Drake provides his avid, impatient listeners with a bit of everything on the emotional masterpiece that is “For All the Dogs,” dropped October 6.
In true Drake fashion, he once again proves he is multifaceted. He can “stand for Do Right and Kill Everything,” as explained on “Miss Me” from 2010’s “Thank Me Later.” Or he can be petty, fussing about his ex and how she blocked him, clearly evidenced through the tedious whines that constitute some songs on “For All the Dogs.”
This distinction between two such songs on the album — “First Person Shooter” and “Polar Opposites” — is what keeps Drake relevant.
Paired with screeching violins and an apocalyptic soundtrack, “First Person Shooter” remains energetic throughout, discussing the debate around who the G.O.A.T. — Greatest of All Time — of hip-hop is through confident, classic J. Cole bars, who is featured on the song. Listening to this song feels like going home: at long last, Drake isn’t just ostentatiously complaining about his relationship problems as he does on the rest of the album.
However, “Polar Opposites” is the — well — polar opposite of “First Person Shooter.” The last song on the album, it features Drake quite literally bemoaning how his ex left him.
“Why do I get treated different?” he wonders, later adding, “I don’t know, I don’t know.”
The chorus — in which he accuses his ex of having symptoms resembling that of bipolar disorder and calls her immature for “block[ing] … [him] on everything” — features a beat drop every so often but remains melancholy and nostalgic.
“Polar Opposites” is a song one would expect to listen to on a rainy day when their mood matches the gray, stormy sky. It is not one with the other up-tempo songs on “For All the Dogs.” (Audiences agree. Nearly a month after the album dropped, songs like “IDGAF” and “First Person Shooter” are carrying its sales, while “Polar Opposites” and “BBL Love,” where Drake grouses in Auto-Tune, remain the least-streamed on Spotify.)
“For All the Dogs” proves he can be giddy, hilariously piping up “money for fun” during Yeat’s feature on “IDGAF,” or he can be confident, rapping on “First Person Shooter” like he’s “one of the big three that started a league.” He can be despondent, lamenting how he and his ex are polar opposites, then sing about passion and love in the next lyric.
That difference is what renders “For All the Dogs” an emotional masterpiece. Drake provides a little something for every one of his listeners — everything from hard rap to euphoric, unrequited love songs — keeping them on their toes for whatever is to follow.
At first glance, “For All the Dogs” presents itself as done half-heartedly, with some songs lacking the spirit and passion Drake has channeled in his past work.
But, somewhere in the tangles of perfunctory Drakeisms like comparing OVO Records’ success to that of bagels and lightsabers — “I stay with that on like a tie/I stay with that on like a bagel/I stay with that on like a lightsaber,” from “IDGAF” — this album emerges as a classic, infused with the art of confidence and “hav[ing] the guts to be what you wanna be.”