21 Savage’s ‘What Happened to the Streets?’ Album: All 14 Tracks Ranked

When 21 Savage slows down the pace too much, songs like “Cup Full” lose their luster behind 21’s deadpan delivery. However, he turns back up a few gears and regains control on the track’s second half, making “Cup Full” a split decision, if this were a boxing match.

A skit to open “J.O.W.Y.H” finds a woman detailing how she can pull any guy with ease in the Atlanta night scene. 21 draws his sword and turns this love game into a battle. Savage remains in control as he’s not going to let just any woman play him. Essentially, 21 raps about being able to get around and not catch feelings. Even at his most serious and unfazed, he’ll throw in a playful bar, but it somehow doesn’t break up the menacing tone. “Sour patch kid, ain’t s— sweet/ All the hoes say you n—s cheap,” he raps.

21 Savage wants to ruin his opps’ lives, and it’s like he does it for fun. “HA” represents 21 at his most daunting. He threatens that if “you ever try the squad, we have you front row at a church” or how he’ll “tear the pockets off a n—a jeans,” the latter of which is diabolical. But my personal favorite has gotta be 21 attacking fake rappers with no movement. “How the f— is you a rapper? You don’t got one fan,” he raps. How many people’s feelings were hurt after pressing play on “HA,” a lot.

The outro features a sample of Gucci Mane’s “Hit Another Lick,” which finds Guwop overcome with joy as he recalls hitting his first lick. The producer of that 2007 track? Zaytoven, and he’s back 18 years later, providing the connective tissue to the two decades of the ATL rap landscape.

Blown-out drums and a sparkling piano loop courtesy of D.A. Got That Dope, 21 changes the timbre of the entire album, turning gloom to optimism. Savage seems at peace with the decisions he’s made, even though he knows things haven’t turned out nearly perfect. The Britain-born superstar’s Royal Flush of a hand netted him a robust return on investment.

COUPE’s starry production plays well for 21’s canvas on “Pop It.” He gets loose and has some fun repeating the track’s title on the woozy hook, before passing the baton over to his rumored wifey, Big Mama. Latto flexes her life of luxury, but it feels like she’s outrapping a beat trying to keep up with her flow. “Pop It” will live somewhere in the middle of the pack on WHAT HAPPENED TO THE STREETS?.

Who knew having that dog s— on you meant keeping pockets full of cash? 21 loves his money and he can’t get enough. Boisterous shouts up the ante on the production side as Savage and GloRilla trade sharp verses. Glo continues her successful feature run and “DOG$HIT” is a fun addition to WHAT HAPPENED TO THE STREETS?, but the track does feel a bit drawn out toward the end.

The “HALFTIME INTERLUDE” is more of a seventh-inning stretch coming in at track No. 11 out of 14, but this could be a hat tip to Young Thug’s Barter 6 “Halftime.”

Looking back at his upbringing, 21 realizes he was a product of his unforgiving environment. Somehow, stealing candy evolved into homicides and all of it has left him traumatized. Clearly, the losses of friends are still eating away at every fiber of his being. But that pain was only met with exacting revenge as a coping mechanism. No matter what, 21 will never respect rats and he looks at snitching as the lowest form of humanity.

Produced by OZ, “HALFTIME” serves as a woozy transitional interlude, but feels like a diary entry written with a blade.

21 and Metro Boomin are always a welcome reunion. Young Metro mixes in an uplifting gospel-tinged aesthetic to the gloomy project. The 33-year-old continues to grieve the friends who were killed during his journey in the spotlight. 21 admits he’s never had the proper therapy or time to heal, which has only made him more callous.

However, although he’s not perfect, Savage feels he can look in the mirror and know he moved with integrity while making every decision in the past. “You know you got them n—s out here sayin’ the fame changed me/ I got thirty n—s right here sayin’ that I’m the same me,” he raps.

21 pledges his allegiance to Zone 6 and “WHERE YOU FROM” finds Savage narrating the unforgiving streets that raised him in East Atlanta. Southside and Wheezy team up for chilling piano-driven production, as 21 mentions rock stars he looks up to, from Lenny Kravitz to Travis Barker.

However, fans’ ears are going to be drawn to the Slaughter Gang rapper’s mentions of his famous friends at odds. “P—y, don’t ask me about Metro or Drake,” he raps. It’s not meant in a negative fashion — more of a, “Don’t pit me between my brothers.” Although he could see Drizzy and Metro reconciling in the future.

21 closes up track No. 1 with a grim message for content creators and those with Twitter fingers. “All you Internet n—s, I see you, all you content creators/ Catch you down bad and break your MacBook,” he threatens.

The idea of cousins being referred to as stepbrothers sounds cool, but it gets tricky when you start connecting the dots of the family tree. Enough of that. 21 Savage always looks out for his cousin Young Nudy, and they’re there for each other whenever one needs a verse.

21 ruminates about the once-sturdy street code that’s eroding before his eyes. The cinematic strings from COUPE make Nudy feel right at home, and he gets the best of his cousin while batting second here. Nudy actually directly answers 21’s What Happened to the Streets? research question.

“Man, these n—s, they”ll do it, they don’t give a f— ’bout turnin’ they brother in,” Slimeball raps about the loss of integrity outside. “Man, these streets, this s— ain’t got no love, that’s why I’m goin’ in/ Man, this street s— got homicide, these n—s ain’t got it.”

In what seems like the blink of an eye, 21 and Lil Baby have evolved from rising stars to elder statesmen of ATL’s rap scene. The duo’s dropping tears at the erosion of Atlanta’s collaborative music scene, which was producing stars with ease in the 2010s.

Their focus on “ATLANTA TEARS” is the neighborhood changing and social media’s influence, which has glorified rats and “internet nerds” trying to dictate street culture. For Baby, he’s carrying the tools that raised him with pride. “I can move to Palm Springs, say, ‘F— the hood’ it’s still in me,” he proclaims.

Blazing through a Souls A’Fire sample, 21 promises: “I’ma stand on principles and morals ’til it’s over/ Thought you had to rap ’bout what you live and I got older.” The trenches can be a vicious cycle and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, as 21 and Baby are losing hope that the pendulum will swing back in their mentality’s favor.

The ruthless 2017 version of 21 Savage could never make an “I WISH.” It’s a testament to the Slaughter Gang rapper’s growth. Being a savant of ’90s R&B, singer Jawan Harris’ crooning on the triumphant hook is perfectly implemented.

Savage pays tribute to his rap peers who passed away in recent years, including Pop Smoke, PnB Rock, King Von, Young Dolph, Nipsey Hussle, Lil Keed, Trouble, TakeOff, Young Scooter, Juice WRLD and XXXTENTACION, along with a shout-out to the incarcerated Lil Durk.

When 21 poetically lays it out on wax, it’s jarring to see that a large chunk of those who were uplifting rap’s infrastructure for the last 10 years is gone. While 21 has made a career depicting vicious street tales, it’s his maturity that shines brightest on the potent WHAT HAPPENED TO THE STREETS? closer.

21 was one of the only prominent rappers to publicly back Drake during his feud with Kendrick when others crossed him, so it’s only right they linked up on Savage’s LP. I didn’t expect them to go this route, as Drake unlocks a new choppy, stop-and-go flow over an icy piano loop and weighty synths, but his Her Loss running mate has shown a malleability to match Drizzy’s experimenting.

In typical Drake fashion, he serves up a bar that Owl profile pictures will be tweeting out and using for IG captions to close out the year. “Damn, Iceman, your initials just changed/ Mr. Recoup, that’s my other nickname,” Drizzy flows.

While “MR RECOUP” is sure to be a polarizing talking point of the album, this OVO x Slaughter Gang link-up passes inspection and adds to a decorated list of collaborations between Drake and 21 over the years.

21 Savage and G Herbo are two of the most consistent spitters as far as knowing what to expect every time the duo steps into the booth. 21 and Herbo grapple with survivor’s guilt while reflecting on those they lost along the way to the top of the rap game throughout “CODE OF HONOR.”

The Slaughter Gang honcho remembers his close friend, Larry, who was killed in 2011 alongside his mother. While Herbo takes his mind back to the South Side’s trenches, where life wasn’t promised day-to-day.

Even moving hundreds of miles away from Chicago, the trauma and guilt plaguing Herbo never dissipate. “I couldn’t end up like some ones I once loved, and be a statistic,” he candidly raps, before closing out his hard-hitting assist in sobering fashion. “Beat the streets, sometimes I miss it.”