The new year began with a bang for 21 Savage, who released his third solo album, “American Dream,” in January.
Just a week into the new year, Savage teased the album with a movie-like poster on Instagram featuring himself, Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino), and “Stranger Things” star Caleb McLaughlin. The next day, he posted a trailer for the album, again similar to a movie, and announced the album to release on Jan. 12.
With his last two albums coming out as collaborations with Metro Boomin and Drake, it was great to hear a solo album announced finally. Fans of Savage, myself included, have been waiting to listen to a solo album from the artist for a long time. His last solo album was “I Am > I Was,” released in 2018.
The album opens and closes with Savage’s mother, Heather Carmillia Joseph, speaking of her son’s past and future. I found that really strong. You do not usually hear many personal things from the artist. In between these, Savage goes to work in 15 tracks.
Savage strikes gold on track three, “Redrum.” Over a classic-sounding beat crossed with heavy drums and bass, Savage delivers an amazing hype song. I immediately feel like I can run through a brick wall with this song. Savage pays homage to the 1980 film, “The Shining” on this track. In a scene from that movie, “redrum” is spelled out in red. Flip around “redrum,” and you get murder. Savage also includes Jack Nicholson’s iconic line at the end of the song, “Here’s Johnny!”
The album features some of the biggest rappers in the game, including Lil Durk, Young Thug and Travis Scott. Savage and his features deliver great verses, but none better than Scott’s on “Née-Nah.” It very well could be Scott’s best feature he has ever done. His rap over the Metro Boomin beat to match the speed and pacing of the beat, along with his rhyme scheme, makes this a great track.
Savage also has three strong features from three great women in the industry. Summer Walker’s hook on “Prove It” is the best on the album. Doja Cat matches Savage’s unique style in her verse on “N.H.I.E.” by including her own ad libs. I find it hilarious that her word choice was just to say “ad lib.” Mariah the Scientist linked up with Savage for the outro, “Dark Days.”
Although not featured on the album, Drake’s influence is felt. With many of the beats feeling old-school and sample-driven, they sound like they are for Drake instead. Savage, a frequent collaborator with Drake, continues his style over the songs, keeping true to his form of bars and ad libs.
Metro Boomin does make his way onto the album for four songs. I do not know if a better duo exists right now between a rapper and a producer. These tracks deliver more complex beats for Savage to spit over. With all the work these two have done together, including two collab albums and multiple features on each other’s albums, they continue to improve.
A song I have not seen a lot of love for is “Sneaky.” Savage’s ability with rhythm is evident. Both verses maintain the same rhythm scheme and include a new ad lib for Savage. I enjoyed this ad lib, with him just saying, “mhm.”
Overall, I would give this album a nine out of 10. Savage came through with this album. I feel a couple of the slower songs, like “Letter to My Brudda” and “See the Real,” do not draw to me as much as the rest, but even then, I am still listening to the whole album in order without skipping songs. If you have not heard this album, this is a must-listen. It has the feel of a top rap album that will be discussed all year.
Savage’s album debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top 200, marking it his fourth consecutive No. 1 album. The album sold 131,000 units in its first week, matching his previous solo album. With little promotion and no lead singles released before the album, this is a massive success.
Unfortunately, it seems we will not actually be getting a movie to accompany the album. Savage admitted it was just to promote the album, calling it a “parody” on Shannon Sharpe’s “Club Shay Shay” podcast. He did go on to say that his story can be made into a movie, so there is potential for that.
