One of the most anticipated collabs of the decade, Drake and 21 Savage’s album Her Loss is a killer boost of braggadocio that only they can bring. Surprise announced on October 22 during the music video for Honestly, Nevermind’s ‘Jimmy Cooks’, which revealed the joint album from the two would be coming just a week later (which was then rescheduled to Nov 4), Her Loss is a knockout piece in both rappers’ discography, showcasing their synergy as one of the strongest in the industry.
From the album’s creative and hilarious rollout to its insane beat switches, here are our highlights from the joint Drake and 21 Savage project Her Loss.
The cover photo
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While a unique album cover from Drake is nothing new, this might be one of his strangest. After both Drake and 21 Savage dropped the photo on Instagram with nothing but a simple “Her Loss Front Cover” for context, fans immediately started questioning who the woman in the photo was. Turns out she’s Qui Yasuka, a nail stylist and adult dancer from Houston. As for who took the photo, fellow Houston local and photographer Paris Aden confessed to taking the picture three years ago on a vintage film camera. “Drake just saw the photo I guess, and they asked if they could use it for the album,” Aden explains in an interview with Complex. “I shot that sh*t a long time ago. It was her profile pic and he probably fell in love with what he seen.”
The rollout
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After a Covid scare from one of their producers pushed the album’s release back a week, videos started popping up online of Drake and 21 Savage embarking on a press tour. Although, not really. The first to come was a Vogue cover, followed by an NPR Tiny Desk Concert and an interview appearance on The Howard Stern Show, all of which were completely staged and fake.
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While a hilarious gag, the whole concept seems to poke fun at the world of fame and the pair’s place in it. Which, one could argue, is the entire concept of Her Loss. The boys get cleverly meta with it all, highlighting the chaotic world of press tours and interviews (a world which Drake tends to shy away from) and proving that they can still top charts and break records without any of it.
The attitude
If Honestly Nevermind is the party record for the girls, Her Loss is its swaggering male counterpart. By now, both rappers have earned the right to brag and across 16 tracks they prove that they stay some of the coolest in the game. It’s clear from the album’s first few minutes that Drake’s got an attitude, and it’s the kind of egotistical energy we’ve been missing from the star for a while.
Put quite simply, Drake DGAF. And he’s one of the only superstars who can both set the trends and simultaneously not give a sh*t about them. “I’m really on a roll like hamachi, the f**k would y’all really do without me?” he spits on ‘Middle of the Ocean’, one of the solo tracks on the album that lets Drake’s spotlight really shine. He’s cocky but he’s not mad; it’s a joke on you if you don’t get it. “N****s see Drake and they underestimate. Take it from a vet’, that’s a rookie ass mistake,” he almost laughs on the opener ‘Rich Flex.’
As someone who has rented a ton of space in our pop culture real estate, Drake is highly aware of everything that surrounds him, and maybe that’s why each Drake album seems to get more reflective than the last. From the cover to the rollout, to a majority of the lyrical content, almost everything about Her Loss feels like one giant meme. And that’s the point. It might feel like a broken record at this point, but Drake only serves us the content he knows we crave, and once again he’s holding up a mirror to the culture that surrounds us.
The beat switches and production
With four production credits from Lil Yachty and a feature from Travis Scott on ‘Pussy & Millions’, Her Loss seems to pair the best parts of both Drake and 21 Savage and proves why their collabs are always fan favourites. ‘Circo Loco’ sees a sample of Daft Punk’s ‘One More Time’ and a great chunk of Drake singing, ‘BackOutsideBoyz’ has an angry beat that sees Drake kicking down the door and making his entrance known and ‘Hours In Silence’ is a fave for all the R&B Papi fans.
Released only 5 months after Honestly Nevermind, it’s hard to believe that these two Drake albums came out of the same year. But if Her Loss proves anything, it’s that Drake’s ability to switch up genres while still staying on trend and at the top every time is truly unmatched. And there might be no better partner in crime than the likes of 21 Savage.
“I hate a privileged rapper who don’t even know what it take,” goes a line in the chorus of ‘Privileged Rappers’, a tongue-in-cheek track that puts one in their lane. Drake’s studied the culture so much he’s become it; sticking around long enough to see himself become a veteran while still solidifying his status as first in the race. On Her Loss, Drake proves he only gets stronger as the game goes on. He’s charged, he’s witty, and he’s holding nothing back. But he’s earned the right to puff out his chest and boast a little.
