21 Savage is one of the most under-appreciated feature artists in rap right now. While he’s very skilled at making solo records and crafting vivid worlds with his concept albums, his skill for tearing apart guest verses has gone largely unnoticed. The combination of his unique whispering tone and menacing delivery creates standout moments on every song he’s been on this year, and the rapper has made it a point to only get better on each new appearance.
It’s been nearly two years since the release of 21’s last studio album, Savage Mode 2, with Metro Boomin, but he’s been keeping fans fed in the interim with a steady diet of elite bars. His streak of impressive guest verses started in 2021 with standout appearances on tracks like Roddy Ricch’s “Hibachi,” J. Cole’s “My Life,” and his viral song with Drake “Knife Talk” on Certified Lover Boy. Each of these performances demonstrated a different lyrical pocket that the Atlanta rapper has, and acted as a primer for the bars he’s delivered in 2022.
What makes a 21 Savage feature so impressive is the way he’s able to diversify his flow. Similar to Pusha T, 21 has mastered the art of rapping about the same thing all the time (in most cases horror and hood politics), while managing to make every new verse sound fresh. It’s a testament to his creativity and lyrical ability.
The Atlanta rapper has also been working with a wider variety of artists this year, from his pop-friendly collaboration with Calvin Harris on “New Money,” to his linking up with Tyler, the Creator over Pharrell’s impressive production on “Cash In Cash Out,” and more.
These verses all reflect 21 Savage’s ability to produce technically savvy bars infused with his devilish aesthetics. If these guest verses are any indicator of where his pen is at right now, then the rap game should be on notice.
As 2022 comes to an end, we waded through over half a dozen features to rank the best 21 Savage guest appearances of the year so far.
8. "Keep Going"
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If we’re being honest, verses on DJ Khaled albums range from sounding microwaved at worst to rappers trying their hardest to steal the show on an A-list-stacked album at best. 21 Savage was able to find middle ground between the two on his portion of “Keep Going” alongside Lil Durk and Roddy Ricch. His verse anchors the track, and while he doesn’t completely outshine Durk and Roddy, he makes sure his presence is felt. It sounds lazy relative to the other thoughtful verses he’s delivered in 2022, but even a casual Savage feature is still impressive.
7. "New Money"
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No one had a Calvin Harris and 21 Savage song on their 2022 music bingo board, but here we are. This is definitely the most surprising collaboration 21 Savage has done this year, and also perhaps the most unique verse he’s delivered as well. On “New Money,” 21 tries to rap with a cadence that will flow with the funky dance-centric beats that Calvin Harris has become known for. It doesn’t work that well, but the verse is an interesting experiment on 21’s part that reflects him getting out of his comfort zone and rapping over something that sounds completely foreign to him.
6. "Wheelie"
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21 Savage’s sex bars are always hilarious because he doesn’t try to make them sound sexy, and his guest verse on Latto’s “Wheelie” is a great example. “If you fake a relationship, you stealing pussy” is a very Savage way of saying it’s emotionally manipulative to lie about your feelings to your partner because you want to continue being sexually involved with them. Therein lies the duality of 21 Savage: a really mature and important message followed by the punchline “Make a email for your ass, girl, I wanna book it.”
5. “Way Past Luck”
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Soul samples always seem to bring the best out of 21 Savage, and his performance on this track off of DJ Khaled’s God Did is no different. 21 has proven he can rap about the trenches he grew up in, but here—he does an even better job at illustrating his hopes to help other people get out like he did. He doesn’t glamorize the streets that raised him, but makes it clear that without that experience, he wouldn’t be the person he is today. Those earnest moments of self-reflection show listeners what 21 Savage’s journey to fame and fortune has really been like.
4. “Thought I Was Playing”
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21 Savage is great at sneaking in a dope verse on random album cuts, and he does just that on Gunna’s third studio album. The track often gets overshadowed by the other more popular songs on Gunna’s strong Drip Season 4ever, but Savage uses this opportunity to deliver some clever punchlines and flex his lyrical abilities. “Say they twins, throw they body in the same river,” is such a specific, Jason Voorhees-like threat that it only makes sense coming from 21. The way he switches flows during the second half of his verse is also impressive and something he’s been doing more often on his guest features.
3. “Surround Sound”
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An Atlanta link-up is always special, so when JID tapped his fellow ATL natives 21 Savage and Baby Tate to spit over a Mos Def sample on “Surround Sound,” elite verses were sure to follow. 21 is a chameleon when it comes to being able to mold his flow and cadence to fit the tempo and energy of whatever song he’s on, and he demonstrates that skill well here. JID is known to be a quick-spitter, so to maintain the pace of the song after his opening verse, 21 adopts a similar slippery flow when he jumps on the track, and it works perfectly. He’s rapping fast but not rushing, allowing each punchline to land before spitting the next. 21 is also adept at rapping over soul samples that have been paired with trap snares, so he’s naturally able to find his comfortable pockets here.
2. “Cash In Cash Out”
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“Cash In Cash Out” was a pleasant surprise for several reasons, one of which being that it gave us 21 Savage and Tyler, the Creator on chest-rattling Pharrell production. The track’s pulsing base isn’t the type of beat that Savage commonly raps over, but he sounds completely comfortable here as he opens the song with gusto. Even though Tyler has the most standout performance on the song, Savage’s earworm of a hook and impressive intro verse cannot be overlooked. “Cash In Cash Out” is also simply carefree fun, and it sounds like both Tyler and 21 are letting loose and flexing their lyrical muscles. With those details in mind, we should all even be able to look past a bad bar like “Kim Jong-Un, in my pants is a missile.”
1. “Jimmy Cooks”
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Drake and 21 Savage rarely miss when they come together on a track, and that special chemistry is put on full display on “Jimmy Cooks.” As the only rap-leaning song on Honestly, Nevermind, “Jimmy Cooks” already felt like a fan-service song that Drake threw in to please the hip-hop heads, and 21 Savage didn’t disappoint as his sole guest feature. The transition between Drake and 21’s verse on the track is smooth, with Drizzy cleverly using Savage’s patented ad-lib to hand off the song as the beat switches to something more menacing. From there, 21 Savage anchors “Jimmy Cooks” with his usual bars about murder and mayhem. “If I was Will Smith, I would’ve smacked him with a stick,” he says in reference to the infamous Will Smith slap at the Oscars—a line so outlandish that it fits seamlessly into the context of the verse.
