Over the years, Drake and 21 Savage showcased themselves as artists who need no introductions. With several Grammys and Billboard-charting songs such as “Mr. Right Now” and “Knife Talk” attached to their names, fans certainly have anticipated a collaborative effort from the two. The long-awaited album finally came to fruition as Drake teased their joint project in the latter half of a music video for “Jimmy Cooks”. As Drake rapped his verse from the “Honestly, Nevermind” track with 21 Savage and a collage of videos in the background, the music suddenly faded to a melodic instrumental with the words “Her Loss” plastered in the frame. 

The album starts roughly with “Rich Flex”, a song where Drake asks for 21 to “do his thing”, a moment that took the Internet by storm for its absurdity. But then Drake abruptly ends Savage’s performance short with an awkward segue, and he takes over the track entirely with a beat switch where the instrumental sounds like a beat lazily produced in GarageBand. The following track “Major Distribution” definitely sounds better than its predecessor, with a perfect beat switch and better chemistry between the two influential artists. However, the track still suffers from a lack of collaboration from 21 Savage.

The third track “On BS” shows exceptional cohesion between the renowned duo, as 21 Savage and Drake trade bars with each other while a hypnotic instrumental loops in the background. The artists layer this track with a plethora of quotables and a memorable chorus, and if they kept this chemistry throughout the entire album, “Her Loss” would easily rank as the best album to come out this year.

Unfortunately, Aubrey “Drake” Graham remains the reason why “Her Loss” sounds like a Drake album, rather than a collaborative project. Ever since mediocre releases like “Certified Lover Boy” —especially “Honestly, Nevermind”—his recent albums contained forgettable tracks and half-baked ideas. Yet, he still contributes roughly 67% of the vocals to this recent album. Drake definitely reignites his passion for music with tracks such as “Middle of the Ocean”, where he raps with an abundance of confidence and uses incredible wordplay throughout the 6-minute track. Despite maintaining his best penmanship in years on “Her Loss”, the 36-year-old still manages to ruin the fluidity of songs like “Hours In Silence”, where the song starts strong but then Graham drags the track with a sluggish voice and unnecessarily slow production.

The album also varies with its use of production, where “Spin Bout U” and “Circo Loco” both combine old samples with heavy 808s and drum snares. 21 Savage usually raps under darker instrumentals, but his brash voice and his ruthless delivery pair amazingly with the unusual production. 

While 21 Savage and Drake share an exceptional partnership when collaborating, Drake must stop using Subliminals when he raps. In “Circo Loco” specifically, he subliminally dissed prominent figures like Ye West and Megan Thee Stallion. These disses no longer hold authenticity, as Drake calls Ye an “opp” even though both artists recently did a joint concert, with Drake crying while Ye performed “Runaway”. Drake also includes an unnecessary bar where he accuses Stallion of lying about “getting shots”, which comes off as insensitive as this could refer to her traumatic experience of Tory Lanez shooting her in the foot. 

 “Stop using my shooting for clout… since when is it cool to joke about women getting shot! Ready to boycott ‘bout shoes and clothes but dog pile on a black woman when she say one of y’all homeboys abused her,” Stallion said.

Overall, this album defines itself as an amazing joint project where 21 Savage raps with astonishing delivery and Drake comes off as energetic in comparison to his prior releases. Although the album suffers from weird production choices and distasteful lyrics, “Her Loss” still ranks highly in Drake’s discography and deserves a spot in everyone’s music rotation.

“After hearing ‘Jimmy Cooks’, the Drake and 21 collab that came out earlier this year, I just knew “Her Loss” was going to be great and it certainly did not disappoint. I loved the different styles and flows throughout the album, and I feel like I could definitely listen to it on repeat. And of course, 21 is bae, so anything he puts out is album of the year,” junior class president Ryan Lacey said. 

The Chant’s Rating: B