Hit rapper Metro Boomin announced Nov. 28, 2022 on Instagram that he would drop his album “Heroes & Villains.” Instantaneously this was followed up with a multitude of different posts from Metro, in comic art themes parodying superheroes such as Spiderman, Iron Man, The Hulk, etc. But that wasn’t all. Metro also teased multiple collaborations with other famous artists such as A$AP Rocky, Don Tolliver, Young thug, Future, Takeoff, John Legend, Travis Scott, Morgan Freeman, The Weekend, Gunna, and 21 Savage, who collaborated excellently with Metro in their last shared album, “SAVAGE MODE II.”

Metro Boomin, who is one of the most popular Rap-R&B artists, drops albums almost every two years, but each time he does, it blows up on the charts and sets him up as an artist of the year. Due to the scarcity of his hit albums, when Metro does drop an album, it more often than not has more thought put into it, rather than albums from artists that release multiple times a year. Good examples of this are Metro’s other hit albums: “Double or Nothing,” “Without Warning,” “NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES,” and “SAVAGE MODE II.”  

I stayed up the night of Dec. 1, anticipating a masterpiece as the release of the album was the only thing keeping me going throughout the bombardment of post-Thanksgiving busy work. After refreshing Spotify many times, I finally saw the extremely detailed album cover on Metro’s discography. The cover had a man burning on the right, and another shady man in a tuxedo shaking his hand on the left. This immediately caught my attention, reeling me in, like a sleep-deprived fish.

 The first two songs (which featured John Legend) immediately blew me away because they were mashup songs. This meant that the ending of the first song led to the introduction of the second song, essentially making both songs unified. Not only that, but Metro also used a snippet from the hit popular amazon prime show “The Boys” adding Homelanders’ psychotic chant at the end of season 3 as the intro to his mashup, effectively blessing the ears of anyone listening, and pulling the listener into the next few songs, which were cleverly named after other superheroes. 

The songs that followed, had me in a trance, as Metro cleverly gave some of the other artists their time to shine, allowing me (a fan of A$AP Rocky) to enjoy each and every different snippet, with the hype house type beat of “Trance” (ft Travis Scott) or the heartbreak type of beat that “Creepin’” (ft The Weekend) sets up. The R&B/rap beat throughout the inner parts of the album really allowed me to enjoy every single aspect of the album. On top of the plethora of songs, Metro then released a “Hero’s” version of the album, with the instrumentals of his songs. 

Honestly, the album was a 10/10. Every last aspect of the album was perfect, and I really want to criticize the album or find some fault, but I just can’t, because it’s just that good. The only reason I could possibly see someone complain about the album is its vulgarity, but I don’t see that as a problem because every genre of music will have a handful of people that complain about it. I would recommend this album, and its artist, even to people that don’t like rap. The numerous features and abstract melodies could definitely engage a person who claims to “not like rap.”