Building on his work with 21 Savage on Savage Mode II, producer extraordinaire Metro Boomin, né Leland Tyler Wayne, continues his interest in letting instruments other than expected drum presets drive the sound on Heroes & Villains. Swelling horns dominate the galvanizing slow march of “Superhero (Heroes & Villains),” while chilling piano loops take center stage on “Umbrella” and “Niagara Falls (Foot or 2).” Even the drum choices themselves are sometimes surprising: After a lengthy, string-laden intro, the album’s opening track, “On Time,” erupts with a “We Are the Champions”-inspired stomp-and-clap.
Of course, Metro is often just going about recycling what’s worked on tracks that he’s produced in the past, as with the sad-sack fiddle that he layers over the top of “Trance”—the exact same one that he used on Savage Mode II’s “Rich N*** Shit,” which similarly featured Young Thug. Likewise, the pitched-up sample of Peabo Bryson’s “Feel the Fire” on “Feel the Fiyaaaah,” which features committed performances from A$AP Rocky and the recently departed Takeoff, is reminiscent of his Diana Ross-sampling banger “Runnin.”
When Canadian poet Mustafa shows up on “Walk Em Down (Don’t Kill Civilians)” to deliver a haunting couple of verses about cyclical violence, one may wonder if, instead of commissioning a who’s-who of A-list rap and pop stars, Metro could have used Heroes & Villains to spotlight lesser-known voices. If he had, the album might have felt a bit less redundant with 2018’s Not All Heroes Wear Capes, which featured many of the same artists.
The only other voice that pops up here that isn’t a big name is the perpetually underestimated Atlanta warbler Young Nudy, who spits alongside his cousin, 21 Savage, on “Umbrella.” Still, songs like “Metro Spider,” yet another track featuring Young Thug, are played to the hilt, with the rapper slip-sliding all over the track’s deformed vocal samples and trap beats.
As a concept album about good and evil, Heroes & Villains mostly delivers. It’s not very ambitious as far as subject matter goes, but the majority of the guests, whose appearances never feel obligatory, at least cursorily touch on the central theme. In large part, as heard on “Around Me” with Don Toliver or “Lock on Me” with Travis and Future, these are mournful songs about accepting one’s true nature or succumbing to vices.
It’s worth noting that, like DJ Khaled on God Did, Metro is not the sole producer on Heroes & Villains. At least one other knob-twirler, sometimes two or three, are credited on every track, ostensibly brought in to put their distinctive stamp on the proceedings. To this end, Metro seems more like an orchestrator or curator. Unlike Khaled, however, Metro aims for a unified sound, and damned if he doesn’t achieve it.
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