Out of all of Drake’s frequent collaborators, he and 21 Savage have the best synergy. The two have an impressive track record that demonstrates their ability to bounce off one another and complement each other’s flows, even though they both have distinctly different rapping mechanics. So naturally, when they announced that they were dropping a collab album, Her Loss, it made perfect sense.
“Niggas ain’t paying each other for verses,” 21 Savage’s manager Meezy told Druski on Clubhouse back in January. Their priceless relationship has been fostered over several years, with Drake and Savage first teaming up on his 2016 track “Sneakin.” The songs served as proof of concept and showed that the two had special chemistry. After connecting again on “Mr. Right Now” off of Savage’s 2020 album Savage Mode 2, the two rappers struck gold twice with “Knife Talk” and “Jimmy Cooks,”two songs that give a clear picture as to why they rarely miss when teaming up.
Savage thrives in the trenches when he raps about unique ways to dispose of his enemies, while Drake lives in his own head and raps like a paranoid mob boss. Drake is stressing about his cleaning staff plotting extortion on him, while Savage is thinking about which river to throw them in. The way they balance each other’s energies is a detail they both benefit from.
Drake gravitates toward Atlanta rap and does well when tapping into that sound, so this feels like a natural next step. He and the Migos have gone on tour together and joined forces on several songs, he’s tapped Young Thug on countless occasions, and What a Time to be Alive finds him and Future trading bars on an entire project. Plus, 21 has also been on a tear in 2022, delivering some of his best features in recent memory.
Her Loss has the potential to be Drake’s best collaborative album yet if he and 21 are able to mesh their unique grimey talk and not try to mimic one another. 21 is also quietly petty in his own way, like Drake, so even a title like Her Loss is completely on brand for both artists.
With Her Loss set to drop in time for spooky season this Friday, we look back and rank Drake and 21 Savage’s handful of tracks together, below:
4. “Mr. Right Now”
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No one can shoot 100% from the field. 21 Savage and Drake rarely miss when they join forces, but sometimes they do, like on “Mr. Right Now.” The track doesn’t work as well as other songs that 21 and Drake have done together because 21 tries to adopt Drizzy’s melodic crooning and it falls flat. The Metro Boomin-produced track does have a catchy hook, but it sounds too much like Savage trying to cosplay as Drake rather than making their unique sounds mesh. Drake’s verse is also littered with some real cringey bars, from crowning himself the “slow stroke king” to claiming he was dating SZA “back in ‘08.” It’s not a good sign when all the noteworthy lines in a verse are only reminders of why you don’t listen to the song often in the first place. —Jordan Rose
3. “Sneakin’”
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It all started with “Sneakin.’” When Drake and 21 Savage put out their first collaboration on October 29, 2016, they were each at pivotal points in their careers. Savage was riding high from the success of his breakout project Savage Mode, released just three months before, and Drake was two weeks removed from “One Dance” becoming Spotify’s most-streamed song ever (he’s since broken his own record multiple times). On paper, the collab made sense. Savage was looking to reach new mainstream ears and Drake was trying to stay cool. In reality, they stumbled on a formula—hard-edged, paranoid raps over menacing beats—that they’ve been trying to recreate ever since. On “Sneakin,’” Drake puts a little extra bass in his voice, rapping about chain smoking in his house and receiving purple heart emojis from his girl. Savage then comes through with a snarling verse about his newfound success. They both got what they wanted: Savage’s unique flow was introduced to millions of new fans, and Drake found a new creative edge (and another longtime collaborator) in the final year of his 20s. —Eric Skelton
2. “Knife Talk”
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“Knife Talk” has everything you’d want from a collaboration: a Juicy J sample on the intro, Drake in full paranoia, and 21 Savage’s sinister drawl all over the track. 21 Savage is the soul of the record, floating over a malevolent instrumental anchored in piano keys, which was produced by Metro Boomin. On the track, he spits lethal one-liners like “My finger itchy, the Glock like to leave hickeys.” Drake is also at his best when he’s in villain mode, coming through with his own quotables such as, “Checked the weather and it’s real oppy outside.” “Knife Talk” is an ominous record, the type that feels appropriate for a haunted house tour. Still, it provokes listeners to get out of their seats, which makes it a great club record as well. What more could you ask for? —Jessica McKinney
1. “Jimmy Cooks”
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“Timid soul” Drake goes into the comfort of his rap den after a lap around the block with a house album (Honestly, Nevermind) that is likely benefitting from an ounce of recency bias here, but will almost certainly age like fine wine. This track was debatably a disservice to the concept album as a whole, but a more than welcomed inclusion for rap fans as a standalone. Safety isn’t always the move for growth, but on “Jimmy Cooks”—a subtle nod to his Jimmy Brooks character on Degrassi in the early aughts for his day ones—we’re reminded that this is the recipe that will ultimately get Drake a seat in history’s records as a great. 21 more than understood the assignment, too. He hit the gas so hard he outshone his counterpart and earned a spot at number one—twice now. The oft snoozy-sounding rapper spits with eager energy at 100 once the beat smoothly swerves via the hands of Vinyl, Tay Keith, and Cubeatz. Unlike its dark and decelerated precursor, “Knife Talk,” Drake and 21 are in party mode here. When it comes to this upcoming album, “Just awaken shaken once again, so you know it’s on.” —Ecleen Luzmila Caraballo
