Toronto-based rapper Drake and Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage released their highly anticipated album, Her Loss, on November 4th, 2022. The album was originally scheduled to be released on October 28, but was delayed for one week as a result of an OVO producer contracting COVID-19.
Although the 16-track album is supposed to be an equal collaboration between Drake and 21 Savage, Drake overpowers 21 Savage by taking the majority of time for himself on almost every song. Drake takes an overwhelming four out of 16 songs for himself, while 21 Savage only has one for himself. In addition, many of the beats and instrumentals in the album compliment Drake’s style and flow, but awkwardly clash with 21 Savage’s verses. However, the album is still undoubtedly influenced by 21 Savage, featuring several ominous or melancholy beats that he is more well known for.
Her Loss starts off strong with “Rich Flex.” The song opens with an upbeat tune with a silly verse from Drake hyping up 21 Savages verse moments later. After that, a slow buildup cleanly transitions to a beat switch over to a catchy, sinister piano-based beat, complemented by a smooth, continuous flow from Drake. Rich Flex was strikingly similar to “SICKO MODE,” a popular Travis Scott track featuring Drake. Both start with a slower beat and a super slow buildup to transition to a hype, faster pace beat.
The next song, Major Distribution, also has a catchy, sinister melody. However, unlike “Rich Flex,” the beat and melody are consistent throughout almost the entire piece, except for a short melodic intro. The beat acts as a common middle-ground for Drake and 21 Savage, complimenting their voice equally. The song is also the perfect length. At just under 3 minutes, it was able to play itself out as long as it could before getting too repetitive.
While Her Loss has some good tracks, it has two main problems that are too big to ignore.
Often, the beat and instrumentals fail to match the singing style of the artists, which tends to make the songs boring. The melodious rhythm on enjoyable tracks such as “Rich Flex” or “Major Distribution” allows them to rap in a more monotone drill rap-type voice because the instrumentals have all the melody needed for the song. However, in more boring tracks like “On B.S.,” the beat lacked a significant melody. Paired with Drake and 21 Savage’s monotone rapping, the entire song was bland and hard to listen to.
This problem was intensified by the variation between Drake and 21 Savage’s singing styles and abilities. On certain tracks like “P—y & Millions,” this didn’t seem to be an issue for Drake, who has showcased his singing abilities on big hits such as “Forever” and “Hotline Bling.” However, 21 Savage, who usually raps at a faster, more cutthroat pace, was unable to perform nearly as well on the same beat.
This problem resulted from the imbalance between the two rappers. Drake dominates most tracks, as if 21 Savage is just a feature on each song, while Drake is the leading artist. 21 Savage has merely one solo song on the album, while Drake has a whopping four. Commonly, on songs where 21 Savage does play a part, his part is cut far too short, like on “Treacherous Twins.” Beats and instrumentals allowed Drake to flourish while leaving 21 Savage for failure.
Overall, Her Loss was disappointing. While the album has a couple of great tracks, most songs are unpleasant. On a scale of 1-10, the album receives a 4/10 because of the artist imbalance on this so-called collaboration, which caused sub-par and unenjoyable 21 Savage verses.
