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After Drake and 21 Savage partnered up to give fans the new album Her Loss, fans were torn. Janice Phiri looks at some of the biggest album standouts to help us decide if it is truly genius or just cheap shots.
US rapper Drake has delivered yet another project. This time, the award-winning hip-hop genius partnered with fellow rapper 21 Savage. After the largely negative reaction to his album Honestly, Nevermind, this project is fit with 16 tracks and is well on its way to being one of Drake’s better releases this year.
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Drake’s ability to stay relevant after a full decade in the industry is something to behold, even though this time, he seems to rub up some fans the wrong way. Her Loss is raunchy and features a side of Drake that somehow fits perfectly with 21 Savage's gangster image. This came as a surprise, considering Drake once crowned himself a certified lover boy.
Let's look at some of the standout moments from Her Loss.
A roll-out to end all roll-outs
Drake never has to put in too much work when it comes to marketing his music, especially because his musical status means that his fans do it all for him. This time, Drake and 21 Savage upped the ante with a roll-out that was so genius that it confused fans and media outlets.
Poking fun at the predictability of the music industry, Drake dusted off his acting skills and put them to the test with a fake interview with Howard Stern on his radio show, where Drake sarcastically addressed everything the media has been saying about him and 21 Savage. This was achieved through deepfakes, which are digital representations rendered by artificial intelligence, where anyone’s likeness can be used in a completely different setting and on a completely different body.
Drake and 21 Savage tell Howard Stern about their porn preferences ????pic.twitter.com/JlsUq3oKhP
— XXL Magazine (@XXL) November 3, 2022
We also got a fake Vogue cover of the rap duo. While the magazine cover was not sold or distributed by Vogue, it was distributed in local news stands around New York City and Drake’s hometown in Canada.
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Finally, the most genius part of this iconic roll-out came as a fake NPR Tiny Desk concert. NPR has become quite the platform, hosting some of the world’s most influential talents such as Lizzo, Tyler the Creator, and Mac Miller. The duo released a fake snippet that would result in NPR reaching out to them on Twitter saying, “Let’s do it forreal tho,” a request that fans are hoping will come soon.
Thank you to @nprmusic @tinydesk for having the gang @Drake @21savage let’s go crazy ????#HERLOSS pic.twitter.com/cBpG9SgARI
— OVO Sound (@OVOSound) November 2, 2022
The era of DIY
Drake’s team seems to understand where trends are in this new age of music.
The album cover featured a close-up image of model and exotic dancer Qui Yasuka, who is known as Suki Baby on social media.
These covers only added to the album's intentional absurdism, which features some outrageous song names, such as Backoutsideboyz, Privileged Rappers, Treacherous Twins, Jumbotron Sh*t Poppin and I Guess It’s F**k Me.
21 Savage: the feature artist
Now, I wouldn’t usually say that Drake is an outstanding feature artist. When you listen to a song with Drake on it as a feature, it's not unusual to have other standouts. Take A$AP Rocky’s 2012 hit F**kin‘ Problems, which had rappers 2 Chainz, Drake and Kendrick Lamar featured. While Drake's verse was phenomenal, it wasn’t really a standout verse in comparison to Lamar who absolutely bodied his verse, or Rocky who set the perfect tone for the song on the first verse.
However, on Her Loss, Drake seems to outshine 21 Savage, whose monotone lyrical prowess has become his Midas touch in the industry. While his bars are in no way inferior to that of Drake, and many are giving the artist his flowers, Drake seemed to tap into a new side of himself, which featured some racy lyrics that had nothing to do with Drake’s insurmountable emotions for once.
Leave Megan Thee Stallion alone
When news emerged that musician Tory Lanez shot woman rapper Megan Thee Stallion in July 2020, many rallied behind the rapper to show their solidarity against assault and gender-based violence. However, a select group of rappers and male musicians in the industry took no time to bash Megan for spewing lies about Tory Lanez, and it seems Drake finally broke his silence about the altercation, unfairly bashing Megan for lying in his song Circo Loco.
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“This b**ch lie ’bout getting shots, but she still a stallion/She don’t even get the joke but she still smiling,” he said on the song.
Unfortunately, he came for the wrong one, and Megan was quick to respond on Twitter saying:
I know I’m very popular but y’all gotta stop attaching weak ass conspiracy theories in bars to my name lol Niggas nor hoes EVER address me or @ me WITH a fact or receipts. I AM CLOUT BITCH keep sucking my pussy
— TINA SNOW (@theestallion) November 4, 2022
Stop using my shooting for clout bitch ass Niggas! Since when tf is it cool to joke abt women getting shot ! You niggas especially RAP NIGGAS ARE LAME! Ready to boycott bout shoes and clothes but dog pile on a black woman when she say one of y’all homeboys abused her
— TINA SNOW (@theestallion) November 4, 2022
And when the mf facts come out remember all y’all hoe ass favorite rappers that stood behind a Nigga that SHOT A FEMALE
— TINA SNOW (@theestallion) November 4, 2022
People attack me y’all go up for it , i defend myself now I’m doing too much … every time it never ends and this did NOT happen until I came out and said I got shot … y’all don’t fwm okay cool fuck it bye
— TINA SNOW (@theestallion) November 4, 2022
These lyrics also came with some other cheap shots Drake reportedly was throwing at other women rappers in the industry.
Needless to say, these baseless jabs only indicated one thing: the reality women rappers face in the industry. If it isn’t other women taunting them, then it’s out-of-touch rappers, such as Drake, who will never understand what women have to go through in the world.
