non-sequiturs and bouncing between rhyme schemes at random. Like stepping outside for a lungful of cool air. — Alex Robert Ross
The mischievousness of "What Would Pluto Do"
For most rappers, a song called “What Would Pluto Do” would lean on misogyny like a crutch, a phoned-in diatribe about how these bitches ain’t shit. Luckily for all the dogs, Drake is only asking the rhetorical as a post-hoc rationalization for talking up his bro’s old flame. BNYX is joined behind the boards by Bangs (“Out Late“) and Gentuar Memishi (“Privileged Rappers”); the trio’s plinking beat sounds like a 24-karat pachinko machine. Drake’s in hilarious form: “Babygirl Adonis need a sister, okayyyy.” Kinda violating the Ten Snipe Commandments, though. What would French Montana say? — Vivian Medithi
That random Scarface moment
From the intro: "You're all a bunch of fucking assholes/You know why?/You don't have the guts to be what you wanna be/You need people like me/You need people like me so you can point your fucking fingers/And say that's the bad guy"
I, too, like to go around randomly quoting Al Pacino's monologue as Tony Montana in Scarface all day. — Cady Siregar
Drake ceding ground on "IDGAF"
“IDGAF” opens with a spacey sample from jazz trio Azimuth that takes you immediately to the astral plane before Yeat crashes the party with his droning voice and sci-fi synthesizers. Drake’s presence on the song is more of an afterthought, but that’s probably why it’s so effective; instead of copying Yeat’s flow, Drake just gives him a space to do his thing and get weird. — Nadine Smith
Remember that Frank Ocean leak?
You know Drake is dialed in if he's opening an album with a Frank Ocean sample *and* the song is named after Pusha T's hometown. "Virginia Beach" is built around a pitched-up snippet of Ocean's "Wise Man," a 2012 track he wrote for Django Unchained that Quentin Tarantino couldn't find room to include in the movie. It paves the way for some trademark petty Drake bars about a fallen relationship, including references to Parsons School of Design and text message exchanges that feel like sword fighting. Ocean's voice washes through at various points, his line "I bet your mother would be proud of you," adding insult to injury. — David Renshaw
The debut of a new Spanish accent
When Drake made a guest appearance on Bad Bunny’s 2018 track “Mia,” the listening public marveled at his command of the Spanish language. Returning the favor five years later as Bad Bunny’s host on “Gently,” he seems to have regressed. “My G, Tití came VIP with a baño,” he begins, his forced tone indicating that he’s in said baño right now, fighting for his life on the porcelain throne. “Me gusta su sonrisa aunque me haga daño,” he goes on, eliding the diphthong in “aunque” and pronouncing the silent “h” in “haga.”
Things only get worse: “I live like Sopranos, Italianos,” he proclaims, referring to a non-Spanish-speaking population. “I’ve been El Chico for cincuenta años.” (This is incorrect math: Drake is 36.)
“Me gusta su culazo perreando / Le da hasta abajo, le gusta este tamaño,” he continues against all better judgement, shaping his words as a two-year-old would a ball of clay. “Dale, Papi Champaño, jheez / Ah, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh.” — Raphael Helfand