Rae Sremmurd’s Sremm 4 Life feels entirely out of step with what’s considered fashionable in today’s contemporary hip-hop landscape. Slim Jxmmi and younger brother Swae Lee’s fourth studio album isn’t bloated with extraneous bonus tracks, nor does it rely on an excessive amount of high-profile guest appearances. The duo displays little interest in blindly following popular trends—save for a sole Brooklyn-drill beat on the downcast “Not So Bad (Leans Gone Cold),” on which Swae interpolates Dido’s 2000 pop hit “Thank You” while crooning about codeine and promethazine.
Sremm 4 Life is most interested in conjuring hip-hop’s past and fostering an unflappable atmosphere. “Tanisha (Pump That)” and “Bend Ya Knees” are filled with creaky record scratches, and the first part of “Flaunt It/Cheap” swaggers with a ’90s bounce that Slim completely owns with one of his more boastful and assured vocal performances. While he’s maybe not the most technically proficient MC around, the way he’s able to link nutty lines like “Married to the game, said my ‘I do’s’” with “Got a window seat, like Erykah Badu” into a series of increasingly memorable bars with such cartoonish bluster is impressive in its own right.
There are a few instances where Jxmmi’s deficiencies as a songwriter become clear. A questionable nod to the late Kevin Samuels mars the otherwise infectious “Origami (Hotties),” and he often leans on filling his verses with easy rhymes. On “Royal Flush,” for example, he raps, “One for the money and two for the show/Eenie, meeny, miney, mo.”
But these moments are counterbalanced by his brother’s incredible ear for vocal melodies, which extend far beyond simple limerick-styled wordplay. On “Mississippi Slide,” Swae phonetically spells out his home state’s namesake and shouts out local legend David Banner on the track’s high-octane chorus. It’s remarkable how he’s able to break up the Magnolia State’s 11-character moniker so that it ends up fitting the song’s rhythm scheme like a glove.
Besides two brief contributions from Future and Young Thug, both of whom are in fine form here, Sremm 4 Life is all Rae Sremmurd all the time. And it serves as a concise and clear-eyed showcase for the pair’s innate talents when it comes to crafting pop-rap hits intended for pure revelry. Perhaps the album could have felt a tad more engaging if it attempted to do a little more both sonically and lyrically, but Slim and Swae, as well as longtime producer Mike-Will-Made-It, know exactly what they excel at and they do an excellent job at doing just that.
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