Once upon a time, Drake was a boy. Or more precisely, he was “The Boy,” as he often called himself: an ex-child star with a sensitive croon and a tender babyface, the fresh-faced prodigy who monopolised the culture. But with his 37th birthday in sight, Drake feels not just like a man, but an old man, in part because of his refusal to act his age. As he circles an inevitable mid-life crisis, the childish pettiness and adolescent insecurities that were once endearing in their juvenilia now seem tired and immature. Instead of chilling out and settling down as he approaches his forties, Drake’s new album For All the Dogs sees him acting up more than ever, in ways that frequently reek not just of insecurity, but outright misogyny.
Almost as if his bars were engineered in a laboratory to incite online discourse, Drake constantly reminds you of his age by directing his fragilities at women significantly younger than himself: a 21-year-old who wasn’t “a savage” on “Calling Your Name”; a 25-year-old who blames their relationship woes on her youth for “7969 Santa”. While Drake has always used uncomfortable language when talking about women, For All the Dogs sees him step into a role that’s nauseatingly patriarchal and almost abusive. He wants to handcuff them on “Fear of Heights,” then whip and chain them like “American slaves” on “Slime You Out”. When he raps that he “packs them into my phone like sardines” on “First Person Shooter”, his outright contempt for women stares you directly in the face.
