After spending the last few months on his It Was All a Blur Tour, which concludes Monday, Drake has finally dropped his highly anticipated record, For All the Dogs. In true Drake fashion, the album is filled with much to dissect. From the 6 God teaming up again with J. Cole after 10 years to surprise cameos featured on the record, For All the Dogs has no shortage of moments that have people talking. Let’s examine the top takeaways from Drake’s eighth studio album, For All the Dogs.

Takeaway No. 1: J. Cole and Drake are GOAT Bros.

Since the last time they collaborated on a track was “Jodeci Freestyle” in 2013, it is remarkable to see Cole and Drake together again. In their collaborative effort, “First Hand Shooter,” Cole confronts the ever-present three-headed monster of hip-hop debate for good as he clarifies how he feels about it once and for all:

“Love when they argue the hardest MC /  Is it K-Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me? / We the big three like we started a league / But right now, I feel like Muhammed Ali.”

Additionally, he mentions he and Drake are the living embodiment of the notorious Spider-Man meme: “The Spider-Man meme is me looking at Drake.”

After NBA YoungBoy called Cole a “ho” on his track “F**k the Industry, Pt. 2,” Cole decided to establish his stance.

In case of any confusion surrounding his mention of NBA YoungBoy, Cole mentions he wasn’t taking shots at the Baton Rouge rapper.

“N***as so thirsty to put me in beef / Dissectin’ my words and start lookin’ too deep / I look at the tweets and start suckin’ my teeth / I’m lettin’ it rock ‘cause I love the mystique / I still wanna get me a song with YB / Can’t trust everything that you saw on IG.”

On the third episode of Drake’s SiriusXM Table For One show, which aired hours before the album dropped, he spoke about his enthusiasm regarding working with Cole again and teased another collaboration: “I just got out of the studio. Fourth quarter magic, me and Cole going crazy,” he said. “Me and Cole went crazy tonight. Shout out J. Cole.”

Drake blasts 'weirdos' surrounding his relationship with Millie Bobby Brown.

For those unaware, Drake fostered a strong rapport with Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown over the years. 

In 2018, news broke that Drake had become “a great friend and a great role model” to the actor.

Given their age gap, with Drake being 36 and Brown being 19, many quickly considered their friendship questionable. At the time, Brown clapped back by calling those people “weirdos,” according to a report from Complex. 

To combat the scrutiny he faced in the past about the matter, Drake delivers a clapback on “Another Late Night.”

“My bank account is magnolia, Milly rockin’, ayy / Weirdos in my comments talkin’ bout some Millie Bobby, look / Bring them jokes up to the gang, we get to really flockin’ / Or send a finger to your mama in some FedEx boxes / Open up that s**t, it’s jaw droppin’, really shockin’, ayy / I ain’t pretty Flacko, b***h, this s**t get really rocky, ayy”

The Special Cameos

While Drake is no stranger to features, this record has an abundance. Some of the heavy hitters on the album include Teezo Touchdown, 21 Savage, J. Cole, YEAT, SZA, PartyNextDoor, Chief Keef, Sexxy Red and Lil Yachty.

In conjunction with all his features, he has some unexpected cameos from legendary singer Sade Adu and iconic West Coast rapper Snoop Dogg.

The project lists Kevin Durant as the A&R, arguably the most astounding fact of the credit lineup. The two have been friends for years, though, so it’s not the most far-fetched.

Additionally, for the first time in five years, Drake and Bad Bunny reunite for another track, “Gently.”

Drake still feels some type of way about Pusha T.

Over the last decade, Drake and Pusha T have been at odds, and their rivalry has been one for the books.

While the beef’s origins date back to 2006, according to Billboard, the most flagrant attacks from both parties occurred in 2018. 

During the year, Drake dropped “Duppy Freestyle,” which was a pretty lethal track, but Pusha T’s rebuttal, “The Story of Adidon,” may have been the most vicious of all the offenses. On the record, T infamously reveals Drake had a child he was allegedly hiding from the world, which was unbeknownst to the public then.

While things had seemingly died down, Drake continued to have lingering, meditative thoughts on the long-standing feud.

This year, he threw shots at T on “Meltdown,” a track from Travis Scott’s latest album, Utopia.

“I melt down the chains that I bought from your boss, give a f**k about all of that heritage s**t / Since V not around the members done hung up the Louis, they not even wearing that s**t / Don’t come to the boy ’bout repairing some s**t / Don’t come to the boy about sparing some s**t.”

Although there aren’t any specific shots taken at The Clipse rapper on Drake’s new record, the name of the first track on it is “Virginia Beach,” Pusha T’s hometown.

Many fans on X, formerly known as Twitter, have speculated about the matter.

“Why did Drake name the first song Virginia Beach?” @crafty_benardo asked alongside a meme video.

“Virginia Beach. Aubrey…don’t do this,” @SowmyaK said.

Contrary to all the hype, Nicki Minaj is nowhere on the album.

Drake and Nicki Minaj started in the rap game together under Lil Wayne’s Young Money imprint. Over the years, they’ve collaborated on multiple hits. However, it’s been a while since they’ve released new music together.

Not too long ago, Drake expressed some thoughts on the matter at the Detroit stop of his tour.

“I’m gonna give away one thing for you tonight because I got a lot of love for Detroit. I’m gonna have to tell you that me and Nicki Minaj did our first song together in a really long time. I got a lot of love for her.”

Of the 23 tracks and myriad features on For All the Dogs, Nicki Minaj doesn’t appear on the album. 

User @jaylenafterhour tweeted a meme video of looking for Nicki on the album.

Despite her exclusion from For All the Dogs, perhaps they’ll collaborate on her upcoming project, Pink Friday 2, which drops on Nov. 17.

Users are furious about some strays thrown at Rihanna.

One of the most negatively received aspects of the album was its perceived disses at his ex, Rihanna.

As Us Weekly reported, “I’m anti, I’m anti,” Drake states in “Fear of Heights,” perhaps referring to her album of the same name. He also uses the term “gyal,” and then says, “Yeah, and the sex was average with you / Yeah, I’m anti ’cause I had it with you.” He also says, “And I had way badder b***hes than you, TBH / Yeah, that man, he still with you, he can’t leave you / Y’all go on vacation, I bet it’s Antilles.”

He also seemingly took a shot at A$AP Rocky, Rihanna’s now-partner, rapping, “Why they make it sound like I’m still hung up on you?” Drake seemingly sings to his ex. “That could never be / Gyal can’t ruin me / Better him than me / Better it’s not me.”

Have you listened to For All the Dogs? What do you think about it?

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