It's time to talk about the next project that Anthony Fantano gave a NOT GOOD, 21 Savage & Metro Boomin's collaborative mixtape, Savage Mode. So before listening to this I was familiar with both 21 Savage and Metro Boomin, I actually enjoy 21 Savage a fair amount, especially his album I Am > I Was album which showed some great development in Savage as an artist and Metro Boomin is probably one of my favourite producers in the trap landscape, he's responsible for the beats to some of the best tracks trap has to offer and I really enjoyed the Without Warning project he produced which actually had 21 Savage on there as well as Offset from Migos fame. Going into Savage Mode I hoped for the best and I hoped that it wouldn't be as bad as the Melon thought it was and honestly I have to heavily disagree with him as I feel like Savage Mode is a really good mixtape.
Now, I can see why people would dislike this mixtape but what people disliked about it is what I liked about it. 21 Savage & Metro Boomin create a mixtape that's filled to the brim with haunting and grim trap cuts that are pretty great in all honesty. I wasn't expecting the best lyrics from 21 Savage but yeah they're below average and repetitive on this tape, what 21 did bring however was an ability to fit these beats like a glove and sound just as haunting as the instrumentals, his dead delivery fits perfectly in my opinion and he has some great flows at times and whenever he uses different inflections 9 times out of 10 they work for me, plus these daunting instrumentals let Savage be as grimy as he pleases. Metro Boomins production is easily some of the best he's ever done in his catalogue, the dark, moody and brooding trap beats sound great to say the least and create this dense and grimy atmosphere, it emphasises what Savage is doing very well. Then again it's not the best thing either artists have come out with and it does have it's minor issues, like a couple instrumentals would be underwhelming and the performances could be underwhelming as well, especially the song X and the stretch of tracks from No Heart to Savage Mode were weak but other than that I liked everything else I was hearing from them. I was honestly surprised to enjoy it as much as I did.
So for the first time in this portion of the series I'm gonna have to disagree with Fantano as this 21 Savage & Metro Boomin mixtape.... is actually QUITE GOOD and quite underrated.
Best Tracks: No Advance, Real N****, Bad Guy and Feel It
Worst Track: X