The Wide World of Dirt

Drake released For All The Dogs earlier this month, his third studio album in as many years; that timeline has come with criticism.

His detractors argue that he is now more brand than artist, resulting in albums that evoke the feeling of Drake but tell very little about Aubrey Graham.

Drake’s supporters will tell you a different story.

To them he is the model of consistency, a reliable source for a solid-to-good album every 12 to 18 months with enough tracks to give everyone something they like.

For me, the answer lies somewhere in the middle. I’d consider myself a fan of Drake, though less than I was even a few years ago.

He is talented and capable of making good music, but I also think the annual releases have hurt the structure, sequencing and quality of his work.

That led me to think of an idea: what if Drake released one studio album between 2018 and 2023? His most comprehensive work, leaving filler on the cutting room floor and focusing on quality.

With that thought in mind, I set out to make the best Drake album possible from his last four solo projects.

I’ll go through each album and select the songs I picked, and I’ll reveal the final product at the very end.

I thought that Scorpion was a weak project overall when it released, and much of it doesn’t hold up for me.

With that in mind, I’m keeping only three songs on Scorpion: “Nonstop,” “Sandra’s Rose” and “Blue Tint.”

This was an easy album to make cuts on. Most of the second side of this album is legitimately awful, songs that I don’t think I’ve listened to since the first few times I heard this album.

Certified Lover Boy seems to be divisive, but it’s personally one of the more recent rap albums I enjoyed the most.

While it might have too many songs, a lot of them forgettable (this is a theme), it manages to be a fun listen most of the time.

The bulk of the album will come from here as I’m keeping eight songs: “Champagne Poetry,” “Love All,” “Way 2 Sexy,” “N 2 Deep,” “Pipe Down,” “No Friends in the Industry,” “Race My Mind” and “The Remorse.”

Moving on to Honestly, Nevermind, and the less said about this album the better.

It’s by far my least favorite Drake album; with that in mind I am keeping only one song: “Flight’s Booked.”

Finally, we have For All The Dogs.

I don’t think this is a good album as a whole, but I do like certain songs. It suffers from the same issue as Scorpion and CLB: too many songs, too many swings for home runs with a lot of singles and doubles mixed in.

I don’t mind Drake taking chances, even if I don’t care for it (the Bad Bunny song, anything he does with Lil Yachty) but I think releasing those songs as loose singles or even on another mixtape would be better than bloating the album with them.

Because of that, I’m keeping five songs: “7969 Santa,” “Tried Our Best,” “Members Only,” “All The Parties” and “8AM in Charlotte.”

That leaves us with 17 songs, the same amount as my personal favorite Drake album, If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late.

I understand the way that albums need to be weighted for success on streaming services now, so I get why his albums are all 20+ tracks, but trimming things down a bit increases the quality.

The Final Result:

1. 8AM in Charlotte
2. Sandra’s Rose
3. Champagne Poetry
4. Love All (feat. Jay-Z)
5. No Friends In The Industry
6. Nonstop
7. Way 2 Sexy (feat. Future & Young Thug)
8. Blue Tint (feat. Future)
9. Pipe Down
10. N 2 Deep (feat. Future)
11. All The Parties (feat. Chief Keef)
12. 7969 Santa
13. Race My Mind
14. Flight’s Booked
15. Members Only (feat. PARTYNEXTDOOR)
16. Tried Our Best
17. The Remorse

Take a listen on Apple Music or Spotify and let me know what you think!