Album Review: SremmLife 2 by Rae Sremmurd

Well, you guys asked for it. And I deliver for some reason. These two were responsible for some of my most hated hip hop in 2015 and I don't expect they've gotten any better since last year. Now in preparation for this listen, I listened to the first SremmLife in full earlier today. And it sucked. 2/10. Will this be an improvement or even worse than before? Well, let's see.


1. Start A Party
This started about how I expected. Generic trap club beat. And the chorus is like instructions on how to start a party. Not exactly compelling. Rae Sremmurd at least have confidence, but considering how awful their voices are, that's not exactly a good thing.

2. Real Chill (ft. Kodak Black)
Oh good faded synths. Gonna guess this album has a lot of those. The chorus literally sounds rambley and part-improvised. It at least feels laid back, but it also sounds atrocious with the synth buzzing and our rappers. Also it seems to go on forever. That's not fun.

3. By Chance
Swae and Jxmmy sound bored. Like, there's more energy in the backing vocals. The boring bass and slow piano melody don't help either. Buzzing during the verses. Do you two have any tricks you didn't use on the last album? At least before these guys had energy...

4. Look Alive
While you're at it, why don't you /sound/ alive? Yeah that was an obvious joke. But in all honesty, so far this has the strongest hook. It's melodically sound, and even the beat's less egregious this time around. Still basic and kinda boring though. This will probably end up being the best on the album.

5. Black Beatles (ft. Gucci Mane)
Okay, the notion of these guys being "Black Beatles" is laughable. Even the Beatles' early stuff had musical and lyrical effort. This is just lazy. The same twinkling synths and trap drums. Swae and Gucci's voices are easy to ignore, but Jxmmy decides to make his verse about haters. Yeah...you've yet to convince me you guys aren't worth hating.

6. Shake It Fast (ft. Juicy J)
Because it was only a matter of time before we had a straight stripper anthem on this album. This one has more energy than the previous tracks but nothing to distinguish it from anything else they've made. Also Swae's afraid of pot? Uh...that's the opposite of what I expected. Juicy J seems to be trying to imitate Ludacris, but Luda he ain't.

7. Set The Roof (ft. Lil Jon)
Oh, DJ Mustard. So we trade Mike Will's brand of bassy trap for DJ Mustard's brand of slightly less bassy trap. At least it has Lil Jon. His chorus is tolerable because it's Lil Jon. But other than that there's really not a lot here. One of the better songs on the album, but that's not saying much.

8. Came A Long Way
Dreary pianos and bass. Swae and Jxmmy sound bored once again. "I don't do drugs, drugs do me." Yeah, whatever that means. Also supposedly they could tell a story about their lives and it would be the greatest ever told. Considering you kids have nothing to talk about in your music, I don't believe you. Even though you did come from a life of poverty.

9. Now That I Know
It just keeps going on and on and on. It goes on and on and on. NOW IF WE'RE TALKING BODY. Now I wanna listen to Tove Lo. Because this song is just so dull. So, so dull. So dull. They are not trying.

10. Take It Or Leave It
I forgot that I was supposed to be taking notes on this song as I was listening to it. Something about reaching out to me, right? Yeah, I'm gonna leave that. There's nothing you guys could offer me.

11. Do Yoga
All my girls do yoga. And some lines about stretching, I don't know. I don't freaking know. Trying to analyze this record was a mistake.

Final Verdict: Yep, they're still awful. They're still very awful. It's clear these guys are running out of ideas. Not that they had any ideas to begin with. Most lines I can even remember are more asinine than funny. Much like the last album. But it is an improvement overall. Not much of one, but instead of being unbearably obnoxious like the first record, many of the songs from the third on are boring. The beats and Rae Sremmurd themselves lack any energy from that point on, making this hard to get through in its own right. Still, at the end of the day...I'd rather be bored than annoyed.

Rating: 2/10
Best songs: Look Alive, Set The Roof
Worst songs: By Chance, Start A Party, Now That I Know