'Issa' By 21 Savage Just Might Be The Most Brilliantly Ignorant Song Of The Year

Admittedly, I had never heard one single song by 21 Savage before Tuesday night.

In fact, I never wanted to. Didn't even want to give him a chance.

It wasn't a regional bias or anything like that since I never even took the time to learn anything about him.

Hell, for all I knew 21 Savage could've it could've been the name of a group.

The point is, I wasn't even trying to find out, based on the name alone.

I thought: it's probably the latest rapper du jour recycling the same old tired bullshit ass rhymes about drugs, money and sex -- in that order; he'll probably have trap-snap beats with those annoying ass, fast drum rolls that were pioneered years ago but also got played out years ago.

But on Tuesday, when 21 Savage dropped "Issa," all I saw was that it just happened to feature Drake and Young Thug, two of my guiltiest pleasures in all of music.

And you know what? The song delivered and then some on all of my above expectations -- "issa" is actually shorthand for "it's a" (which technically isn't shortened at all since "issa" same number of syllables in each...) -- who'd a thunk?

This, my friends, is brilliant. And, as an added bonus, just as ignorant!

A few lines, for instance:

Young Thug: "Nigga, issa knife, came for a slice / Better get right, nigga get diced / Never tell the truth, issa lie."

Drake: "I watched you go sell four million, issa stretch / You gave somethin' to the cops, issa sketch / Issa drawin', issa foreign / This look fun, that looks borin' / Girl, stop textin' me so much, it's annoyin'."

21 Savage: "Issa jet, issa check / Issa savage, now she wet / Issa Pyrex, I got crack / Got a coolin' system, issa Tec / If your bitch spend the night, issa sex / If your watch ain't cost a hundred, it ain't shit."

To be fair, this writer actually tuned out most of what the rappers were saying because the beat was what really talked to me.

But despite what appear to be elementary lyrics, Drake's rhyme was, as usual, on point, especially the casual delivery. To me, 21 Savage sounds like a young Gucci Mane, which, I suppose, isn't necessarily a bad thing. In this day and age, in fact, biting is pretty much the norm, so that didn't really raise any eyebrows. But Young Thugga and his signature harmonizing that laced the track from start to end was what really brought the brilliant ignorance all home for me.

But above all else, the above excerpts confirmed my suspicions -- and at the same time made me want to check for more shit from 21 Savage... whoever he is.