As of this writing, it has been over two days since Future and Metro Boomin dropped their first full-length collaboration, We Don’t Belief You, and it has nearly been fully overshadowed by a Kendrick Lamar cameo. The observe on which he seems, “Like That,” prominently options Rodney O and Joe Cooley’s 1987 single “Eternal Bass,” and Metro makes use of it like Three 6 Mafia did all through their discography, from “The place Da Bud At” to “Who the Crunkest.” Thanks partly to the Mafia, “Eternal Bass” has turn into an avatar of Jheri-curled hardness, and an ominous allusion to the predations of the crack period. Metro summons the vibe whereas mixing in Michel’le’s nursery line from Eazy-E’s “Eazy-Duz-It,” in addition. “Muthafuck the Massive 3/It’s simply massive me!” expenses Lamar, apparently calling out rivals Drake and J Cole in addition to referencing Ice Dice’s Massive 3 basketball circuit.
The ripple results of Lamar’s “Like That” verse have galvanized rap followers, impressed too many social-media explainers on his references — the shoutout to E-40 and The Click on, Melle Mel, and Prince (“Nigga, Prince outlived Mike Jack[son]”) — the 6 God’s beleaguered fan base to rally round him, and led Drake himself to make a defensive, albeit imprecise comment throughout a live performance in Dawn, Florida. Out of the blue, it’s 2013 once more, with Lamar kicking over the Spherical Desk simply as he as soon as did on Massive Sean’s “Management.” However in 2024, the stakes appear a lot decrease. Each Lamar and Drake are within the mid-thirties, with their aesthetic contrasts firmly effectively established. A decade in the past, the 2 appeared consultant of various paths mainstream rap may take; now, they’re simply sustaining empires. Any ensuing lyrical dispute, whether or not it’s extra of the “sneak dissin’” the 2 have engaged in for years or a full-on rap battle, will really feel extra akin to Lebron vs. Curry within the play-in match, not the championship.
Fortunately, that may’t be stated for Metro Boomin, who has embraced maximalist, cinematic gestures in an period when the style feels too area of interest, too reducible to TikTok clips and 15-minute-long EPs. Not like Heroes and Villains, his stable albeit portentous effort from 2022, We Don’t Belief You doesn’t come full of Morgan Freeman because the voice of God. Nonetheless, the St. Louis-born, Atlanta-based producer culls closely from a number of snippets of a boisterously entertaining Prodigy interview the place the late Queensbridge rapper known as out his competitors. “We the professionals, son! We professionals at what we do! Like, reduce it out!” Prodigy roars in a clip inserted at first of “Claustrophobic.”
All of Metro’s symphonic textures — the spooky tones of “Ice Assault,” his sampling of Mobb Deep’s “Quiet Storm” on “Seen It All” — supply alternative for a compelling main man to weave magic. On that stage, Future is barely intermittently profitable. The Atlanta rapper’s mannered, free-associative supply doesn’t naturally yield the type of electrical sparks that Lamar generates on “Like That.” And in contrast to Playboi Carti, whose surprisingly hoarse cameo on “Sort Shit” will proceed to gas debate round his more and more bizarre fashion, Future doesn’t try any main inventive shifts on We Don’t Belief You. He stays a rapper-singer who burrows into tracks as he conveys his actuality of sensual delights and opiate-numbed paranoia. Find it irresistible or hate it, he’s going to present you quite a lot of bars about ingesting codeine and serving amphetamines. He could not rise to Poisonous King ranges right here, however he’s nonetheless acquired “these common hoes/I acquired famous person hoes/Taking photos of me like a Fed” on “Younger Metro.”
Future serves as the attention on the heart of the storm as Metro orchestrates a whirlwind of old-school verisimilitude, visitor appearances from the likes of Rick Ross and Travis Scott, and haughty, post-platinum angst harking back to Missy Elliot’s assault towards her haters on Da Actual World. The Atlanta rapper gives a notably robust refrain on “Operating Out of Time,” and bounces energetically on “Fried (She a Vibe).” However his performances on tracks like “GTA” and “Ain’t No Love” sound dreary. We Don’t Belief You feels longer than its hour runtime, regardless of a number of respectable cuts. The album isn’t unhealthy: Metro stays an interesting producer, and Future manages to carry his personal regardless of his well-worn tics. However it solely takes a single Lamar verse to point out what the sport’s been lacking.
