Virginia Beach

Virginia Beach opens For All the Dogs (2023) as a deliberately understated entry point rather than a statement single. Built on a melancholic, slowed-down vocal sample widely associated with Frank Ocean, the track lets Noah '40' Shebib's signature murky atmosphere carry the weight while Drake half-sings, half-raps about a strained connection with a woman tied to the title city. The song reads as a mood-setter: rather than announcing the album with bravado, Drake leans into the wistful, accusatory register that recurs across the project. The Virginia Beach setting functions less as travelogue than as emotional shorthand for distance and a relationship that didn't survive its circumstances. As a sequencing choice it signals that For All the Dogs, despite its harder rap moments, is anchored in the same nocturnal introspection Drake has cultivated since his earliest work, and it positions '40' once again as the album's primary sonic architect.