The king of trap production is back. This past Friday, Metro Boomin sneakily released one of the year’s best hip-hop albums. With its incredible feature list, and a track list filled with catchy flows and great hooks, Heroes and Villains is already on its way to becoming the best work of Metro’s career.

This album featured performances from many talented artists, most notably Travis Scott, Future, 21 Savage, Don Toliver, Young Thug, Gunna, John Legend, A$AP Rocky, Takeoff, Young Nudy, and the Weeknd. With 15 tracks and around a 45-minute run time, this album makes for a great listen for any hip-hop fan.

This is Metro Boomin’s 8th studio album that he has produced. This record follows his 2020 release SAVAGE MODE II, which was greatly received. Everyone had high expectations for Metro, and for good reasons. This record is a very enjoyable listen from front to back.

The album opens up with a grandiose and passionate performance from John Legend on “On Time”. After around 90 seconds of singing from John Legend, the album truly commences. An eerie opera vocal is played in the background as lines from a scene from the TV series Homelander are recited. This eerie moment perfectly transitions into the next song, “Superhero (Heroes and Villains)”, featuring Future and Chris Brown, which sets the tone for the album perfectly.

The next song, “Too Many Nights”, sets up Don Toliver’s first appearance on the record. His singing fits perfectly on Metro’s flawless production, not just on this song but on his 2 other features on this album as well.

Travis Scott’s first feature comes on the 4th track, “Raindrops (Insane)”, and it is showing signs of a Travis who is ready to release his album(please Travis we need Utopia now…) This song is great, with Travis perfectly executing a catchy hook and a great verse. His other 3 features on this album are all great, my personal favorite being “Niagara Falls”, which features Future as well.

21 Savage appears on this album 4 times, each time delivering a verse just as good as the last. “Umbrella”, which features 21 and Young Nudy, and “Creepin” which features the Weeknd and 21, are 2 of the best songs of the album, if not the best. The Weeknd’s hook is absolutely killer and is the highlight of the album.

On the track “Feel the Fiyaaaah”, which features A$AP Rocky and the late Takeoff, fans of hip-hop all felt a tug at their heartstrings. Hearing Takeoff rap so passionately and happily knowing he died just a few weeks prior to the album’s release is very bittersweet. As for Rocky, he is just now getting back onto the music scene after his hiatus, and his potential truly is limitless. Not having dropped since his 2018 release, Testing, he is someone to watch in 2023. This verse is great, and hopefully a sign of good things to come. This track is a highlight, with beautiful and skillful sampling from Metro Boomin.

Overall, this album is amazing. It is a true representation of what all trap producers strive to create. Metro Boomin, once again, has made a record that will become a classic in years to come. There were a few moments on this record where it felt a bit repetitive or boring, but overall, I do not have any major complaints. I give this album an 8.5/10.