In a year full of unexpected album releases from Hip-Hop artists, rapper Symere Bysil Woods, better known by the stage name Lil Uzi Vert, hopped on the trend with the release of “Eternal Atake 2,” which released on Nov. 1. This is their fourth studio album in their 14 years of creating music.
“Eternal Atake 2” is a sequel to their 2020 album release “Eternal Atake,” which received critical acclaim and skyrocketed straight to #1 on the Billboard 200. Their first and third studio albums “Luv is Rage 2” and “Pink Tape,” respectively, also reached #1 on the charts. However, people question if one of the most popular rappers of the 21st century was able to live up to expectations with “Eternal Atake 2”.
The album has two distinct sections where the songs have different focuses. The first half contains more experimental features with unique production and a heavy inspiration of science fiction. The second half is much more laid back and almost takes a complete 180 on the direction of the album.
First Half: Start (“We Good”) – “Chips and Dip”
The first half of the album is interesting, to say the least. Many of the songs are very experimental, with in-your-face production and distorted vocals from Lil Uzi Vert. One song that seems particularly out of place and unnecessary is “The Rush”, featuring an artist from the boy band Big Time Rush.
“That song was not that good, I gotta be honest,” junior Matt Morningstar said. “It was so bad, it was laughable.”
Unfortunately, the out-of-place theme was present throughout the entire first half of “Eternal Atake 2.” Songs like “Light Year (Practice)” and “Meteor Man” were hard to listen to and didn’t seem to make much sense, contextually, outside of the album. The entire chorus of “Meteor Man” Lil Uzi Vert simply repeats the phrase ‘This is an aura’ for about 30 seconds. The lyrics are primarily about Lil Uzi Vert flaunting their lifestyle as a celebrity, which gets very repetitive after about 20 minutes.
One song that stands out is “Chips and Dip.” It isn’t impressive musically, but has a solid flow to it, something Lil Uzi Vert has been credited with in the past. Additionally, it has a heavy bass that carries the song to at least being considered decent.
“I really liked the song ‘Chips and Dip’,” Morningstar said.”It just had a really strong bass in the background that you could just feel, like you could just feel the song.”
Overall, the first half of “Eternal Atake 2” is forgettable and difficult to digest for a casual listen.
Junior Owen Viglione agreed. “The first 10 songs were pretty bad,” Viglione said.
Second Half: “Black Hole” – End (“Space High”)
Immediately after “Chips and Dip”, the album takes a different approach. The next song, “Black Hole”, starts to take more of an introspective turn, highlighting the shift in tone from the first half to the second half. The tonal shift is very prominent in the following song, “Chill Bae,” where Lil Uzi Vert talks about a relationship where their girlfriend stops talking to them, or as they phrase it, ‘Please don’t go ghost right now,’ referencing her ghosting them.
“I’d have to say [my favorite song was] ‘Chill Bae’,” Viglione said. “It was the most listenable.”
The rest of the second half of the album follows a similar style to “Chill Bae.” The instrumental parts are a lot more laid back and chill, like in the songs “Goddard Song” and “Conceited”. The lyrics also seem to improve, with a shift from Lil Uzi Vert bragging about their life to them discussing the difficulty of finding sustainable and healthy relationships with people.
The album ends with “Space High,” another inspective song which serves as a solid outro as it implements themes from both halves of the album.
Final Thoughts
Overall this album was a huge letdown and way below Lil Uzi Vert’s standards. Although it fit the sci-fi style that was present in the original “Eternal Atake,” it was a significant step down, and left fans worried about future projects from them.
“[I rate the album] 3.5/10 because the first 10 songs were really bad, but then it got listenable for the last few songs,” Viglione said. “I feel like [Lil Uzi Vert] could make a comeback, but I feel like it might be hard after this album.”
Fortunately for fans of Lil Uzi Vert, they have teased the idea of releasing “Luv is Rage 3,” which would be a sequel to their critically acclaimed album “Luv is Rage 2.” However, first time listeners of Lil Uzi Vert should steer away from “Eternal Atake 2” and listen to their other music instead before trying this experimental piece.
