Whose Loss?

What do you do with an artist like Drake? The guy could release a track where he’s burping over a looped 808 for four minutes and still pull the biggest streaming numbers of the year alongside a debut atop the Billboard Hot 100. In terms of streaming, only two artists — Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny — can parallel Drake. Even then, neither of those two artists has been performing at this level (on streaming) since 2016 — the year Drake’s Views cemented him as an otherworldly streaming superpower.

Not only was 2016 the year Drake emerged as a genuine streaming giant, but it was also the year that yielded his first collaboration with 21 Savage. “Sneakin,” a steely rebuke of Drake’s haters, laid the groundwork for a bevy of future collaborations. Drake tapping 21 Savage for Her Loss makes sense considering that 21 is responsible for the most memorable hit from each of Drake’s last two studio albums. Certified Lover Boy’s “Knife Talk” and Honestly, Nevermind’s “Jimmy Cooks” helped 21 Savage begin to rival Future as Drake’s best and most dependable collaborator. So, in essence, Her Loss is fan service; it’s equal parts fodder for the clear demand for Drake-21 collaborations and a way for Drake to course correct after a string of lackluster projects.

Her Loss, Drake’s third album in less than 18 months, arrives at an intriguing blip in Drake’s storied career. Last year’s Certified Lover Boy was the musical equivalent of that Real Housewives of Atlanta clip where Nene Leakes says, “nothing was there.” Unsurprisingly, the album was a resounding success. 9 of its 21 tracks flooded the Hot 100’s Top 10, and Drake secured his typical collection of radio hits (“Way 2 Sexy”) and street hits (“No Friends In The Industry”). The dance-tilted bent of the Right Said Fred-sampling “Way 2 Sexy” and the afrobeats roots of the Tems-assisted “Fountains” gave way to the dismal dancefloor whimper that was Honestly, Nevermind. Released near the beginning of this summer, Honestly, Nevermind attempted to bottle the boundless rhythms of amapiano and harness the fervent optimism of a potential post-COVID world. In practice, the album was met with a tepid reception from consumers and critics alike; the record’s biggest hit was its sole pure hip-hop song: “Jimmy Cooks.”

At best, Her Loss presents a version of Drake that sounds like he’s genuinely having fun and playing with sounds that inspire him. At worst, and most frequently, Drake so deeply submerges himself into a vat of misogyny that the album ceases to be an enjoyable listen despite the efforts of an outstanding cast of producers (40, Tay Keith, Lil Yachty, Metro Boomin, etc.) as well as 21 himself — ever consistent and ever reliable.

OVO/Republic

In his botched execution of fan service with Her Loss, Drake delves deeper into his penchant for Toxic King anthems by adding more blatant misogyny to his lyrics than ever before. Drake could have subverted the idea of fan service and used the same pristine beats and addictive flows to offer a genuine artistic evolution from the rut he’s been stuck in for nearly a decade, but, instead, he chose to play into the most heinous and shameful edges of the toxic lover boy aesthetic. Over the years, Drake has finetuned his image to be the rapper playboy that wears his emotions on the sleeve of his cream cashmere turtleneck. That is to say, Drake, as a cultural entity, has been able to mask his misogyny with how much he appears to love women. But Drake doesn’t “love” women, he appreciates their bodies and what they can do for him sexually. For Drake, women are things to conquer and ornaments to display alongside his platinum plaques and historic recording contracts as proof of his success. This is why a hood love anthem like “Spin Bout U” can exist alongside a song like “Circo Loco” — a butchering of a Daft Punk classic that opens with a disgusting jab at Megan Thee Stallion (“This bitch lie 'bout gettin' shots, but she still a stallion”). We all know what a double entendre is. Drake felt comfortable rapping that double entendre knowing how it could be interpreted as him siding with Tory Lanez because he knew people wouldn’t really care. “The culture” (you know the one) isn’t going to check Drake on his misogyny because that’s not a real offense to most of them, and “the culture” isn’t going to protect Megan Thee Stallion because they don’t give a shit about Black women. After all, Drake can’t possibly be a misogynist because he agrees with a women’s right to choose (see the opening lines of his “Spin Bout U” verse)… right?

Perhaps Drake’s biggest offense on Her Loss is his commitment to burying some of his strongest songs in some years with heaps of the worst and most toxic parts of hip-hop masculinity. “Treacherous Twins,” which houses one of Drake’s most ambitious vocal performances, and “3AM on Glenwood,” a towering solo outing from 21 Savage, deserve spotlights that aren’t overshadowed by idiotic judgment calls. But maybe these aren’t idiotic judgment calls. Maybe this is Drake being himself. Maybe Drake felt that the benefits of aligning himself with some of the more sinister edges of the toxic king aesthetic outweighed any possible negative ramifications. For what it’s worth, we know the guy is about his bottom line; “Niggas so ignorant in our hood, they be like, "Why the fuck you makin' techno?" I'm worldwide and this is just another cargo jet flow, I had to let go,” he spits on “Hours In Silence.”

On “Backoutsideboyz” Drake raps, “I'll never lose sleep over no bitch, way too much pride.” The line would be more accurate if Drake specified that he’ll never lose sleep over a woman that he’s already “conquered.” Everybody else is free game. How else can you explain trying to dunk on the husband of a woman you allegedly dated nearly a decade ago? Also, this is the same man who built an entire career off of songs where he literally is losing sleep over a woman in practically every major global city. And, to be honest, when you really sit and think about it… the women who have escaped his clutches are the ones who have truly won. The album is titled Her Loss, but, if Drake, at the mature age of 36 years old, is still interacting with women as if he’s a college sophomore in his fuckboy era, then whose loss is it really?

It’s all our loss. Watching one of the most talented and successful rappers in the history of the genre rest on the laurels of incel-lite attitudes and stale, predictable bars is a loss. Relegating one of the new class’s best and most dominant artists to a glorified supporting role on a purported collaborative album is a loss. Of course, the album isn’t all bad. It’s honestly more consistent than most will give it credit for. Her Loss may feel more lively and urgent than Drake’s last three projects, but it still feels disposable.

Vote for Drake and 21 Savage at the 2023 Bulletin Awards.

Key Tracks: “Spin Bout U” | “Treacherous Twins” | “Hours In Silence” | “3AM On Glenwood” | “Privileged Rappers”

Score: 61