Hailing from the Six and heading towards the top spots of the Billboard charts, Drake and long-time friend turned collaborator, 21 Savage, have just released their first joint album together on Thursday, making the Internet melt and finally congregate around something other than Elon Musk’s controversial Twitter take-over and Ye’s ongoing online outbursts.
The 16-track release, titled Her Loss, marks the culmination of several years of collaborative work shared between both rappers. In the past, the two culture-defining artists can be credited with having skyrocketed a handful of tracks to the highest levels of acclaim in the industry. The London-born 21 Savage (born Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph) made an appearance on the Toronto native’s sixth studio album, Certified Lover Boy, shelling bars in unison on Knife Talk and, more recently, Jimmy Cooks from Drake’s Honestly, Nevermind, while the Nike NOCTA designer was invited to jump on Mr. Right Now from 21 Savage and Metro Boomin’s Savage Mode II.
It’s been a fast lead-up and delivery from the moment the LP was initially announced to the moment it eventually appeared on streaming platforms globally. Teased about ten-days-ago, the newly-formed duo played on social media’s “How To Go Viral 101” rulebook to generate noise ahead of their much-anticipated release. With the help of a fictitious Vogue cover posted online last week, and fake appearances on NPR’s Tiny Desk series, and The Howard Stern Show a la deep-fake technology, the pair cleverly promoted their latest sonic statement by trolling traditional album rollouts by making use of unconventional methods of marketing while proving, once again, how thinking out-the-box can turn out quite beneficial when bringing the right ingredients together. Again, only two heavyweights could afford to get off the industry’s beaten tracks and not only get away with it but most importantly turn it into a bigger success than if they had kept business as usual.
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Scrolling through Drake’s discography offers listeners with never-ending nostalgia, with each project bringing its own lot of emotions and feelings back as they perennially cement themselves into our era’s classics— and it’s safe to say that the four-time Grammy winner’s latest venture with 21 Savage is about to be no different. Last night, Her Loss finally came to life decorated with a saturated cover, shot by Houston-based photographer Paris Aden, that featured a close-up of adult dancer Suki Baby. If the expected outcome was to get people talking, it surely did work out as Internet users were quick to uncover the anonymous cover star’s identity (they were also quick on sharing their thoughts about it too— don’t worry, Twitter is still the human race’s open court, nothing’s changed just yet).
I feel bad for shorty. Everyone roasting this cover and it’s just her face 😂😂😂😂 https://t.co/yWYKSyxA1U
— goatnextdoor (@goatnextdoor1) November 3, 2022
From our first listen, we detected no real surprises, except for a Travis Scott verse heard on track 10. Other than that, whatever you can expect to come out from these two was essentially captured, bottled, and dispatched to fans that are craving a second dose of Drake on top of a full-length album from 21 Savage that they have not seen happen since 2020. In its few hours of existence though, Her Loss already managed to cause some controversy online with a line in Circo Loco allegedly sneak dissing Megan Thee Stallion, which she was quick to address on her official Twitter account.
Stop using my shooting for clout bitch ass Niggas! Since when tf is it cool to joke abt women getting shot ! You niggas especially RAP NIGGAS ARE LAME! Ready to boycott bout shoes and clothes but dog pile on a black woman when she say one of y’all homeboys abused her
— TINA SNOW (@theestallion) November 4, 2022
In the song’s first verse, which samples Daft Punk’s worldwide hit One More Time, we hear Drake flaunt, like he usually does, and throw some shade at the Texas native by claiming that she has been lying about being shot by Say It singer Tory Lanez back in 2020.
So far, the public’s reception of the project has been quite positive as many are already hailing it as the album of the year only a handful of hours after its release. Whatever its fate might be, you can still expect to see Drake and 21 Savage trending on TikTok for the next couple of months, and their lines turn into the Instagram caption of your cringiest love interest and that sweet one that got away. And maybe it’s for the best, these old sights only serve as reminders that humanity is back to what it does best: plaster Drake bars out of context all over social media for no apparent reason— and we’re here for it.
