Today, two of the world’s most respected and popular rappers, Drake and 21 Savage, released their highly anticipated collaborative album Her Loss. The project is currently available on all major streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple, and Tidal.
The album has already received massive support and overwhelmingly positive reviews. It features 16 songs and exactly 60 minutes of straight up HEAT from the Toronto x Atlanta superstars.
Drake x 21 Savage Her Loss album art featuring Qui Yasuka aka Suki Baby
Her Loss Album Review
I want to start off my review of the Her Loss album by making sure I clearly say that I believe this is one of the best albums, if not the best album of the year.
Why?
Because Drake and 21 Savage really delivered an impressive and well-received project.
When you consider the body of work that they crafted for Her Loss, the positives surrounding the album are all pretty in-line with what we typically get from both Drake and 21 Savage.
The Slaughter Gang CEO and the OVOXO King opted to work over numerous dark, bass and piano-fueled trap beats. Often pairing soulful samples with vibey beats and layers of rapping or singing by both artists. It goes without saying that each song on Her Loss takes listeners on a journey through the depths of Drake’s and 21 Savage’s mind and life.
Biggest Takeaways From the Album
- Really dope beat selection.
- Impressive creativity with sampling and song structure.
- Community support on level 10M – give them their flowers!!
- Numerous quotable lyrics spread across multiple songs
- High replay value in car, gym, and while working.
- Not the most ideal move to reference Megan The Stallion’s shooting incident.
Quick Thoughts on the Tracks
I personally feel like this project has at least seven, maybe eight certified slaps. That’s one of the numerous reasons why I believe this could be album of the year.
- “Rich Flex” is legitimately a hitter thanks to the beat, flow, and storytelling.
- “Major Distribution” has a CRAZY beat with Drake and 21 both spittin’ bar after bar.
- “On BS” is a straight up trap and club banger that guaranteed slaps to drive to.
- “BackoutsideBoyz” is a solid blend of what radio-ready rap music sounds like.
- “Privileged Rappers” features Drake and 21 trading bars about privileged artists.
- “Spin Bout U” uses a sample that pairs perfectly with Savagemode poetry and Drizzy R&B crooning.
- “Hours in Silence” = Drake rapping/singing about things that’ll get you thinking.
- “Treacherous Twins” is a catchy vibe with a dark bassy beat + 21 x Drake killin’.
- “Circo Loco” is a hit but references Megan The Stallion being shot by Tory Lanez.
- “Pussy and Millions” has the big feature with Travis Scott and is catchy… in theory.
- “Broke Boys” has Drake and 21 flowing effortlessly over two beats in one basically.
- “Middle of the Ocean” is soulful with only Drake rapping for six minutes.
- “Jumbotron Shit Poppin” features only Drake with auto-tune and a Lil Baby flow.
- “More M’s” is a slapper with a fire beat, content, and BARS from BOTH artists.
- “3AM on Glenwood” is basically rap poetry over a beat that is meant to drive to.
- “I Guess It’s Fuck Me” got me thinking and wanting more in life + from both artists.
Drake and 21 Savage perform at Forbes Arena at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. | Prince Williams/Wireimage
Using Alternative Promotion and Marketing Tactics for Her Loss Album
For Her Loss, Drake and 21 Savage also opted to take a different direction when it came to their promotions and marketing.
One could argue that Drake did what he normally does by promoting the album through his Instagram and doing so pretty last minute. However, the main difference for this release compared to previous ones was that the two artists did interviews with seemingly non-traditional, non-music, media groups. We didn’t see Drake or 21 Savage do interviews with the usual likes of The Breakfast Club, LA Leakers, Big Boi’s Neighborhood, or even Million Dollaz Worth of Game.
One particular media entity, Howard Stern, seemingly hosted both Drake and 21 Savage this past week for an in-studio interview. It will probably go down in history as one of the more comical conversations in the world of rap and hip-hop.
I highly recommend you check out the clip below before watching the full conversation.
Drake and 21 Savage also made sure to hop on the cover of Vogue and stop by NPR for a Tiny Desk Concert. The full video hasn’t released yet so be sure to stay tuned for that drop here probably never because it was all part of a deepfake campaign for the album.
Reflecting on Drake and 21 Savage’s’ Accomplishments
After more than a decade of Drake and his music, it’s clear that dude understands how to leverage the media and have it work in his favor. Time and time again we’ve seen him run his own uniquely different playbook and still execute.
For me, him and 21 Savage once again accomplished something great. Each and every single song on the album has immense replay value.
Every single song on this album slaps in its own legitimate way. I found myself getting hype to the banger tracks and really thinking and listening to each word on the more introspective songs. I’m sure I’ll listen to certain tracks less than others, but at least for now, the next few weeks my ears will be filled with this project.
Some might say that the project was predictable, or that it was below Drake to reference Meg The Stallion, DRAM, and Kanye, but the fact is that Drake is legitimately kind of petty and seemingly takes some things personally, even after some time. Additionally, the beat selection by Drake and 21 is always one of the more attractive parts when it comes to listening to their music.
Is Her Loss the Best Album of the Year?
As it goes with most of the projects that compete for the “best of” titles, I’d say the key winning factor with this project’s success so far was the fact that these two guys are extremely famous and have diverse followings in multiple countries and across numerous age demographics. Both artists delivered fire in the form of dope rhymes, varying flows, and beat selection.
Listen through each track and you’ll find that sometimes the beat switches up early in the track or somewhere in the middle, and this ultimately does wonders with changing the entire vibe of the song or oftentimes the flow of the rapper. Building out the songs this way kept me on my toes and had me wondering when the beats would switch up during each of the longer tracks.
My only real knock on the project is Drake’s reference to Megan Tha Stallion about her lying about the shooting. That could’ve been done just on some freestyling the music type shit, or it could’ve been done for the viral share factor. I am not one of the people who believe Drake does anything for extra clout or shares, so, at this point it is hard to say why that was included on the album. I will say that I love the jabs at Kanye and DRAM and hope it inspires more artists to step up their raps going forward.
Final Thoughts on Her Loss album by Drake and 21 Savage
In summary, as soon as I turned on Her Loss, I was hooked.
If you’re the kind of person to listen to albums all the way through, I 100% recommend turning this on today and just letting it ride out to the end.
Although some responses on the internet have been that the project is so-so, or just another predictable Drake project, I would disagree, and specifically say that once again both artists have surpassed expectations and delivered another championship-grade album.
People in today’s world of rap and hip-hop talk a lot about a project’s replay value, an artist’s ability to map out their albums, their lyricism, how they roll out their music, and how they execute their promotions.
When you look at Her Loss, it’s hard for me to not check off all the boxes.
Congratulations to Drake and 21 Savage!!
