It’s a Metro Boomin all-star game in “HEROES & VILLIANS.”
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TOP 5
Honorable Mention. Feel The Fiyaaaah (Ft. A$AP Rocky & Takeoff)
A$AP Rocky and Takeoff absolutely shine in this soulful banger.
While “Feel The Fiyaaaah” isn’t the most exciting track on this album, I absolutely love how rawly A$AP Rocky and Takeoff’s verses came out. Hearing them get their s**t off about being unexpected role models, heartbreakers, and smoketakers brought a smile to my face.
RIP to Takeoff. I still can’t believe he’s gone.
Honorable Mention. Umbrella (Ft. 21 Savage & Young Nudy)
If you want an authentic Metro Boomin experience, you need to listen to “Umbrella.”
I swear, the intro to this song sounds like some colorful, The Oprah Winfrey Show s**t. Once it ACTUALLY starts, it sounds like some The Rocky Horror Picture Show s**t. “Umbrella” is powered by cold-ass production that boasts these chilling piano notes that you would hear during a scene in a movie where someone is being lifted into the room where they will be sacrificed. Over the production, 21 Savage and Young Nudy mention the word ‘Chopper’ more than Babs. They also talk about taking more shots than Kanye’s Twitter account. After you are done listening to the track, you’ll have a pleasantly dirty feeling inside.
5. Niagara Falls (Foot or 2) (Ft. Travis Scott & 21 Savage)
Wait a second, thugs go to Niagara Falls, too? Aight, bet!
The best thing about this song is the production. In “Niagara Falls (Foot or 2),” you get this uber-dramatic instrumental that effortlessly pulls at heartstrings. The second best thing about this song is Travis Scott’s contributions. I love how he switches between boisterous and subdued. The third best thing about this song is Morgan Freeman’s outro. Coming in at last place is 21 Savage’s random-ass verse (I feel like he doesn’t fit the song). All in all, “Niagara Falls (Foot or 2)” is one of the few songs on this album that moves the needle.
4. Superhero (Heroes & Villians) (Ft. Future & Chris Brown)
On some real s**t, there is no one better at being both a hero and a villain than Future.
In “Superhero (Heroes & Villians),” Metro Boomin hooks Future up with a horn-heavy beat that sounds like some s**t the Devil’s personal orchestra made. The beat provokes Future to bring out the cockiest version of himself. Throughout the song, he brags about whizzing on caskets, flossing more than a dentist, being a street king, and taking pills. The style he raps with will surely make Steve Harvey tell Lori that she dodged one of the worst bullets of all time.
Chris Brown closes this song out with a very passionate singing performance. His part somewhat negates Future’s demonic behavior (Chris FTW).
I really like how this song sets the tone for this album.
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3. Walk Em Down (Don’t Kill Civilians) (Ft. 21 Savage & Mustafe)
I feel like “Walk Em Down (Don’t Kill Civilians)” was either going to end up on this album or the deluxe version of “Her Loss.”
21 Savage is completely in his bag in “Walk Em Down (Don’t Kill Civilians,” and that’s mainly because of the hopscotch-ass beat that Metro Boomin hooks him up with (21 Savage is undefeated when you hand him a beat that you can hopscotch to). In the song, 21 brags about his big bankroll, the respect he gets in the street, and his ability to shoot opps without hitting civilians. The first thing that came to my mind while listening to the song was the scene in Men In Black where Will Smith had to go through that shooting drill and explained to his police chief why he accidentally was shooting the wrong targets.
I’ll be real with you, Mustafa’s part in this song is weird as f**k. I like his message, though.
2. Trance (Ft. Travis Scott & Young Thug)
It’s amazing how many different genres I hear in “Trance.”
“Trance” gives me trap vibes, house vibes, horror movie vibes, and even square dancing vibes. Something that I learned while listening to the song is that I absolutely love hearing Travis Scott float over production like this (Especially when he brings out his smooth melodic side). Something else that I learned is that Young Thug is an absolute pro at bridging the gap between genres. Both artists are truly the definition of versatile.
1. Creepin’ (Ft. The Weeknd & 21 Savage)
Adding 21 Savage to The Weeknd’s remake of Mario Winans’s classic “I Don’t Wanna Know” track is truly a sick-ass decision.
Yes, back in the day male R&B singers were singing about getting cheated on. Don’t get me wrong, they are still getting cheated on; it’s just not on wax. Anywho, in “Creepin’,” The Weeknd morphs into Mario Winans to sing about a chick that he feels is messing with someone else. What I love is that his velvety, poignant voice really brings out the level of pain someone would experience if they got Jalen Brunson’ed. As for 21 Savage, he tells his own tale of a chick messing with his head. Surprisingly, he doesn’t resolve his issues by bringing guns out; he resolves them by sweeping them under the rug (21 is growing, y’all).
F**k that, if we’re dating, I wanna know if your cheating on me so I can take your name off my damn Amazon Prime account.
SONG BY SONG BREAKDOWN
1. On Time (Ft. John Legend & Morgan Freeman) (4/5)
2. Superhero (Heroes & Villians) (Ft. Future & Chris Brown) (4/5)
3. Too Many Nights (Ft. Don Toliver) (3.5/5)
4. Raindrops (Insane) (Ft. Travis Scott) (3/5)
5. Umbrella (Ft. 21 Savage & Young Nudy) (4/5)
6. Trance (Ft. Travis Scott & Young Thug) (4.5/5)
7. Around Me (Ft. Don Toliver) (3.5/5)
8. Metro Spider (Ft. Young Thug) (4/5)
9. I Can’t Save You (Interlude) (Ft. Future & Don Toliver) (4/5)
10. Creepin’ (Ft. The Weeknd & 21 Savage) (4.5/5)
11. Niagara Falls (Foot or 2) (Ft. Travis Scott & 21 Savage) (4/5)
12. Walk Em Down (Don’t Kill Civilians) (Ft. 21 Savage & Mustafa) (4/5)
13. Lock On Me (Ft. Future & Travis Scott) (4/5)
14. Feel The Fiyaaah (Ft. Takeoff & A$AP Rocky) (4/5)
15. All The Money (Bonus) (Ft. Gunna) (4/5)
RGM RATING
(C+)
When the dust settles, Metro Boomin will go down as the best hip-hop producer of this generation. His ability to craft intricate, touching, stirring, and hair-raising instrumentals is unmatched. I also think that he elevates the sounds of hip-hop’s greatest maniacs. In HEROES and VILLIANS, Metro proves why it’s impossible to hate either one.
Do you know what this album feels like? A Metro Boomin all-star game. I feel like the Atlanta producer picked the five artists that he’s worked the best with in the past and gave them all chances to ball out. Think about it, there was a time in which Future and Metro were cooking up serious heat, a time in which 21 Savage and Metro were making the best horror music in the game, and a time in which Travis Scott was Metro’s go-to hypeman. All three artists get a chance to shine on this album the exact way they shined in the past with Metro. So what was my personal favorite connection? Travis Scott and Metro (I feel like Travis and Metro make next-level music).
As much as I loved the bone-chilling raps 21 Savage gave us, the highly infectious hooks Travis gave us, the cool-ass raps A$AP Rocky and Takeoff gave us, the toxic bars Future gave us, and the sappy-ass performance The Weeknd gave us, at the end of the day, the best thing about the album is the production. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I can listen to Metro Boomin’s beats without anyone rapping over them. They are that riveting, that intricate, that satisfying, and that moving. Though I didn’t love this album (I thought it featured blahzay blahzay performances by practically everyone), I do love the standard that Metro’s production abided set on it. Oldheads will kill me for saying this, but f**k it, I’m going to go ahead and say it: Metro Boomin might be the best hip-hop producer of all time.
Quincy is the creator of Ratings Game Music. He loves writing about music, taking long walks on beaches, and spaghetti that fights him back.
This Post Has 9 Comments
Replace ”Walk ‘Em Down” with ” Umbrella”
I fully agree!
C+ is wild, the album was sm better than that
Lol. Yea, I definitely understand. I really like the beats, but a good chunk of the songs didn’t fully click with me.
What grade would you give the album?
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I’ve been listening to niagra for almost a year now and the song got better with its released version. The guy was complaing that Savage just randomly came in that song but really he fit in with the original version they just put him in more randomly and early and the beat was changed so that Travis’s verses didn’t get old which they did a little bit in the original
I’m glad you gave insight to the original version. I gotta check it out. I love “Niagra.” I wasn’t feeling 21’s part, but I’m not mad that he was on the song. I feel like Thugger would’ve fit it more. But Travis’ performance was dope as hell.
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