REVIEW: DRAKE - FOR ALL THE DOGS

4/5

Dog Day Afternoon.

It's a dog's life. 9AM in Dallas, or anywhere else in the United States for that matter, people were waking to the new Drake. One of the biggest albums of the year in the new music calendar. Partly because it was delayed and anticipated for a release before it dropped unexpectedly to a notorious reception this weekend. All as Drizzy confirms himself as OVO once again with October's very own 6th release from the artist of the city of that number. Two hours later, everyone from Canada to Japan was rocking the '8AM In Charlotte' single that buzzed like a hornet to conclude these MJ 23 tracks that truly go hard like the recent rap trend in its 50-year anniversary. Just like the 'Magic' of Nas three-praying twice like a Bull with a 'King's Disease'. You just know Aubrey Graham is way more than top 50, and a half century of his tracks from his Wu-Tang Chamber would go into the vaults of the great American book of rhymes. Turning millennial relationship woes from a punchline to an art form. Stunting for those who still claim he's soft, "I got these cats tuckin' tails on fourth-quarter sales/I'm used to seein' tears drop over enormous meals/The restaurant clears out, faint echoes of Lauryn Hill/I say, "We gotta talk about us," I feel like Jordan Peele/Could tell I'm gettin' under your skin like an orange peel/'Cause your words don't match your actions like a foreign film/And now it's silence in the Lamb' like the horror film/Things get quiet after me statin' the obvious/Things get kinky after fifteen years of dominance/That October sky is lookin' ominous." This is for all the dogs. WOOF! 

With Snoop Dogg as your Samuel L. Jackson 'Do The Right Thing' disc jokey like Jim Carrey for fellow Canadian come-up, The Weekend, this eighth wonder of an album like Kobe follows 'Her Loss' and 'Honestly, Never Mind' for a savage run like 21 for the 6 God. The OVO Sound features that partner in rhyme like a Hit-Boy on 'Calling For You', whilst Teezo Touchdown lets us pray on 'Amen'. 'IDGAF' says Yeats on this modern poetry, before there's a PartyNextDoor for 'Members Only'. Inviting you to more for 'All The Parties' with Chief Keef and 'Another Late Night' with Little Yatchy setting sail. It's rapper of the moment Bad Bunny who comes in hard like a 'Bullet Train' fighting Brad Pitt on a Shinkansen 'Gently'. But for all the classic collabs, it's one of the is generation's greats SZA who gets in twice. Once with Sexyy Red and a 'Rich Baby Daddy'. And the other on the crazy concept of a Kids Choice like 'Slime You Out' single for all your Nickelodeon nostalgia that knows what girls (don't) like, going back and forth like Aaliyah. "I met the n### you thought could replace/How were there even comparisons made?/B####, next time, I swear on my grandmother grave/I'm slimin' you for them kid choices you made." Yet for all the features on this album, like the formidable fortress of a 'First-Person Shooter' with contemporary peer J. Cole, Drizzy like a Cole world still has enough tracks in this tank to show he can do it all with no guest appearances. 

Scrawling in his book of rhymes with some serious scribes like the amazing album artwork that on the service looks like another confused choice for the 'Certified Lover Boy' Drake is going in with tracks (facts) like he used to do with mentor Lil'Wayne. Watch him (hear and heed) 'Drew A Picasso' (draw), from a 'Virginia Beach' inspired intro the new Louis Vuitton don Pharrell Williams would be proud of, all the way to the 'Polar Opposites' bookending conclusion. Christmas really has come early for the '7969 Santa' with a snow blaster. Even the interludes ('Screw The World' and 'BBL Love') have influence like Diddy's Love album. This is a promise like the 'Bahamas' to say "I know that you're not for me, Hailey/You're livin' in my mind for free/And for someone you don't miss, I sure feel like somebody you need." This album to go with the 'Titles Ruin Everything' Lana Del Rey like poetry book takes a page out of everything, from Frank Ocean's work to Azimuth now these 'Dog Days Are Over' (twice over). Not to mention those 'West End Girls' of the Pet Shop Boys for the rapper who was 'Way 2 Sexy' for his shirt like he was Right Said Fred. Now give him back his bread. 

Releasing albums yearly with red eyes like your mailman delivers the post daily, this Raptor can't be stopped, clawing away at the game he owns and is in like EA. Sporting signature styles with a twist, even with a 'Feat Of Heights'. By 'Daylight' his tunnel vision makes 90s blockbusters like Stallone his own, rapping, "I'm geekin' hard, I know how it look/Don't know what to take, don't know what I took," with 'Scarface' samples. Y'all a bunch of (what Al said) if you don't see how bad this guy is. 'Tried Our Best'? Nah, he raises that bar with his. Asking 'What Would Pluto Do' like Mickey to the tune of, "Yeah, thought they knew my body, guess they don't/Thought they knew my body, guess they don't, ayy/Thought they knew my body, guess they/Ayy, guess they don't", referencing his body of work. Just don't Airdrop it. Because by the time we get 'Away From Home', Toronto's very own tells us, "This don't feel like home anymore/It's just wall, doors, and floors/That only I can afford/Remember when it used to mean more, mean more/I got money in the top drawer/That ain't much, but we not poor/You're mine and I'm yours/Like a broke couple, we don't wanna court, for sure." Remember the old saying about not knowing where you're going without knowing where you came from? Never forget. Because when it comes to this owl rapping until another 6AM comes, he wears Toronto across his pounding chest like the NBA. My dog. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: '8AM In Charlotte', 'Slime You Out (Feat. SZA)', 'First Person Shooter (Feat. J. Cole)'.