Who is Drake’s twin flame in the rap game? Endless wars have been fought over this subject online: The old guard, his Young Money compatriots Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj, will always have their place among the Toronto rapper’s memorable collaborations, but 21 Savage is slowly climbing up the power ranking. The Atlanta rapper brings out the best in Aubrey, like on 2016’s “Sneakin’” and Certified Lover Boy’s “Knife Talk”: the gleeful manner in which 21 boasts about spinning the block forces Drake to snap out of his luxurious malaise.
On “Rich Flex,” the opener to their full-length collaboration, Her Loss, Drake begins by gassing 21 up like they’re two kids filming a dance for TikTok. Over a typically spare Tay Keith beat, the Slaughter Gang CEO raps about strip club exploits at Magic City and pistol-whipping an enemy, creating an intriguing foil between the celestial sample and his violent words; his shift peaks when he imitates Megan Thee Stallion’s viral “Savage” flow to joke about his own name. Like on their prior collaboration “Jimmy Cooks,” the song switches up a few times: Drake rides a crashing piano beat, rapping about the usual gossip in his sex life and status symbols, but with a newly invigorated energy. “Internet clones, got em kissin’ thru the phone,” he teases, adopting the sing-songy cadence of T.I.’s “24.” It’s as if the presence of 21 makes Drake confront the idea of his own rap mortality; when real skill appears next to him, Drake realizes that he can’t coast on vibe alone.
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