5 years with no album, Rae Sremmurd returned a couple of weeks ago with their 4th full-length LP, Sremm 4 Life.
It was surprising to see this, I really wasn't following them and had no idea until maybe 1 day before that this was dropping, and I've really fond memories of their first 2 (particularly the 1st) albums so was excited to get to this project. The first album had a really nice light, fragrant, refreshing, colourful sound, with some certified trap classics, like No Flex Zone.
The opening track Origami (Hotties) was a bit of a dud start with a generic trap beat that lacked character and originality. And unfortunately, this wasn't the only time I felt this that way about the production, with Mississippi Slide and Torpedo also lacklustre in this department. There was some cooler beats, I liked the beat scratches on Bend Ya Knees, also Swae Lee's backing vocals on Activate, and lastly, the track Sexy that had a quicker, nice groove to it.
Another key problem I had with the project was, there was only 2 features, and one of them was seriously phoned in, and I'm looking at Future here on the track Activate. His flow was passable, but the rhyme schemes basic as hell, spitting bars like "had to switch positions like a six-speed, top of the morning we gettin' privacy".
It wasn't just Future though, the album is littered with simple flows and simpler rhyme schemes, as well as many verses focusing on very basic punchline-rap. One that sticks in my memory is on Something I'm Not, the line "got the drac', I'm tryna get me a billion just like Dr Dre".
Another serious downside of the album is the monotonous, deadpan, boring, 0 energy, repetitive, shit attempt at hooks. Worst offenders being YMCA, Diamonds Dancing, and Torpedo. No lyrical highlights to point to, no attempt at cadence or vocal inflections, often limited attempts at any sort of melody, just often Swae Lee speaking his lyrics. It sounds like Swae doesn't want to be there at all and the hook is merely a daily task he must tediously complete. Where was Swae's awesome singing voice that's so soft and unique and one of the best voices in the game at one point, we get nothing of that on this album.
Despite all the gripes, there were still some pockets of niceness. Not So Bad (Leans Gone Cold) which interpolates Dido's lyrics from Thank You, that was of course made legendary by Eminem's 2000 classic, Stan. The track has a nice melancholic air to it with the piano matching the incredible bassline on Stan, the hook also reminds you just how good the melody actually is. I was digging the mixing of Swae's vocals too, think they added an extra texture to the performance.
The next track, Tanisha (Pump That) had a pretty dope hook actually, and Slim Jxmmi's verse brought a nice bit of gumption, he's naturally got a bit more grit in his voice anyway, but his flow was more intense then the other parts of the song, spitting bars (to I assume a fictional Tanisha) like "aye, you can max out my amex, ayy, I can tell you like attention just by the way you shake it".
I thought the beat, and particularly those drums on Flaunt It, were superb and once again Slim Jxmmi brought a bit of heat that the album was fairly sparse on, I enjoyed his verse flexing, "I'm someone like you might drive and drink too, worked 9 to 5's when I was in high school".
Another show of charisma, in an album sometimes devoid of that, was Sexy, where once again Slim Jxmmi performed well, a nice hook from him too. It must be said Slim Jxmmi did carry Swae Lee on this project, and we know there's been songs in the past where it's been the exact opposite. Slim Jxmmi brought way more energy and put more effort into his performance, he sounded like he was happy and excited to be there, it makes a big difference.
Something I'm Not had a fire instrumental, with a delicate acoustic guitar and a nice vocal sample backing up the hook. There's also more sentimentality in this song that the listener can grab to, because there's really not an abundance elsewhere, so to hear them rapping from a more personal and emotional perspective, it was a great change of gear. I liked Slim Jxmmi's bars where he says "questioning myself, like how can I be something I'm not, I grew from the mud, like a plant in the pot, I pop like a jack-in-the-box, my stock went straight to the top, got big rocks that make the temperature drop, yelling RIP my pops".
The closing track ADHD Anthem (2 Many Emotions) also had a bit more emotion to it, in the lyrics and the sound of the song, albeit sounding like a bit of a Juice Wrld rip-off and also being washed in autotune. Both MC's run through a lot of their problems, Swae Lee discussing losing family members, Slim Jxmmi talking about his drinking and drug tendencies. There's one specific little flow where he sounds just like Juice, where he spits "my demons talking they just wanna see me crashing, I can't feel my heart beating in my chest, call the cardiologist".
To conclude on this review, this album had me thinking, were SremmLife and SremmLife 2 just 'lightning in a bottle' moments of the mid-2010's that were great, but the industry and its popular sound has moved on from this. That being said, I am equally sure that this album Sremm 4 Life lacks the quality, creativity and effort that a great album needs. Whatever happened, the album to me is disappointingly unentertaining, unoriginal, and pointless. The comeback after 5 years feels pointless, they didn't say too much on the project, nor did they push any new creative or sonic boundaries. Not like you have to be uber experimental, but just bring us some distinction from other stuff that's out. I Felt like, particularly Swae Lee, never left 2nd gear on Sremm 4 Life.
From other stuff they've dropped, they have a high ceiling for their song-crafting abilities, but they're in the basement for so much of this album. Once again, I have to ask, where was Swae's infectious vocals? Non-existent for the most part. With the ability there, and the access to awesome producers, they have to come up with something better than an interpolation of a song from over 20 years ago, that's already been done for an iconic rap song.
I haven't seen a big splash for this album at all, and looking up the first-week sales, I can see that Sremm 4 Life did 18k first week, a far-cry from the 57k that their 3rd album did. It will be interesting to see what Rae Sremmurd do next, if they do drop more projects in the future, and if there's some evolution in their sound.
Star Track - Sexy
3/10
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