Team Drizzy, new music has arrived. Drake’s new album, For All the Dogs, is here. And, for some reason, Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant has an album credit.
In all fairness, Drake has never been shy about the relationship between pop culture and sports. In his song Thank Me Now, he says, “I swear sports and music are so synonymous ’cause we want to be them, and they want to be us.”
Over the years, Drake has popped up at plenty of games, bet on major events like the NBA Finals, and enlisted the help of athletes for his music. Most recently, during his “It’s All A Blur Tour,” he partnered with seven stars, including Durant.
He’s working with Durant again but in an unusual capacity.
Kevin Durant is credited on Drake's new album "For All the Dogs" pic.twitter.com/lSbiKDRwFM
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 6, 2023
Durant is noted as the sole individual responsible for the A&R (or artists and repertoire) for Drake’s new album. According to Nikola Iliev of Forbes, the role of an A&R person is to listen to music and find people they think have potential. That person then works with those artists to do things such as choosing the right song to record. The A&R person also helps promote music and get it played on the radio and television.
Transparently, Drake likely doesn’t need much help in those departments. He probably has a team of people that do that for him. However, Durant might have helped to secure some of the other talent on the album. Jazz Monroe and Matthew Strauss of Pitchfork compiled a list for the project, detailing how it includes massive talent like J. Cole, rapper and singer Bad Bunny, and newcomer SexxyRed.
Either way, this is a classy move by Drake. Well done, Aubrey.
