21 Savage Says He Warned Drake Against Entering Kendrick Lamar Feud: ‘There’s No Way You Can Win'
21 Savage has revealed that he advised Drake not to engage in his high-profile lyrical battle with Kendrick Lamar, telling the Toronto rapper that the confrontation was unwinnable, even before it fully unfolded.
Speaking near the end of a lengthy appearance on the Perspektives With Bank podcast, the Atlanta rapper reflected on private conversations he had with Drake as tensions between Drake and Lamar escalated earlier this year. According to 21 Savage, he urged his longtime collaborator to steer clear of the feud altogether.
“I told him not to do all that shit,” 21 Savage said. “Leave that shit alone.” Still, he acknowledged that Drake felt compelled to respond once the challenge became public. “He felt like he was challenged lyrically, so he wanted to respond,” Savage added.
21 Savage recalled a conversation that likely took place after Kendrick Lamar’s opening salvo on Metro Boomin and Future’s chart-topping single “Like That.” In that exchange, Savage said he bluntly warned Drake about the stakes involved.
“You finna go into a battle that you can’t win,” he told Drake. “There’s no way you can win.”
The rapper clarified that his warning wasn’t necessarily about lyrical ability, but about positioning. “Even if you win, you still don’t win,” he explained. Savage argued that Drake’s status at the top of the music industry left little room for upside.
“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?”
While Kendrick Lamar was widely viewed as the victor of the exchange, largely due to the cultural dominance of his diss track “Not Like Us”, 21 Savage said he wasn’t particularly invested in assigning a winner or loser. He acknowledged that both artists released strong material during the back-and-forth.
Asked whether Drake suffered lasting damage from the feud, Savage downplayed the idea. “Nah,” he said, pointing out that Drake remains one of the most-streamed artists in the world. “I feel like he took an internet hit,” Savage noted, before questioning how meaningful that distinction really is. “But then it be like: Damn, did you take an internet hit? Because of streaming, you gotta go on the internet to stream.”
The comments arrive as 21 Savage releases his fourth studio album, What Happened to the Streets?, which dropped Friday (Dec. 12). The project follows 2024’s American Dream and features guest appearances from Latto, GloRilla, G Herbo, Lil Baby and Drake himself.
Despite the turbulence of the past year in hip-hop, Savage’s remarks suggest a pragmatic view of rap beefs at the highest level: when you’re already on top, the risks may outweigh the rewards.
