We are now in the new year 2024, there are a lot of promising albums that are coming out this year, and 21 Savage starts the year off strong with “american dream.” It has been almost six years since 21 Savage has dropped a solo project with the last time being “i am > i was.” However, Savage has dropped other collab albums in its absence like “Her Loss” with Drake and “SAVAGE MODE II” with Metro Boomin. “American dream” talks about a lot of deep issues growing up in a bad part of Atlanta, and having to deal with the loss of loved ones in his life.
One track that talks about these issues is “redrum.” Savage talks about how growing up on G-Block made him a killer and all they knew was killing. “G-Block, all we know is redrum, redrum, redrum, redrum, redrum.” Savage also talks about how his brother died and how he obtained revenge. “Smokin’ on my brothers, got his a** left slain. You know it’s smoke, ‘cause they ain’t even take off his chain.” The track also has a tuff beat to it with vocalists singing in the back alongside a steady beat with a tight snare to pair it. The choir is also catchy with Savage delivering mean vocales.
Another track that stood out from the rest was “née-nah,” performed with Travis Scott and produced by Metro Boomin. This track has an amazing set up with Travis’s feature starting off with a triumphant violin chord, which changes into a heavy bass with a quick snare and bell chiming in the background. Both Savage and Travis have great vocals and verses on this track, which really makes it hard to find something bad about this song. The only problem which isn’t inherently bad is that Travis carries this track, but with other features on this album it is more balanced out.
The song “see the real” stood out because it sounds like a song that would be produced by Drake, which Savage might have picked up from his time working with Drake on “Her Loss.” This track also leaves the listener with some things to think about with lines like “When you tell somebody no, you see the real in ‘em.” Lines like this show off a deeper meaning and make the listener think about what the artist is trying to convey.
On “letter to my brudda,” Savage talks about how growing up in the trenches affected him and his family’s life. How he had to lose people along his journey to the top. A line that stood out in this track talks about how Savage had to make some hard decisions just to survive. “You know, we be comin’ from, like, the worst conditions, the worst circumstances. The trenches, the gutter and sometimes we be forced to make decisions that we don’t even wanna make. It be about survival, at the end of the day, we be havin’ good hearts. They just be in bad places, I guess that’s life.” Savage also talks about someone named Johnny, which could be his brother or some other person he had to part ways with. Savage does a great job at shedding light on hard topics like this, and how not enough people talk about the ones that are suffering at the bottom.
Savage did a great job at showing problems he has gone through and others go through on this album, but Savage could have done a better job at covering his message throughout the album. Although some tracks talk about these issues, most of the album doesn’t really have a meaning to it. It almost seems like a mixtape with some of the poor transitions. But other than that, this album has a lot of great tracks and if one likes 21 Savage, they should give this album a listen.Best songs: née-nah, all of me, redrum. Worst songs: prove it, dark days
“American Dream”: ★★★★☆
