Background
Drake is an interesting topic in the rap scene. While he’s had some genre-shaking album drops in the past, recent drops have left the fanbase divided on whether Drake has fallen off or is a genius of the genre. The latter is a stretch in the opinion of this reviewer. Drake’s two albums that lead up to ‘Her Loss’ was ‘Certified Lover Boy’ (2021) and ‘Honestly, Nevermind’ (2022). While ‘Certified Lover Boy’ brought good songs to the table, both of the above-mentioned albums were not well received by most fans and critics. I might even call ‘Honestly, Nevermind’ one of Drake’s poorest-sounding albums. So it’s safe to say that my expectations were low for Drake’s newest release ‘Her Loss’.
But something was different about this album. This isn’t just a Drake album, this is a collaborative album with 21 Savage. 21 Savage has released far less music than Drake in the past couple of years but most rap fans will agree that 21 Savage has some great music in his discography. ‘I AM > I WAS’ (2018) and ‘ISSA ALBUM’ (2017) both sold over one million copies and were panned by critics.
21 Savage and Drake have appeared on several tracks together over the years and their chemistry is great. Behind the scenes, Drake and 21 Savage seem to be good friends. During a lengthy chat on Druski’s ongoing Clubhouse interview series, 21 Savage’s manager, Justin “Meezy” Williams, reveals that money has never been an issue when the two artists work together. Drake and 21’s first song together ‘Sneakin’ (2016) went platinum in the United States. Following that Drake featured on 21 Savage and Metro Boomin’s track ‘Mr. Right Now’ (2020) and in the following years, 21 Savage was featured on Drake’s ‘Knife Talk’ (2021) and ‘Jimmy Crooks’ (2022). All of these songs have been well received and performed well and considering the friendship that these two artists have, it’s no surprise that a collaborative album would be released by the two.
Review
‘Her Loss’ starts with a strong run of songs. ‘Rich Flex’, ‘Major Distribution’, and ‘On BS’ is a very solid run of songs. Rich Flex leads us into the album with a bombastic intro that gets the listener hyped up and sets the tone for the album. The song is pretty simple when it comes to lyrical substance, being literally a rich flex on the listener. ‘Major Distribution’ and ‘On BS’ are also good tracks, bringing us more great chemistry between 21 Savage and Drake.
After this, however, tracks on ‘Her Loss’ taper off. The rest of the album’s songs are a mixed bag of alright songs to downright boring. That said Drake and 21’s chemistry stays consistent throughout the album so I think props are due for that. I think my biggest negative on this album is that almost all of these songs are about the same thing. Flexing their wealth and women that don’t exist. Granted, ‘Spin Bout U’ is a very pro-women’s rights song with 21 Savage dropping bars like; “Damn, just turned on the news and seen that men who never got pussy in school Are makin' laws about what women can do."
Before I give you my score for this album I think it’s interesting to know why 21 and Drake have such good chemistry. As stated before these two artists have a very close friendship which most certainly helps in their work in the studio. Beyond this, It is a fantastic example of what happens when two ideologically similar rappers with very different approaches try to meet each other in the middle. 21 made a name for himself threatening his enemies in an extremely calm voice over impeccable production, while Drake is, by nature, not violent. His whole pop style doesn’t work when threatening someone like 21 does. Instead, his terror is made more from emotion. For ‘Her Loss’, Drake discards virtually all the sensitivity and empathy he's ever displayed for a steady stream of insults and glimpses of his naked interiority. And when you mix the two together it definitely works.
Final thoughts
‘Her Loss’ is a good example of what a collaborative album should be. Two or more artists coming together and making music that represents both of them. On top of that, the first three songs are pretty solid tracks. But all that flow can’t make up for the unfortunate lack of memorable songs on this album. Not to mention Drake and 21 Savage’s lack of creativity in their lyrics does nothing for the album either. I can forgive 21 Savage for this, as it seems like he writes his own songs, but it is a known fact that Drake uses ghostwriters. What’s the point of having a ghostwriter if they’re just going to say the same thing over and over again? By the end of listening to this album, I just wanted to be done with it. Overall I’d give ‘Her Loss’ a 6.5/10.