21 Savage Says Drake/Kendrick Lamar Battle Was “Rigged” From The Start

December 12, 2025

21 Savage said he advised Drake not to respond to Kendrick Lamar’s diss, calling the battle “rigged” against he rapper.

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21 Savage didn’t mince words when he revealed the advice he gave Drake during his lyrical standoff with Kendrick Lamar, telling him flat-out not to respond to Kendrick’s jab on “Like That.”

Speaking on the December 11 episode of Perspektives with Big Bank, the Atlanta rapper said he called Drake immediately after hearing Kendrick’s verse and advised him to sit it out. His reasoning? The deck was stacked.

“When you’re the number one n*gga, where does winning put you?” 21 said. “You can’t go number 1.1.”

That wasn’t just a throwaway line. 21 Savage argued that Drake’s status as the most commercially dominant rapper made the entire battle a no-win situation. According to him, even if Drake came out lyrically superior, it wouldn’t have mattered.

“This sh*t rigged, man,” he said. “Even if Drake won, he would’ve been the bad guy for winning.”

He also pointed out that much of the public had already made up their minds about the outcome before the first bar was even spit.

“Motherf*ckers wanted Drake to lose anyway,” he said.

The “Savage Mode” artist made it clear his advice had nothing to do with doubting Drake’s pen. Instead, he saw the feud as a lose-lose scenario for someone already at the top of the game.

In his eyes, Drake was boxed in by perception and expectation, not bars.

The comments shed light on the behind-the-scenes conversations that shaped one of Hip-Hop’s most significant moments of 2024, which produced Kendrick Lamar’s biggest hit, “Not Like Us,” and a lawsuit Drake filed, which he lost and is still appealing.

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