21 Savage Says He Advised Drake Not to Respond to Kendrick Lamar: ‘When You the No. 1 … Where Does Winning Put You?’

21 Savage is as loyal as they come. During a time when many turned their back on Drake, 21 held the OVO rapper down throughout his 2024 feud with Kendrick Lamar.

Savage opened up in a new interview about how he advised Drake not to go into battle with Kendrick following what appears to be “Like That,” as he believed Drizzy really had nothing to gain from the back-and-forth since he was already the top dog in rap.

“How can you win a battle if n—as want you to lose it,” Savage told Perspektives With Bank on Thursday (Dec. 11). Even if you win, you lose. No matter what. Even if Kendrick never responded, man. If Drake just dropped songs and Kendrick never responded or nothing, he still don’t win because his position didn’t change.”

21 called the battle “rigged” by the public since he would’ve “been the bad guy for winning.”

“He called me one of them days or I called him,” 21 added. “I think this was after the first song, the song with Metro and them, and I said, ‘You finna go into a battle that you can’t win, like, there’s no way you can win.’ No matter what, bruh. Certain situations, even if you win, you still don’t win.”

The Slaughter Gang boss explained that Drake said he felt like he was being “challenged lyrically,” so he had to respond.

“I told that n—a leave that s—t alone. He felt like he was being challenged lyrically, so he wanted to respond,” 21 continued. “Certain situations even if you win, you still don’t win. When you the No. 1 n—a, where does winning put you? You can’t go 1.1.”

Drake and Kendrick ended up exchanging about nine diss tracks, from Drake’s “Push Ups” through “The Heart Pt. 6.” The public consensus championed Lamar as the victor following the release of his Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 smash “Not Like Us.” (Lamar was just named Billboard‘s 2025 Top R&B/Hip-Hop Artist as well as Top Billboard Hot 100 Songwriter of the year.)

On the music side of his own, 21 Savage returned with his new album, What Happened to the Streets?, on Friday (Dec. 12). Among the star-studded guests, 21 reunited with Drake for “Mr Recoup,” which adds to their decorated list of collaborations.

As for Drake, the OVO faithful are still awaiting the arrival of Iceman, which Drizzy’s continued to tease throughout the second half of 2025.

Watch the full interview with 21 Savage below.