Lil Uzi Vert: Lil Uzi Vert Vs. The World 2

- In the past several years, trap rapper Lil Uzi Vert has exploded onto the scene with popular projects such as Luv is Rage and its sequel, as well as Lil Uzi Vert vs. the World. However, since 2017, Uzi has remained mostly quiet, only dropping several non-album singles while hyping his next project Eternal Atake. After much speculation, the album dropped early March with the promise of a deluxe edition the week after. Uzi later announced on Twitter that this would instead be another project, a sequel to his vs. the World tape and would feature snippets that fans had heard over the years. The project consists of many guest rappers, which Eternal Atake lacked, and is a return to Uzi’s older, melodic style.

As proven in opener Myron, Uzi’s lyrical topics may be one-note, his delivery, however, is anything but. Ooogie Mane and Supah Mario deliver a spacey but urgent and snare-heavy beat over which Uzi spits about his money, diamonds and women. Uzi plays to his strengths by switching his flows constantly to keep the track feeling fresh. The chorus is to the point and catchy with memorable lines featuring shoutouts to fashion labels such as Supreme and Jeremy Scott.

Uzi continues on his braggadocios path on another Ooogie Mane beat titled Lotus. Revolving around what type of cars he drives, Uzi's vocals reach their breaking point by the third verse. The rap heavy style of Eternal Atake is nowhere to be found in this track, with Uzi’s melodic, ear-worming charm sounding almost like butter over snares.

Chief Keef arrives as the first feature on the highly anticipated Pierre Bourne produced Bean (Kobe) in which Uzi compares himself to the late basketballer as they both “ball”. While Pierre’s bouncing drum patterns follow his usual formula, nothing can stop the infectious energy of the two rappers through chants of “AP, Muller, My Rollie.” In an experimental turn for trap, the ending grinds to a halt as Keef adlibs over a slowed down version of the beat.

Yessirskiii might as well be a 21 Savage song as Uzi is reduced to guest in another solid Pierre Bourne joint. Despite this, Savage delivers on his brand of no nonsense murder rap with trademark deadpan vocals. His juxtaposition of both humorous and chilling bars continues to help and Savage retains his crown as one of the best guest rappers currently.

Moon Relate provides one of the more experimental Uzi songs in a while. The beat focus on a marching drum which keeps the time in a rhythm unusual for trap. Uzi switches his flow to match as he tells us again about his extra-terrestrial like nature and his usage of drugs. The winning element of the track is the adlibbing which builds to a great gun sound reminiscent of New York rapper Westside Gunn.

The rest of the project continues the formula of Uzi melodically rapping about his lifestyle over spacey beats. While this could be seen as a negative, Uzi never loses his energy once and brings sharp, colourful numbers featuring other big name artists such as Young Thug, Future and NAV. Despite not being as ambitious as recent projects, Lil Uzi Vert vs. The World 2 is far more consistent and delivers exactly what hardcore fans and the general audience want out of a hip-hop sequel. You take what you can get and the getting, here, is pretty good.

- James Chadwick.
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