Artists over the past decade have grown a following due to their specific genre, yet no artist has created an album that incorporates all varieties of music into one album. In Metro Boomin’s new album, “Heroes & Villains,” he takes the risk of incorporating all genres along with other risks like controversial features and exposing the flaws of the rapping industry.
This album is not only the best created in the past year, but the past decade. His variety of genres ranging from rap to pop allowed the album to be great.
This transcendent album is calculated and strategically planned. For example, track one of the album, “On Time,” leads directly into track two, “Superhero.” This transition, especially so early in the album, is brilliant. This connection of songs is a repetitive thing Metro does throughout the album.
The album name, “Heroes & Villains,” is a recurring theme throughout the album. In the song, “On Time,” Metro spends the last minute rapping about the reality of life as an influencer. He names himself as a superhero and how successful he has become within the industry, but he also goes on to rap about how eager rappers can be and how cutthroat their ambition can make them. This description of life as an influencer directly connects to Metro’s next song, ‘Superhero,’ where he explains the ruthlessness of the rapping community.
Like every album, there are songs that aren’t as impressive as the rest. “All The Money” featuring Gunna and “Too Many Nights” featuring Don Toliver are repetitive and expected from Metro. Yet even these songs still appeal to the mainstream listeners of Metro, therefore giving them a more than an accepted place on this album.
Since its December 2 release, “Heroes & Villains” has already cemented itself in pop culture. It reached the top album on Billboard 200 this past December and has stayed within the top three ever since.
Songs on the album like “Creepin’” and “Superhero” have become trends on social media platforms like Tik Tok. The songs are used as introductions to athlete’s highlight videos, movie scenes and even regular videos of people simply singing along to the songs. This popularity is not a coincidence, but rather a representation of this album’s monumental impact on the music industry.
Most albums of this generation are good, maybe even great, but this album introduces a whole other level of music. You can tell throughout this album the risks and challenges the Metro took and it ended up being remarkable.
Metro has been a popular rapper in the industry for a long time, but this album proves that he is more than an artist with a couple hit songs. It proves that he is capable of creating something great and it represents a new time period for the music industry.
