i'm on a 24 hour champagne diet
spillin while i'm sippin i encourage you to try it

reading this alone i gotta bump it now

Iconic opening lines

Bar owner supply it

was bumping that earlier while getting ready for a wedding

hell of a song

Head over the clouds I’m serious (sirius, radio)

vm.tiktok.com/ZMY8jRx1P

Every time I come back to this album, my mind is blown by how solid it is. Zero misses. All great songs. This s*** will age so well.

Speaking of Drake, Her Loss made a lot of noise. How long did the album take to come together, and whose idea was it at first to put it together?

It took a few months to make, but that was only because of schedules and s***. It wasn’t really because we couldn’t create the music, we were both just doing other s*** inbetween it so we were just getting in the studio when we could. I know for sure I was already thinking about it, and so was he because of what was going on at the time. Both the songs that we dropped before “Knife Talk” and “Jimmy Cooks” were big songs and they connected with the culture. But he texted me.

I was already thinking about it, but I didn’t want to look like a thirsty ass young rapper who was like “Drake, let’s do a mixtape!” because I know how I would look at it. I didn’t want to overstep what we had going on, because we talk on the regular. I didn’t want him to think there was a motive behind how I f*** with him, so I just played my role and let him know that I f*** with him period. He’s got a good heart, so we already be talking about regular s***, and then he was like, “Let’s just do a tape,” and we started sending each other s***.

It makes sense that you didn’t want it to seem like you’re only friends with him so that you could work together.

Yeah, because I think that’s how a lot of people be. But I don’t really care about the s*** that a typical rapper cares about. I think that’s why I have so much success because I don’t chase s***. Everything that I do is genuine, I’m not f***ing with somebody just to use them, and people can see when you’re that type of rapper. That’s why I get the blessings I get, because I just move in a genuine way.

What was your approach to working with one of the biggest artists in the world Drake and how did you avoid being overshadowed?

I just approached it regular. I like to make s*** that I like. I don’t think too hard when I’m making music, it just comes naturally. I just make s*** that I think is good, and I think I got a good ear and know when something sounds good. There were verses that I changed parts of, but I just made some s*** that sounds good.

The collab felt mutually beneficial. What did you get out of it and what did Drake get out of it?

I can’t really say what Drake got, because Drake is Drake. It’s hard to say, I feel like I gained new fans from it. I think it put me on a broader scale. It leveled me up for sure, it made me hotter for sure. But I also think that comes from me not having any music out. It’s just been straight features for two years before that s*** happened. I think my fans wanted me to drop, so whatever I dropped was going to do that. People were ready to hear me rap, so I think that’s what I got from it too, it fed my fans.

With him, I think it was more so like, he dropped a dance album and everybody didn’t react to it the right way. They were questioning it, so I think what he gained from Her Loss was like, “Stop playing, like I don’t do this s***.” It was more of a rich flex for him. Like, “I’m still that nigga.”

What’s your favorite memory from the making of the album? Drake told this story about how, at a party before the project dropped, you both made eye contact from across the club while you were playing it, and that’s when he knew you guys did something special. Do you remember that moment?

That was probably my favorite memory, too. With my music, I don’t listen to it. I record it, and if I like it, I know it’s going on the album, but I don’t overly drive around to my music because I will stop liking it. I learned from the past when I was younger, I’d make some hard s***, like “Bank Account.” I rode around to “Bank Account” for two weeks straight and I stopped liking the song. So when Issa Album came out, I didn’t think “Bank Account” was going to do s*** because I stopped liking it. So now I don’t overly listen to my s*** before it comes out, I’ll just listen to R&B all day.

With Her Loss, I would just do my verses, send them to Drake, and then I wouldn’t listen to them again. He would send it back with his verses, I’d listen to it once, and then never listen to it again. So when we were in the club, that was my first time hearing it cohesively as a project. Hearing it all the way through in the club, I was just like, “Damn, this s*** hard as f***.” I ain’t heard a project like this in a long time, honestly, probably since My Turn. This is like a real album you can ride to from top to bottom, that’s what I was thinking in the club. I just remember feeling proud of him because he put it together the right way, from the tracklist and everything. Lil Yachty too, because Yachty helped a lot.

Who’s idea was it for you to have the timestamp song on the album instead of Drake?

It was my manager Meezy’s idea. At first, the song was going to be called “Chasing M’s” because that’s the last bar on the song. I think we were on the jet going to meet Drake in Miami for his birthday, and I sent it to Meezy the week prior just for him to listen to it and get his opinion. I felt like it was hard, but I be wanting to make sure sometimes with songs out of my norm. He listened to it, and he’s a big Drake fan anyway, so while we were on the jet he said, “Bro, you need to name the song ‘3AM on Glenwood,’” and I asked why. He said, “Drake always does these timestamp songs, and that s*** would shock people to hear it and it’s you because they’re automatically going to think it’s him.” So I texted Drake, and he said that’s hard, and that’s how that happened.

What is something that might surprise people about Drake’s process in the studio?

He records like how I record. He don’t like a lot of people in the studio. I hate that s***. I don’t want there to be anybody but me and the engineer, and Jen, my A&R. I don’t even like recording in front of producers, but I will with certain ones, like Metro Boomin obviously, people who I’m comfortable with. But I don’t like recording in front of people. I will make the engineers put on headphones, because if I’m recording out loud and there’s 20 people in the studio and everybody ain’t bopping their heads like this is the hardest s*** they’ve ever heard in their life, it’s going to throw me off. He records like that too. I’ll go to another room to record while we were working. I’ll come in there, crack jokes, then go into the next room and we do our thing.

The album was received really well, but it did get some pushback due to some of Drake’s bars about Megan Thee Stallion. What were your thoughts on the backlash those lines got?

I don’t feel like that was his intention to diss Megan. Remember when I said I was telling him to not hold back, people tried to twist that to make it seem like I was talking about that situation. That bar was more of, like, a joke bar than him trying to say something about her. But I don’t really like speaking on people’s situations because life be real.

amp.www.complex.com/music/21-savage-best-rapper-of-2022-interview

I agree. Also my fav song on the album changes all the time. Its that good

It really holds up.

It's so clear these media platforms are starved for Drake interviews because why so many questions about Drake?

They do this with anybody they interview with even the closest association to him lol.

i mean i wont gon say nothing but this album woulda shattered the world if it was future

maybe drake aint wanna have to do an actual joint album

we need fbgovo pt 2 so so so bad

cap

S*** don't make no sense future done like tapes with 3 other niggas...he a whole hoe out here

What’s next for you in terms of solo work this year? Are you and Metro cooking up a Savage Mode 3 for 2023?
Hell nah, it’s too early for Savage Mode 3. I’m going to drop very, very soon though. I think it’s going to impact. I always put a lot of effort into my albums, so you can expect the best of the best. Not no microwave s***. It’s going to be a solid, good ass album. We’re very close.

instagram.com/stories/taylorrooks/3024518353894160805?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

If you would’ve told me that I’d be running back Drake’s 2nd album in 2022 substantially more than Kendrick’s first album in 5 years…

They really said let’s make a great album and did just that. I can’t get enough of it. Rich Flex alone is insane, and to think there’s another 15 songs after that is like whoa lol

I agree that it is overall solid album but there are only a few tracks I go back regularly (mostly Hours of Silence).
I don't really care for that atlanta tryp/memphis dark rap style sound anymore.

But I can see the appeal for others.