Rap producer Metro Boomin has trust issues. Don’t believe me? His most iconic tagline, voiced by Atlanta-based rapper Future, tells you all you need to know: “if Young Metro don’t trust you, I’m gon’ shoot you.”
Their partnership is a special one, dating back almost a decade ago with 2015’s hit song “Mask Off.”
The rap scene has seen incredible changes since then, but at least one thing has stayed the same: Metro and Future are back at it again with “WE DON’T TRUST YOU.” Released on Mar. 22, 2024 the album is a rap rhapsody that, for all its shot-taking and exciting features, ultimately fails to offer anything artistically groundbreaking.
Before I take more shots at this album (and before readers start to take shots at me), I’d like to preface this review by saying that I acknowledge that this album is a long time coming. We’ve all been looking forward to it, mainly because Metro and Future are just that good at what they do. Their title track, “WE DON’T TRUST YOU,” is indicative of such. The entire album is indicative of such. With Metro’s trademark orchestral arrangements, swelling horns and edgy production combined with Future’s melodic yet mumbling vocal style, the pair make a great duo and deliver on tracks that are technically excellent, but still lack a certain something.
I have questions. Where is the energy? Where is the enthusiasm? Why do I want to bang my head against a wall at the thought of spending an hour listening to a 17-track album of songs no one would really ever play at a party? With the amount of times I’ve replayed it, trying to look for any discernible hint of passion, I’m bound to screw up my Spotify Wrapped.
Take track four, “Type Sh*t,” while featuring Travis Scott and Playboi Carti should lend itself to an exciting track, none of the artists sound like they want to rap the song. Future murmurs over a couple of intermittent church bells and Travis mumbles over edgier, new-wave ambient synths. Carti’s just kind of there, chuckling and muttering incomprehensibly to himself, which is tolerable when he’s the only one on the beat, but annoying when everyone else sounds more or less normal. The next song, “Claustrophobic,” is a thoughtful meditation on how money and fame doesn’t fix all your problems, but it’s way too mellow and the piano loops feel boring after a bit.
Some songs are just goofy. Future can’t really find anything to rap about for a couple of tracks except for fake friends and women, particularly in “Magic Don Juan (Princess Diana)” and “Cinderella.” Then, there are absurd lines that don’t make any sense. Why on earth is Future rapping about how he’s “pissing codeine on peasants?” Travis Scott steps in again on the latter track, but not even Cactus Jack can reinvigorate this song.
This isn’t to say that this album doesn’t show promise in some areas. With its creative sampling, “Everyday Hustle” is an incredibly strong track that brings me back to Metro’s 2016 “Father Stretch My Hands” days. Future, for his part, sounds like he actually wants to be in the studio. A win!
Of course, I’d be remiss to omit the album’s main selling point, the song everyone’s talking about: “Like That.” The track shouldn’t work, but it does. The beat is straight out of the Animal Crossing soundtrack, but darker and edgier. Kendrick Lamar also emerges from hip hop hibernation to drop a verse in reply to Drake and J.Cole’s 2023 diss track, “First Person Shooter.” As usual, he does not disappoint. K Dot spits straight venom with the lines, “Prince outlived Mike Jack,” making my jaw drop. It’s the best song off the album, for sure, but it begs another question: why are all these 30-something year old men beefing with each other? Not that I mind, of course, it’s just that most of it feels incredibly manufactured. However, as one of my dear friends so eloquently put it, “life’s just much more interesting when you’ve got opps.” I guess the same applies to famous rappers.
Other than that, though, there’s not much to talk about. I had high hopes, and they weren’t quite met. Worse yet, we’re getting another album this year from this pair: “WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU.” Shocker! Well, we can hold off on the gunfire; if there’s one thing Metro can trust about me, it’s that I won’t be listening.
