Manny King John
Returning to the top of the charts and the forefront of the culture, GRAMMY® Award-winning multi-platinum rapper 21 Savage and mega-producer Metro Boomin claim #1 on the Billboard Top 200 with their blockbuster sequel, ‘Savage Mode II’. It moved over 171K equivalent albums in the first-week, making for the biggest seven-day sales tally for both Atlanta superstars.
The collaborative epic also scored unanimous tastemaker praise. NME awarded the album “5-out-of-5 stars” and crowned it “a near-perfect sequel that leaves nothing to chance,” and Complex applauded it as a “cinematic masterpiece.” Rating it “4-out-of-5 stars,” Rolling Stone observed, “The duo recaptures the magic of the first ‘Savage Mode’ installment while paying tribute to their Southern rap influences.” However, NPR put it best, “It’s not about the autobiographical details, but how convincing he sounds. And with that, Savage Mode II confirms this rap duo, as we came to know them in 2016, as deserving of a franchise.”
To date, tracks from the album have already amassed over 200 million total streams and views with two of the album stand-out tracks, ‘Runnin’ and ‘Mr Right Now’ featuring Drake debuting in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and every song on the album in the Top 100. Much like a big budget flick, they set the stage for the arrival of ‘Savage Mode II’ with a full-blown movie trailer narrated by none other than Academy® Award winner Morgan Freeman—who also handles the album’s voiceover—and directed by Gibson Hazard.
Continuing a tradition of Southern classics, the cover art has already become iconic in its own right as it nods to the “pen and pixel” graphic design style of turn-of-the-century juggernauts Cash Money Records and No Limit Records.
At one point on the record, Morgan Freeman asks, “Are things better or worse the second time around? Can we really do anything more than once?”
21 Savage and Metro Boomin answer on ‘Savage Mode II’ with the rare sequel that eclipses the original and launches a legacy of its own.
