Drake has been doing music for a minute, and it has paid off pretty well. After getting his start acting on Degrassi at 15, he decided to make the switch to making both R&B and rap music. He started off getting big with features on Lil Wayne and Trey Songz singles, and his journey from there has been eventful enough for a feature-length film.
21 Savage, on the other hand, has had a gritter come up. He was raised in Atlanta and struggled much longer than Drake did to finally get his foot in the rap game.
However, despite the differences in their rise and their musical styles, the 2 made a joint rap album together called 'Her Loss'. Released in October 2022, it would turn out to be one of the highest-selling albums released that year. Part of the reason for this was the duo's crazy album rollout, mimicking typical rollout things such as appearing on magazine covers and doing internet interviews.
They also did a collaboration with A-list actor Michael B. Jordan. Here's what they did together, and how the bizarre link-up came to be in the first place.
What Drake And 21 Savage Music Video Did Michael B. Jordan Star In?
It's not known how long Drake and 21 Savage were planning to release an album together. Drake released his controversial solo album 'Honestly, Nevermind' back in June 2022 with only one song that fans universally liked. That song would be "Jimmy Cooks", a collaboration with 21 Savage. It wasn't the first time they had worked together, but it was 21 Savage's first appearance on a Billboard #1 song since his guest verse on Post Malone's 2017 "Rockstar" hit.
The only feature on the album was fellow rapper Travis Scott. Atlanta rapper Lil Yachty was rumored to be a feature on the project, but the only role he played in the final project was picking out the album cover art.
Drake and 21 Savage spoofed a lot of publications in their rollout process. Aside from the aforementioned Vogue cover, they also had a fake Cartier advertisement that made the rounds on social media. Drake uploaded a fake Howard Stern interview to his Instagram, which was cleverly edited to look like a real Stern back-and-forth that he normally has with his guests.
Even the music videos for the album were parodies. NPR has a popular series on Youtube called Tiny Desk concerts, and the duo uploaded them pretending to get ready for a Tiny Desk video.
They then released a full-length video for their song "Privileged Rappers" that spoofed the COLORS series on Youtube. COLORS is a channel that has featured the likes of Quavo and Billie Eilish, and is popular enough to be a part of the two rapper's insane rollout.
Then there was the video for their song "On BS". One of the biggest songs on "Her Loss", "On BS" is a hype anthem that features a lot of brag lyrics. It shouldn't be much of a surprise that the video was an SNL parody, as the two rappers were spoofing everything in sight. However, their host for the pretend episode of SNL just so happened to be none other than Michael B. Jordan.
Why Did Michael B. Jordan Appear In Drake And 21 Savage's Music Video For 'On BS'?
Micheal was recently asked about his guest appearance on "On BS" during an interview with Complex. Alongside Kang the Conqueror actor Jonathan Majors, he confessed that he has been a fan of Drake's for a long time and that their friendship is why he showed up in the "On BS" video.
Later in that interview, Michael crowned Drake as the GOAT rapper, putting him above the likes of Jay-Z and 2Pac.
Similar to Michael, Drake has had some pretty high-profile relationships. Many people believe that when Michael called "Her Loss" one of the most relatable albums of all time that he was talking about his recent ex Lori Harvey, believing himself to be her actual loss.
During that Complex interview, Michael truly revealed his nerd-ish love of Hip-Hop. He's also recently revealed his nerdy interest in Anime. He recently revealed his top 5 anime list, which caused a flurry on social media. Some fans thought it was cool he was secretly into anime, while others thought his list was for anime novices.
Are Drake And Michael B. Jordan Friends?
As mentioned previously, Drake and Michael are pretty good friends. The first confirmed instance of their friendship was back in 2019, when Drake showed up to Michael's birthday party. Since then, the two have shown up at basketball games together, shouted each other out in interviews and award ceremonies, and of course, Michael showed up in the "On BS" video.
Perhaps inspired by Michael, Drake has dabbled in movies and TV over the last couple of years. Aside from resurrecting the British crime series Top Boy, Drake is also an executive producer for the hit TV show Euphoria. While his input on the show is a bit of a mystery, stars of the show have claimed he plays an important role behind the scenes.
Drake has recently been rumored to have another joint album on the way, this time collaborating with Atlanta rapper Lil Baby. Drake and 21 Savage have recently announced their joint 2023 tour, Drake's first since the COVID-19 pandemic started back in 2020. Maybe a mixtape with Lil Baby will help generate promotion and hype for the tour.
It's crazy that Drake has enough time to even do all of these albums and tours. He's also a father now, in addition to film production and music making.
He's also had to deal with the stresses of fame. Drake used to love being famous, but as time has gone on, he's wanted to hide from it more and more. An example of this is the recent time he tried to wear makeup and a disguise when he went out in public. He has confessed to music as being an outlet for stress, so it's probably how he's able to find so much time for it.