Eternal Atake is Out of This World

One of the most anticipated albums of the past year has finally arrived on planet Earth. Despite threatening to quit music forever in January of 2019, the hype of “Eternal Atake” has culminated into an asteroid of an album colliding with our planet, and infecting human minds with extraterrestrial rapping. On its surface Eternal Atake is an engaging and interesting project, with some funny bars and great flows. It’s high energy and unapologetically “Uzi”. Unfortunately what’s holding me back is that it doesn’t go beyond the surface in almost any capacity.

Regardless of what you call it, be it mumble rap, soundcloud rap, or trap rap, Lil Uzi Vert is afflicted with the very same problem that plagues the rap game right now. His songs keep you hooked, get your body moving, make you laugh at times, and overall are entertaining. But they’re what I would call “Hot dog songs”. Versus more serious rappers who I would consider “Steak songs”. I love a hot dog and hot dogs are nice to eat at parties or when you have nothing better, but it’s not as satisfying as a nice filet mignon. The songs on Eternal Atake bring the heat, but fail to introspect beyond describing sex acts, drug use, or bragging about his various cars and stacks of money. Most of these tracks go hard and have pretty high replayability, but it leaves me wondering, who really is Lil Uzi Vert? Despite threatening to quit rap forever last year in a bid to “go back to normal”, from what I can tell there is no mention of this conflict on the entire project. If Lil Uzi Vert really is a tortured artist who is blinded by the spotlight, you’d never know by listening to Eternal Atake. In fact you probably wouldn’t know anything other than he behaves like a typical rapper with “lil” in his name would.

Despite the shallow nature of the lyrics, I’d emphasize how well produced these songs are. The flows are dynamic and creative, and Uzi has really come into his own as one of the more talented rappers currently out there. He’s technically gifted and his lyrics can elicit a laugh here and there. His singing isn’t as strong but it’s still passable. The beats themselves are pretty great too. “You Better Move” and “Homecoming” are both certified bangers in my book. The sampling of the old space cadet windows pinball game on “You Better Move” adds to the aesthetic of the album, while simultaneously being a head banging trap beat. “Homecoming” is an in your face testament to Uzis abilities and should be an instant addition to everyone's playlists. The lead-up singles of the project “Futsal Shuffle” and “That way”, listed as bonus tracks, are both songs that only Uzi could have made. They’re quirky, replayable, and widely appealing, and I’m glad they made it onto the tracklist. The second half of the project isn’t as strong as the first, as Uzi takes on a more RnB sound which doesn’t really play to his strengths nowadays. I used to prefer this side of Uzi, but nowadays it just doesn’t work for him as well. Aesthetically I am a fan of the concept of the album. The space theme and the quirky interludes are appropriate for Uzi and I’m glad he chose to make this a themed album instead of something more generic.

I think this album is a rorschach test. If you expect this to be a magnum opus of trap rap, it will be, and if you expect it to be generic trash, it will be. Overall I’m not disappointed, but I know Uzi is capable of more. Not necessarily my ideal rap album, but If you’re a fan of the trappy, mumble rap style that Uzi is known for, there’s an album here for you.

Originally published in the Fulcrum, March 16, 2019