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In the album trailer of “WE DON’T TRUST YOU,” Metro Boomin and Future drive identical white Rolls-Royces through a desert and step out to pose. Mobb Deep rapper Prodigy, who died in 2017, sets up the album’s stage with a voiceover, speaking of the legitimacy of artists in the rap industry and the luck that follows fame.

“This game is meant for a select few, man. And that’s what it is today, man. I don’t give a f*ck, ain’t nothing changed. Always remember that, ain’t nothing changed. We still here doing it ain’t nothing changed,” Prodigy says.

On “WE DON’T TRUST YOU,” Metro Boomin and Future prove their mettle as icons in the industry. The album was released on March 22 and is Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day so far this year. The combination of Metro Boomin, an expert hand in quintessential trap beats, with Future, an artist who understands this specialized craft, is the formula for an adventurous, creative dynamic in their first full project as a duo.

Even beyond its initial visuals, “WE DON’T TRUST YOU” is a complete musical experience, captured in gritty raps centered on shedding dead-weight from relationships and embracing hustle in personal progress.

In the two years before teaming up for “WE DON’T TRUST YOU,” Metro Boomin and Future continued exploring their greatest strengths. Metro Boomin released notable works, including his 2022 album “HEROES & VILLAINS,” and the “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” soundtrack a year later.

At that same time, Future dropped “I NEVER LIKED YOU.” Marked by low-key flows and eccentric raps, he sprinkled notes showcasing his singing capabilities, like on the heartbreak track “LOVE YOU BETTER.” The project is filled with frank arrogance, a theme common on many of his other tracks, but highlighted on the album’s eighth song “PUFFIN ON ZOOTIEZ.”

“WE DON’T TRUST YOU” hits a sweet spot for the rapper-producer collaboration. Metro Boomin’s curated rhythms don’t divert far from his typical sounds, while Future’s contributes comfortable, monotone flows. The album is introduced with its title track, where Future articulates the validity of brotherhood.

He begins in repeated, accusatory lines, singing, “Fake written all over you/ Hate written all over you.” A distorted, somber snippet from The Undisputed Truth’s “Smiling Faces Sometimes” (1971) validates Future’s lines and provides a segue to trumpets that bolster a subtle beat drop within the song’s first minute.

Metro Boomin’s reign as a top producer in the rap industry is affirmed as the album continues with features like The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, Playboi Carti and Rick Ross. Deep-bass synthesizers and melancholy beats fuse rap and R&B industries’ most loved voices. The series of collaborations makes Metro Boomin’s work even more recognizable.

The album continues with “Young Metro.” Co-produced by Houston native Mike Dean, the second track immediately starts with a booming bass underlying Future’s non-stop, braggadocious bars. Meanwhile, The Weeknd’s melody delicately glides across the song’s break, loosely addressing struggle.

“I been drowning/ I been tryin’/ I been low,” he sings.

Future transitions toward a winding path of redirection in “Runnin Outta Time” as he attempts to overcome turbulent love and the ways others have wronged him. “But I can’t trust nobody, I was down, wasn’t nobody left/ They done turned they back on me, never turned on myself,” Future sings. As the album’s soulful tenth track, detailed with Future’s singing and Metro Boomin’s steady synthesizer overlaid with simple piano notes, the two encapsulate passion and honesty.

“Like That,” however, is quickly becoming the album’s standout, even heading for a position as a top song on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. The track features Kendrick Lamar, who outshines a so-so melody and Future’s lackluster lines, insulting rappers J. Cole and Drake.

“F*ck sneak dissin’, first person shooter/ I hope they came with three switches…Prince outlived Mike,” Lamar sings.

Lamar’s hard-hitting bars, specifically, take both a stab at J. Cole and Drake’s single “First Person Shooter,” and Drake’s Michael Jackson star status, even referencing the years-long feud between Jackson and Prince. Lamar is known as one to shake up the industry with clever lyricism, a skill reflected in his tough, deliberate bars on “Like That.”

As the album starts to come to a close, Metro Boomin and Future circle back to Mobb Deep inspiration on “Seen It All,” sampling the hip-hop pair’s 1999 hit “Quiet Storm.” The seamless cohesion of Future’s voice and the melody of a classic hip-hop track reminds listeners of Metro Boomin and Future’s combined expertise.

At the end of Seen it All,” Prodigy’s voice is heard once again. He says, “Who the veterans? Who the seasoned veterans at this sh*t/ That can tell you what’s hot and what’s not?” Throughout the album, Metro Boomin and Future channel Prodigy’s tenacity. This strategic inclusion by Metro Boomin and Future indirectly states that, by hustle and perseverance, they are the current prevailing titans of the rap industry.

Published on March 28, 2024 at 12:34 am