21 Savage has always been an artist who swings big. Ever since his introduction to the mainstream rap scene with breakout hits “X” and “No Heart,” Savage stamped his status with trademark flows, instantly memorable hooks and a detached, menacing monotone. It’s been five years since his last solo album, and he made his return with “american dream” in a predictably cinematic way: by releasing the album along with a trailer for his film debut of the same name, starring Donald Glover and Caleb McLaughlin.
This announcement gave me higher expectations than I ever would’ve expected to have with a 21 Savage release, given he isn’t one of my favorite rappers. His previous two albums had a few memorable hits, but the rest felt like boring filler to me. His subject matter can get quite repetitive, with some sprinkles of bland, lifeless production to fill out the mix. It was obvious to me that his prior releases weren’t coming from a place of emotion or passion, which is the music that I gravitate toward. However, upon the announcement of a film coming with this album, it became evident that he put a lot of time and effort into this project.
The album starts with the title track, a spoken-word vignette from his mother backed by lush strings and keys. Her speech details the sacrifices she made to help her son get to the place he is today. “And what I wanted was an afterthought / The idea of providing him proper chances / Helped me to never stop moving forward / Forever confronting whatever transitions that needed to be endured / To make his position as a winner more secured.” This opener paves the way for Savage to unload his unabashed confidence, newfound emotional honesty and witty bars.
Like his prior releases, this album is chock-full of hits and misses. The first two real songs on the album, “all of me” and “redrum,” are prime examples of Savage at his best. An evocative, eerie blend of murderous nostalgia, his unparalleled drive to be successful and borderline annoying earworms lull you into his stone-cold raps. Lyrics like “My shooter pescatarian but he eat up all the beef” and “Take my chopper everywhere, that’s bae,” highlight Savage’s ability to normalize his homicidal history while also being genuinely funny. What a one-two punch to start this project.
As the album chugs along, it becomes a bit stagnant, particularly on “pop ur shit,” featuring Young Thug and long-time collaborator Metro Boomin. With an all-star cast like this, you’d expect fireworks, but it feels like a lazy attempt at using big names for clicks with no substance behind it.
Thug’s verse is particularly boring. You can barely understand anything he’s saying, backed by disappointingly bland production from Metro. Some of the lyrics are predictably garbage, with lines like “I ain’t never really been a fan of the games / If you spend the night with me, you gotta suck it (Hold on),” contributing to the never-ending, exhausting misogynistic trope we see in mainstream rap. However, it contains one of my favorite lines on the whole album from Savage: “It smell like gas, I think somebody pooped (Slime).”
Poop bars are the best thing to ever happen to rap. They’re so funny. This one hit me more than the countless other poop bars I’ve heard before because it came out of nowhere in such a sleepy part of the album. It injected a new sense of desire in me to finish the album, because up until that point, I was quite bored. Poop bars forever.
After a sleepy three-song stretch in the middle of the album, Savage brings it back to life with the surprisingly honest and vulnerable “letter to my brudda.” The latter half of the project is full of carefully curated features, each providing unique styles that bounce off Savage’s signature style beautifully. Some features that particularly stuck with me were Travis Scott on “née-nah,” Brent Faiyaz on “should’ve wore a bonnet,” Burna Boy on “just like me” and Mariah the Scientist on the album’s closer, “dark days.”
21 Savage is an artist who does everything in grand fashion. While that is usually a mixed bag, this album finds Savage charting new territory. He experiments with genre-blending, emotionally honest vignettes and teases a new film, all while making sure to emphasize his signature style at the forefront of his sound. While this is by no means a perfect record and has its fair share of duds, Savage gives us a glimpse of his artistic range as a rapper, lyricist and film producer. Savage will be back.
