21 Savage attempts to mix it up in "Issa Album"

Where there’s 21 Savage, there is actually savage music, until it all begins to go left for diversity’s sake. And that’s the feeling you get as you bring yourself to experience this work. There’s an air of playful creativity on this project that seeks to bring tone down Savage’s lust for blood, killing people, and generally just being dark.

Has the savage been tamed? The killer redeemed? The bloodlust halted?

Last year, the rapper’s “Savage Mode” project was a success, with his one-dimensional dark rap finding home in the ominous beatmaking of Metro Booming. It wasn’t only surreal in its final form, it was stark and biting, with a pull that was one-dimensional but efficient.

He returns this time with an album title that is gleaned from a meme that has helped in part to push him to fame. But this isn’t Savage completely mining the depths of evil to create records. When he does that on this project, he finds strength, but as he stretches himself, everything fails to come together. Understandably, Savage is seeking more layers to his music, but he isn’t ready for that yet.

There’s still some awesome music. ‘Bank Account’, with its acoustic self-produced sample, throws violence and fame together to create a record that bangs, as well as hits hard. And on ‘Nothing new’ The songwriting is detailed, with elements from Martin Luther King Junior’s death combined to give detail to death.

But 21’s insistence on broadening his subject matter falls flat, and he produces a lot of filler material to keep the bounce going and benefit from streaming. ‘Facetime’, a romantic number hangs limp, asking that it never be remade in any form.

Rating: 3/5

Ratings

1-Dull2-Boring2.5-Average3-Worth Checking Out3.5-Hot4-Smoking Hot4.5-Amazing5-Perfection