21 Savage Drops Surprise Album "What Happened to the Streets"
Atlanta's 21 Savage shocked the hip hop world by surprise dropping his fourth studio album "What Happened to the Streets" on December 12th with zero singles released beforehand. The 14 track project arrived just in time for the holidays featuring an impressive lineup including Drake, Latto, GloRilla, Young Nudy, G Herbo, Metro Boomin and Lil Baby.
The album maintains 21's signature dark atmospheric sound while exploring themes of loyalty, street code and what happened to the principles he grew up with. The standout track "I Wish" featuring Jawan Harris samples R. Kelly's classic while paying tribute to fallen rappers including Nipsey Hussle, Young Dolph, PnB Rock, Rich Homie Quan, King Von, Takeoff, Juice WRLD and Lil Keed. On the emotional tribute 21 raps about wishing these artists had made different choices that could have saved their lives showing a vulnerable side fans rarely see.
The album cover created by visual artist Slawn features stunning artwork inspired by Kerry James Marshall's 1980 piece "A Portrait of the Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self." Slawn also debuted the concept at Art Basel in Miami earlier in December generating massive buzz before the album even dropped.
Critics are praising 21's growth as an artist noting how he balances hard street records with introspective moments throughout the project. The Drake collaboration "Mr. Recoup" has fans talking given their recent joint success while the Latto featured track "Pop It" feels especially personal now that she's publicly confirmed their relationship.
Young Nudy appears on "Stepbrothers" which cleverly samples DMX's "Stop Being Greedy" bringing that classic New York energy to an Atlanta record. What makes this release particularly impressive is how 21 kept everything under wraps announcing the album just days before release with a cinematic black and white trailer. The surprise drop strategy paid off as the album immediately shot to number one on Apple Music continuing 21's streak of chart topping projects. Fans appreciate that he didn't flood the market with pre release singles letting the complete body of work speak for itself when it arrived.
