Drake 21 Savage Her Loss album. Photo: Supplied
When two hip-hop artists decide to do a project together it can either go terribly wrong or work out very well. Very rarely is there a middle ground.
Jay-Z and Kanye West’s 2011 album Watch the Throne is a prime example of a successful collaboration. The first track No Church in the Wild bagged the dynamic duo a Grammy for Best Rap/sung Collaboration in 2013, while their hit single Ni**as in Paris — with its “provocative” title — scored the duo a Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song Grammy at the ceremony.
What Ye and Jay did on the album can never be duplicated. No egos, just strong bars, great vocals and exceptional instrumentals. It was all about the music.
I can’t say the same for rappers Drake (real name Aubrey Graham) and 21 Savage (Sheyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph) and their joint effort, Her Loss, released in November.
I wanted to like the project, trust me, I did. Mainly because I’ve been following Drake’s career since he dropped his EP So Far Gone in 2009. But after giving the Canadian rapper’s latest collaboration a good listen for three solid months, underwhelming and distasteful is the only way I can describe it.
Her Loss is meant to be a concept album exploring “modern courtship, shared disdain for less accomplished artists” and “detailing what life as a superstar entails”. I roll my eyes because it wouldn’t be a hip-hop album if there was no flexing about how much money a rapper makes.
The 16-track joint project is an uncentered, bombastic and wishy-washy failed sonic experiment.
On the song Circo Loco, which samples electro duo Daft Punk’s 2000 hit song One More Time, Drake raps, “This bitch lie ’bout getting shots, but she still a stallion,” leaving room for speculation that he was directing those lyrics at Megan Thee Stallion, who was shot in a car during an altercation.
Back in July 2020, Houston-born rapper Megan Thee Stallion, born Megan Pete, was shot by rapper Daystar Peterson, whose stage name is Tory Lanez. In December, a Los Angeles jury found Peterson guilty of negligent discharge of a firearm, assault with a semi-automatic firearm and carrying a loaded and unregistered firearm. He is yet to be sentenced.
After the verse on Circo Loco gained unpopular attention on social media last year, fellow rapper and co-writer of the song Lil Yachty hopped onto Instagram to say, “It’s not about Megan, it’s about women lying about their butt shots saying it’s real when it’s fake.”
That poor excuse for an explanation proves women are still being objectified and their bodies are still being policed. So, unfortunately for Drake, whether directed at Megan or not, his distasteful lyrics are just another case of misogynoir.
There could have been more crafty verses highlighting the chemistry between 21 Savage and Drake on Her Loss, as Drake demonstrated with his collabo with rapper Future on their 2015 joint mixtape What a Time to Be Alive, which sold more than 300 000 copies in its first week.
Overall, the album lacked creativity and so, quite frankly, it’s not her loss, it’s theirs.
— Bongeka Gumede
Drake’s Her Loss, an offering with UK rapper 21 Savage, had the potential to be a fire record. With Drake’s loverboy smooth lyricism and Savage’s rough and raw edge we almost, almost had a gem.
What the duo did on Jimmy Cooks, the final track on Drake’s previous album Honestly, Nevermind, was unmatched. The chemistry was so effortless, both of them killed the beat when the moment came, so the prospect of them working on an album together was exciting.
Unfortunately, Her Loss takes a quick left when you start hearing how misogynistic it is and how they never miss an opportunity to take jabs at women.
It is absolutely unenjoyable as most of the lyrics are so pungent with misogyny that they’re not easy to digest. You listen but feel inclined to pause and try to understand if any of it was necessary.
On Rich Flex, which is the intro track, you hear Drake and 21 Savage laying bars on Megan Thee Stallion, flow that she laid on her song Savage. So uncanny.
They continue taking digs at Megan Thee Stallion on Circo Loco, saying, “This bitch lie ’bout getting shots, but she still a stallion,” referencing her shooting by rapper Tory Lanez in July 2020. So distasteful.
At one point, 21 Savage is complaining about his girlfriend having her period. Like, what is she supposed to do? But the low-level publicity tactics started earlier …
Last year, Condé Nast, publisher of Vogue magazine, filed a $4 million copyright infringement lawsuit against Drake and 21 Savage for using a fake Vogue cover used to promote Her Loss.
“All of this is false. And none of it has been authorised by Condé Nast,” the lawsuit said.
The duo went as far as saying, “Thanks @voguemagazine and Anna Wintour for the love and support on this historic moment.”
Condé Nast responded in a statement: “Vogue magazine and its editor-in-chief Anna Wintour have had no involvement in Her Loss or its promotion, and have not endorsed it in any way.”
The messy promotion of this album did not end there — the duo pretended to have appeared on Saturday Night Live as well as faking a performance on NPR Music’s Tiny Desk series.
The overall production of Her Loss is clean, featuring the likes of Metro Boomin — who has worked with Nicki Minaj, Ace Hood, Dj Khaled and Schoolboy Q — as well as Tay Keith and Lil Yachty.
The production values on On BS are exactly what you would expect from a Drake offering — the baseline on this record is super crisp and the exchange of vocals between Drake and 21 Savage is exceptional.
What is worrying about Drake’s latest projects is that the songs don’t have longevity. They are easily forgettable. After a listen or two you are just over it.
His biggest flaw right now seems to be choosing quantity over quality. The churning out of one single after the other and one album after the other is starting to cost him.
Her Loss has done a lot more than just ruffle feathers — it is mean, lazy and absolutely unnecessary and uncalled for.
— Lesego Chepape