Lil Uzi Vert has the braggadocios virus
By: Christian Evans
Tags: Album Review, Rap, Lil Uzi Vert, Music, Emo Rap

Philadelphia born rapper Symere Woods also known by his stage name, Lil Uzi Vert, has done it again with his new space-themed album, Eternal Atake. Eternal Atake is the second official studio album by Lil Uzi Vert following 2017’s Luv Is Rage 2, which was a commercial success for the rapper. The album was supposed to drop about a year ago but was continuously delayed due to song leaks according to Lil Uzi Vert’s management. The album was also supposed to drop March 13, but Lil Uzi Vert, in an expletive riddled rant on Twitter, decided to drop the album a week early.

Following the album’s release, Lil Uzi Vert also dropped a short video on YouTube related to the album. Eternal Atake is 18 songs long including two bonus tracks that coincidentally were both released as singles ahead of the album’s release. The album is a total of one hour and two minutes long with only one feature, “Urgency,” which can be found on the track and features an amazing duet with the singer Syd. The album is split into three sections with Lil Uzi Vert taking on a different alter ego in each section and the last section being Lil Uzi Vert himself.

Eternal Atake starts off with the first segment created by Lil Uzi Vert’s alter ego, Baby Pluto, who sang/rapped all six songs. Coincidentally, the first song in this section, which is also the first song on the album, is named “Baby Pluto.” Furthermore, Lil Uzi Vert declares this song to be the greatest song this alter ego has ever created. Baby Pluto kicks off the album with a hyper-aggressive banger, not lacking on the bass as he proceeds to rap in a bragging matter.

Following “Baby Pluto,” we have the song “Lo Mein” which features a smooth production with a euphoric beat that is sure to catch anyone’s head nodding along. Overall, the Baby Pluto segment of the album features a lot of aggressive, cutthroat rapping with Lil Uzi Vert (Baby Pluto) bragging about a variety of things including sexual encounters with women in “POP,” personal wealth in “Lo Mein” and watches in “Silly Watch.”

The second segment of Eternal Atake is created by Lil Uzi Vert’s second alter ego to appear in the album, Renji. Renji is described by Lil Uzi Vert to be the more “sweet” and “nice” side of his personality, which makes sense, as the first track in this segment is titled “I’m Sorry,” and, in essence, serves as an apology song to an ex-girlfriend. Also in this segment of the album is the song “Chrome Heart Tags” which Lil Uzi Vert collaborated with Chief Keef to create. On this song, Lil Uzi Vert laments about the loss of a girl and starts to spend a lot of money to cope with her exit. The final track in the section, “Prices,” borrows from the braggadocios theme in the first segment of the album and also features a looping sample from the second half of the Travis Scott song “Way Back.”

The third and final segment of Eternal Atake features Lil Uzi Vert as himself and kicks off with a duet by Uzi and the only feature of the album, Odd Future member Syd, in the song, “Urgency.” Also featured on this segment of the album are the two singles that dropped right before the album’s release, “Futsal Shuffle 2020” and “That Way.” “Futsal Shuffle” is described by Lil Uzi Vert as a dance record and features a lot more bragging with a futuristic dubstep for a beat, while “That Way” features a subtle dreamy chorus and features samples from a Backstreet Boys popular single, “I Want It That Way.”

Overall, Lil Uzi Vert delivered just what his fans wanted and more by going as far as to create a concept album. Despite the rhythmic flow, the mastery of the production and word acumen Lil Uzi Vert displays throughout the entirety of Eternal Atake, the album still feels a bit repetitive in terms of the themes of the songs and it feels like Lil Uzi Vert has not made much maturation since 2017’s Luv Is Rage 2. For that reason, I give Eternal Atake a 3.5 out of 5.