21 Savage said he believes Drake emerged from his feud with Kendrick Lamar mostly unharmed, though he also shared that he advised the Toronto rapper not to jump into the high profile rap showdown in the first place.
Toward the end of an extended conversation on the Perspektives With Bank podcast, 21 Savage revealed that he urged Drake to “not to do all that shit” and to “leave that shit alone” as tensions were starting to rise. Speaking about his Her Loss collaborator, Savage added, “But goddamn, he felt like he was challenged lyrically, so he wanted to respond.”
The Atlanta rapper then described a discussion he had with Drake, seemingly after Lamar’s opening shot on Metro Boomin and Future’s track “Like That.” According to Savage, he warned Drake directly, saying, “You finna go into a battle that you can’t win. There’s no way you can win.”
Savage clarified that his point was about perspective, explaining that in certain scenarios, “even if you win, you still don’t win.” He acknowledged that both Kendrick Lamar and Drake released strong records during the exchange, but questioned the upside for someone already at the very top. “The only difference is, when you’re at the top… where does winning put you?” he said. “You can’t go Number One Point One. So how the fuck could you win, anyway?”
Although Lamar was widely viewed as coming out on top thanks to the massive impact of “Not Like Us,” Savage said he was never focused on keeping score. When asked whether Drake suffered any real damage from the feud, he responded, “Nah,” pointing out that Drake remains among the most streamed artists in the world. “I feel like he took an internet hit,” Savage explained. “But then it be like: Damn, did you take an internet hit? Because streaming, you gotta go on the internet to stream.”
Turning to his own work, 21 Savage released his latest album, What Happened to the Streets?, today, Dec. 12. The project is his fourth studio album and follows last year’s American Dream. What Happened to the Streets? includes guest appearances from Latto, GloRilla, G Herbo, Lil Baby, and Drake.
