Lil Uzi Vert is a rapper that has worked his way up to the top of the hip-hop scene and altered the genre while doing it. On August 24th, 2017, Uzi released his debut studio album, Luv is Rage 2. This album is a follow up to Uzi’s 2017 mixtape Luv is Rage. This album has been advertised for a while and was awaited by many rap fans and Uzi fans. Prior to its release, Uzi had left smaller EP’s like Luv is Rage 1.5 and Luv is Rage 1.9. All of these tracks played a part in the promotion of the album, but are essentially Uzi’s “throw away” songs, and helped to maintain his fans support and interest throughout the creation process of Luv is Rage 2. The release was received as one of the most streamed albums on both Apple Music and Spotify.

This work by Uzi featured work that included high profile features like Pharrell Williams and The Weeknd. The tracks highlighted Uzi’s distinct melodic rapping style. Produced primarily by himself, Don Cannon, and Maaly Raw, some tracks on the album featured more sad and reflective tracks like The Way Life Goes, Unfazed (ft. The Weeknd), Malfunction, Feelings Mutual, and Dark Queen. With that, other prominent styles on this album were his braggadocios and energetic tracks like Two, 444+222, Sauce It Up, Neon Guts, and Uzi’s biggest hit XO TOUR Lif3. On this project, Uzi showed how diverse his talents are using both melodies and rhymes on the album to appeal to every listener.

My personal favorite tracks on the album were Two, 444+222, Sauce it Up, The Way Life Goes, Neon Guts, Unfazed and Dark Queen. To me, these tracks showed Uzi’s maturity as an artist while maintaining his raw swagger and style.

Two has a tone that separates it from the average album intro. Instead of giving a particular purpose, Uzi reflects on his time of success and brags throughout the track with his signature melodic tone. The repetition of “I ain’t gon lie I got money and the power” is catchy and appeals to most fans because he maintains his ego and did not change for his first studio album. Neon Guts, 444+222, and Sauce it Up are likely to be fan favorites because of the energy on the tracks. These songs will get you out of your seat and have you dancing for sure, while tracks such as The Way Life Goes, Unfazed, and Dark Queen will leave you emotional and sad.

Overall, the album was great and can really appeal to any music loving fan. While often categorized as a rapper, Uzi has said he considers himself a ‘rock star’ and the music on this album reflects his statements. While it wasn’t by any means his best work as a project, Uzi achieved huge sales and fans will definitely be awaiting his follow up studio album and future works. All in all, this is one of my favorite albums of the year and I would definitely recommend it to any music fan.