Drake and 21 Savage Release the Controversial Album Her Loss

Drake and 21 Savage released a collaborative album, Her Loss, on Nov 4, days after its initial release on Oct 28. The album featured artists such as Young Nudy and Birdman with a set list of all-new hip-hop and rap songs. The features on the album, however, were not the only topics buzzing around the release.

Throughout the album, many listeners noticed that Drake had dissed several black artists in some of the songs, sparking controversy on Twitter. Though 21 Savage and Drake had collaborated on the album, Drake was the most prominent voice featured in every song, placing most of the blame on him. One of the most controversial disses in the album came from the song “Circo Loco,” in which Drake said, “This b**** lying ‘bout gettin’ shots, but she still a stallion.” The verse was a clear shot toward female rapper, Megan Thee Stallion when she claimed she was shot by another male artist, Tory Lanez. Many listeners were upset after hearing the verse because of the fact that Megan’s situation was such a fragile subject. To make matters worse, Drake had also dissed another female rapper, Ice Spice, in one of the lyrics of the song “BackOutsideBoyz”. According to Ice Spice, the two had met before on good terms, making the reasoning behind the diss even more confusing to listeners.

Moving onto the quality of the album, there were a few exciting tracks that gained the most notoriety overall. One of the songs, “Rich Flex,” became one of the most popular tracks on the album not only because of its lively beat and decent vocals but also because of Drake’s lines toward 21 Savage. Several memes were made in light of Drake’s part in the song because many believed that he held a flirtatious tone with 21 Savage. Aside from the jokes, I do believe that “Rich Flex” served as a suitable opener to the rest of the album because of its high-energy tone.

Another song that I enjoyed was “Major Distribution,” which began with a soft auto-tuned Drake and slow-tempo piano melody in the background. Though I believe that Drake would have sounded better without the tuning adjustment of his voice, I still liked the song’s introduction because of the piano addition. After Drake’s introduction, the song moves into a forceful beat, completely taking a turn. 21 Savage enters the song with a strong verse about a woman who lied to him. I loved this transition because I could feel the pain and anger in 21 Savage’s voice. “Major Distribution” was my favorite track of the album because of the emotion put into the beat and vocals.

“Privileged Rappers” was also one of my favorite tracks featured on the album. I loved the aesthetic of the song’s beat. The song had hints of the 80s synth-pop in the beat, giving the song a nostalgic feel. The vocals were decent on the track from 21 and Drake, but without the beat, I would not love the song nearly as much. There were a couple of clever lines in the song, but mostly the lines were simple and easy to understand.

I thought the album was a simple release with several disses to gain quick traction on social media. There was a lot of untapped potential for the number of artists featured in the album. The 21 Savage and Drake duo could have done tremendously better without dissing several black artists for fame. However, I look forward to seeing what 21 Savage and Drake produce in the future.