ALBUM REVIEW: Drake & 21 Savage - Her Loss

    Drake is truly the gift that keeps on giving this year in the worst possible way. After the snooze-fest that was this June's Honestly, Nevermind, Drake must have read the reviews that called the one song with 21 Savage the best song on the album - the cogs must've been turning in Papi's head, so to say. The result is this full-length collaboration with the British rapper, where each of them go back and forth over more conventional trap beats. Sure, it's exactly what you'd expect from Drake, but after Honestly, Nevermind I welcome a return to form. The only issue is that, while Drake and Savage have some solid chemistry, most of this album was very in one ear and out the other for me, albeit with the occasional highlight that really does capture some great performances between the both of them. It's pretty mediocre, but I'd consider this an improvement over the quality of Honestly, Nevermind in just about every way.

    Let me open strongly here by saying that Drake is an artist that does seemingly get thrashed a lot by the general music community, and while I enjoy some of his stuff I don't necessarily think is without reason - while I was happy to defend 2021's Certified Lover Boy, even I can acknowledge that it's a pretty flawed album, and one that doesn't at all match this past works. With all that being said, I was still decently relieved that the experiment with house that was Honestly, Nevermind remained an experiment and not a new direction for the artist. Now this does come with a price, as the same usual Drake stylings that he's been doing for the past five years are back, just now with some company. Sometimes this still results in bafflingly stupid or bad moments, such as the awful Daft Punk sample on "Circo Loco" which is about as egregiously bad as "Way 2 Sexy" on Certified Lover Boy, or the goofy "Jumbotron Shit Poppin," but generally the album is far more listenable than some of his previous output.

    While a good amount of the album is a snooze for me, when it's good its some of the best stuff he's put out in a while. The opening track "Rich Flex" utilized multiple beat switches, and has some great energy throughout - more than any other track, I think this also demonstrates the solid chemistry between Drake and Savage, which is generally a positive of the album throughout. The Drake solo track "Middle of the Ocean," is probably one of only a few tracks that I can see myself revisiting regularly - built off a great beat and some genuinely entertaining lines and quips from Drake throughout. Every album that he makes has some absolute standout heat, and this song is my vote here. "More M's" is also pretty solid, and has many of the same positives as the aforementioned "Middle of the Ocean." "3AM on Glenwood" and "Pussy & Millions" are both fine, with the former being a good 21 Savage solo moment on the album, and the latter being at least a little entertaining, although I was expecting a little more from a Travis Scott feature.

     Overall, I suppose the year could've been worse for Drake, not that it'll matter much for his endgame. Nevertheless, after the often miserable Honestly, Nevermind, this is a welcome return to the same thing Drizzy's been doing since 2016, albeit with slightly more energy. At I can confidently say that the production on here is pretty consistently good, and Drake and 21 are able to carry some good moments on this project, even if I found most of it to be pretty uninteresting - when it's really in its element, it's some great stuff, which is far more than what I can say for his previous album. Hey, if you like Drake, chances are you'll like this.

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to Her Loss.