Metro Boomin’ - HEROES & VILLAINS ALBUM REVIEW
Loving the Pink Floyd homage, not gonna lie.
I think it’s a safe bet to say that Metro Boomin’ is a modern legend. I’ve always liked him and his contributions to rap and trap specifically, and he’s also had a huge hand in some of my favorite albums in trap. His collab albums with 21 Savage, mainly Without Warning with Offset and Savage Mode II, have been the standouts to me. Also, while writing this, I also found out he produced the entirety (sans one track) of Future’s DS2, one of my favorite Future projects. It may also be a little bit of bias, but he’s also done a good amount with The Weeknd as well, who appears on this album. However, I think his last solo album, NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES, is just fine. I don’t really remember a bunch of it, but I still got pretty excited for this when it got announced. Let’s just cut to the bullshit and see how I felt about HEROES & VILLAINS.
I’m just gonna say that I don’t know how he connected with Morgan Freeman, but he always sounds so damn good while talking over Metro beats. That better be one of his producer tags in the future, it goes so fucking hard. Either way, I don’t think that this is an album that needs to be analyzed and dissected. However, I will say that the little threads of having themes of heroes and villains is a nice little touch, which isn’t surprising since Metro recently said that this album is the second in a trilogy. It’s not exactly a concept album, but a nice little thread that makes a snippet from The Boys being sampled make a little more sense. When it comes to the features, I overall enjoyed a good bunch of them. Future and 21 Savage have pretty much always killed it when they're with Metro, so nearly every track with them was pretty good. Travis Scott, in what I’d say are his biggest features since the Astroworld incident, is also pretty good on here, even if he’s on a lot of the tracks. Don Toliver is seeming like the new Ty Dolla $ign with all of these features he’s been doing, but I’m not exactly complaining. It’s nice to hear A$AP Rocky again as well, especially with the late Takeoff giving a great feature on the song.
There are two standouts on here that definitely deserve attention. Young Thug probably gave one of my personal favorite features ever on “Metro Spider” and it really showed just how much I’ve been missing that energy from him recently. Once he does get out, I really hope he brings this energy because it's absolutely insane. The other, which is pretty obvious if you know me, is The Weeknd on “Creepin’,” which is essentially an homage to “I Don’t Wanna Know” by Mario Winan in the same way that the album cover is an homage to Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here. I wasn’t exactly familiar with the original song, but I knew I at least recognized it. 21 Savage’s feature on the track is pretty nice as well, even if it’s a pretty odd combo on paper. At this point, do I even need to mention Metro? He’s what DJ Khaled thinks he is: a curator that knows what sounds good to the masses.
HEROES & VILLAINS is the most I’ve enjoyed a trap album since Savage Mode II, and I think there’s a pretty obvious reason why. Metro Boomin’ easily dishes out some of the best songs of the year on here, along with just being incredibly consistent across the entire project. If his more recent announcements mark anything, this is only just the beginning. Eat your heart out, Khaled.
8/10
Listen here
Spotify
Apple Music
YouTube
HEROES & VILLAINS is a Boominati Worldwide / Republic Records / UMG Recordings release.
I think it’s a safe bet to say that Metro Boomin’ is a modern legend. I’ve always liked him and his contributions to rap and trap specifically, and he’s also had a huge hand in some of my favorite albums in trap. His collab albums with 21 Savage, mainly Without Warning with Offset and Savage Mode II, have been the standouts to me. Also, while writing this, I also found out he produced the entirety (sans one track) of Future’s DS2, one of my favorite Future projects. It may also be a little bit of bias, but he’s also done a good amount with The Weeknd as well, who appears on this album. However, I think his last solo album, NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES, is just fine. I don’t really remember a bunch of it, but I still got pretty excited for this when it got announced. Let’s just cut to the bullshit and see how I felt about HEROES & VILLAINS.
I’m just gonna say that I don’t know how he connected with Morgan Freeman, but he always sounds so damn good while talking over Metro beats. That better be one of his producer tags in the future, it goes so fucking hard. Either way, I don’t think that this is an album that needs to be analyzed and dissected. However, I will say that the little threads of having themes of heroes and villains is a nice little touch, which isn’t surprising since Metro recently said that this album is the second in a trilogy. It’s not exactly a concept album, but a nice little thread that makes a snippet from The Boys being sampled make a little more sense. When it comes to the features, I overall enjoyed a good bunch of them. Future and 21 Savage have pretty much always killed it when they're with Metro, so nearly every track with them was pretty good. Travis Scott, in what I’d say are his biggest features since the Astroworld incident, is also pretty good on here, even if he’s on a lot of the tracks. Don Toliver is seeming like the new Ty Dolla $ign with all of these features he’s been doing, but I’m not exactly complaining. It’s nice to hear A$AP Rocky again as well, especially with the late Takeoff giving a great feature on the song.
There are two standouts on here that definitely deserve attention. Young Thug probably gave one of my personal favorite features ever on “Metro Spider” and it really showed just how much I’ve been missing that energy from him recently. Once he does get out, I really hope he brings this energy because it's absolutely insane. The other, which is pretty obvious if you know me, is The Weeknd on “Creepin’,” which is essentially an homage to “I Don’t Wanna Know” by Mario Winan in the same way that the album cover is an homage to Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here. I wasn’t exactly familiar with the original song, but I knew I at least recognized it. 21 Savage’s feature on the track is pretty nice as well, even if it’s a pretty odd combo on paper. At this point, do I even need to mention Metro? He’s what DJ Khaled thinks he is: a curator that knows what sounds good to the masses.
HEROES & VILLAINS is the most I’ve enjoyed a trap album since Savage Mode II, and I think there’s a pretty obvious reason why. Metro Boomin’ easily dishes out some of the best songs of the year on here, along with just being incredibly consistent across the entire project. If his more recent announcements mark anything, this is only just the beginning. Eat your heart out, Khaled.
8/10
Listen here
Spotify
Apple Music
YouTube
HEROES & VILLAINS is a Boominati Worldwide / Republic Records / UMG Recordings release.
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