Drake is exhausting. Honestly, there’s no other way to put it. By the time October 2023 rolled around and we finally got For All The Dogs, the general consensus was that we were looking at a bloated, 23-track behemoth that felt like a man trying to be everything to everyone. It was a lot to digest. Then, barely a month later, he drops a bombshell. He adds six tracks—the Scary Hours 3 portion—and suddenly the entire conversation shifts. Drake For All The Dogs Scary Hours Edition isn't just a deluxe; it’s a course correction that happens in real-time.
It’s weird.
Usually, when an artist drops a "deluxe" version, it’s a collection of leftovers. You know the vibe—songs that weren't good enough for the original cut but are used to juice streaming numbers. This felt different. This felt like Drake heard the critics saying he’d lost his pen and decided to prove a point. He didn't just add songs; he added a statement.
The Scary Hours 3 Pivot
The six tracks added to the Drake For All The Dogs Scary Hours Edition are some of the most focused bars we’ve heard from the 6ix God in years. It’s stripped back. Gone are the club anthems and the attempts at TikTok virality. Instead, we got The Alchemist and Conductor Williams production. That’s a specific choice. It signals a move toward the "connoisseur" rap crowd—the people who value lyricism over melody.
"Red Button" sets the tone immediately. He’s naming names without naming names. He’s talking about Kanye. He’s talking about the industry. He’s talking about the fatigue of being at the top for fifteen years. It’s breathless. There isn't even a hook on half these tracks. It's just a man and a microphone, which is exactly what the "old Drake" fans have been begging for since Scorpion.
You have to wonder why he didn't just lead with this. Maybe he needed the commercial safety of the original album first. Or maybe, as he claimed in the trailer for the drop, these songs were written in a five-day fever dream after the album was already out. If that’s true, it’s an insane flex. It suggests that while everyone else is struggling to put together a cohesive project over years, Drake can roll out of bed and drop "Evil Ways" with J. Cole just to remind people he can still go toe-to-toe with the best lyricists alive.
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Why The "Dogs" Title Finally Made Sense
The original For All The Dogs felt a bit scattered. You had "Slime You Out" with SZA, which was a slow-burn R&B joint, followed by "Rich Baby Daddy," which was basically a Sexyy Red song featuring Drake. It was chaotic. But when you look at the Drake For All The Dogs Scary Hours Edition as a complete package, the narrative arc becomes clearer.
It’s about the hunt.
The "Dogs" aren't just his friends; they're the version of himself that refuses to retire. On "Stories About My Brother," he’s reflecting on loyalty in a way that feels genuinely somber. There’s no ego there, just a weary sense of reality. He’s realizing that the higher he goes, the smaller his circle gets. It’s a theme he’s played with before, but here, over the soulful, dusty loops of the Scary Hours addition, it feels earned rather than performative.
People love to hate on Drake’s length. They say his albums are too long. They aren’t wrong. 29 tracks is a marathon. But the Drake For All The Dogs Scary Hours Edition rewards the listener who sticks it out. It’s like a movie that has a post-credits scene that completely recontextualizes the ending. You realize the first two-thirds of the album were the party, and the final six tracks are the hangover where all the real talking happens.
The Production Shift
Let's talk about the beats. Most of the original album was handled by the usual suspects—40, Boi-1da, BNYX. It sounded like "modern Drake." But the Scary Hours side? That’s where things got spicy.
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- The Alchemist on "Wick Man" provided a haunting, atmospheric backdrop that forced Drake to slow down his cadence.
- Conductor Williams, the man largely responsible for the Griselda sound, gave Drake "Stories About My Brother." It’s a grimey, sample-heavy world that Drake usually stays away from.
- Vinylz and BoogzDaBeast kept things cinematic on "Red Button."
This wasn't just Drake rapping; it was Drake rapping over prestige production. It’s a subtle nod to the Griselda/Dreamville world without fully leaning into the "underground" aesthetic. It’s Drake showing he can play in their sandbox better than they can.
Addressing the Critics
The reception to the Drake For All The Dogs Scary Hours Edition was fascinating. Music critics, who had largely panned the original release for being "more of the same," were suddenly forced to give him his flowers. Joe Budden, who famously had a public spat with Drake following the original album's release, even had to admit that the Scary Hours addition was the "rap" Drake he had been asking for.
It highlights a weird paradox in his career. He is the most successful artist of his generation, yet he still seems deeply bothered by the idea that people think he's "soft" or that he’s lost his edge. The Drake For All The Dogs Scary Hours Edition is a direct response to that insecurity. It’s a defensive move, but an effective one.
"The Shoe Fits" is probably the best example of this. It’s a six-minute long lecture. He’s literally talking to women—and his critics—about their life choices, their motivations, and their hypocrisies. It’s polarizing. Some people find it misogynistic and preachy; others see it as the most honest Drake has been in years. It’s the kind of song that keeps him relevant. You can't just ignore it.
Does it hold up?
Looking back at it now, this edition feels like the definitive version of the project. If you listen to just the first 23 songs, you’re getting a standard Drake pop album. If you add those last six, you’re getting a career retrospective. It’s the difference between a summer blockbuster and an indie drama. By smashing them together, he created something that feels weirdly comprehensive of his entire psyche.
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How to Listen to the "Dogs" Experience
If you’re diving into Drake For All The Dogs Scary Hours Edition for the first time, or if you’re trying to find the value in the nearly 30-track runtime, don't try to do it all at once. It’s too much. Instead, try breaking it down into "moods."
The first half is for the gym, the car, and the pre-game. The middle section is for the late-night drives. But the Scary Hours tracks? Those are for when you’re alone. Those are the tracks you listen to when you want to actually hear what one of the most powerful men in music thinks about his life when the lights go down.
- Start with the Scary Hours tracks first. Seriously. Listen to the last six songs as a standalone EP. It changes how you hear the rest of the album.
- Focus on the lyrics of "Evil Ways." The chemistry between Drake and J. Cole is palpable. It’s a preview of the Big As The What? tour energy.
- Pay attention to the transition. Notice how the energy shifts from "Virginia Beach" at the very start to "You Broke My Heart" at the very end. It’s a journey from longing to complete detachment.
The Drake For All The Dogs Scary Hours Edition isn't just an album; it’s a document of a man who is clearly bored with being at the top but is too competitive to leave. It’s flawed, it’s long, and it’s occasionally annoying. But it’s also undeniably brilliant in flashes. It’s the most "Drake" project he’s ever released, for better or worse.
If you want to understand the current state of hip-hop, you have to grapple with this record. You have to decide if you want the "Hotline Bling" hitmaker or the "7am On Bridle Path" lyricist. With this edition, you don't have to choose. He gives you both, then asks you why you're still complaining.
The smartest way to engage with this project moving forward is to curate your own version. Take the ten best tracks from the original and the six tracks from the Scary Hours addition. You’ll find one of the best 16-song albums of the decade hidden inside a 29-song giant. That’s the real trick Drake played on us. He gave us the raw materials to build our own classic, and in the process, he ensured his dominance for another year.
Next Steps for the Listener:
- Compare the lyrics of "Red Button" to the rumored beefs of 2023-2024 to see how many "predictions" Drake actually made.
- Listen to "The Shoe Fits" back-to-back with "Marvin's Room" to see how his perspective on relationships has soured—or matured—over the last decade.
- Create a playlist consisting only of Drake's "Time and Location" songs (e.g., 8am in Charlotte) alongside the Scary Hours 3 tracks to see how his "serious" rapping style has evolved.