HIP-HOP

Drake and 21 Savage, "Her Loss" (Republic/Epic)

One of the grim inevitabilities of new pop star albums is how they are parsed and cracked into gossipy bites the moment they arrive. Within minutes of the release of the new collaborative project by Drake and 21 Savage, Twitter and hip-hop news and gossip sites were aflame. But somewhere underneath all of that lies the music itself, which, nowadays, ends up serving as a distraction from the chatter as much as the other way around.

"Her Loss" is frisky and centerless, a mood more than a mode. Drake has done a full-length collaborative project before; 2015's "What a Time to Be Alive," with Future, was an assertion of grimy gloss, adding fresh texture to Drake's already formidable arsenal.

But he and 21 Savage have a different sort of chemistry. Drake is endlessly malleable, a Zelig figure forever testing prevailing winds, while 21 Savage is a classic stoic, set in his thoughts. Often on this album — "More M's," "Privileged Rappers" — it feels as if they are ceding space to each other, side by side but not interwoven. Sometimes, like on "Spin Bout U," they successfully melt into something greater than their parts.

This is the lesser of Drake's two projects this year, lacking the cohesion and unexpected ambition of "Honestly, Nevermind," the dance floor-focused album he released in June. "Her Loss" is, in many ways, a playground for Drake. The exuberant "Circo Loco" riffs on Daft Punk's "One More Time" in a concession to pop glimmer. There's flow pattern and melodic experimentation on "Backoutsideboyz." "Hours in Silence" is a master class in Drake's self-eviscerations and recriminations. Because this album arrives with slightly lower stakes than a stand-alone Drake release, it also permits him to lean in to his deeply bawdy impulses, especially "On BS."

But "Her Loss" also features the other side of Drake, the one whose true subject is his own ascendance, especially on the vivid "Middle of the Ocean." Perhaps as he moves through the middle section of his career, he'll feel less tethered than ever.

JON CARAMANICA, New York Times

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