21 Savage comes in with his second studio album with i am > i was. He had stayed pretty quiet most of 2018 except for the appearance on some other hip hop artists’ projects. Savage also changed up his style a bit by including different features and setting a different mood than past albums and mixtapes. Even though the album contains features, they are not shown beside the title of the song. Savage stated that he did this because he wanted the people to listen to the whole album instead of just listening to the songs with “good” features.

The album’s features contain big names such as J. Cole, Post Malone, Offset, Childish Gambino, Lil Baby, Gunna, and ScHoolboy Q. The album opens up with the track “a lot”, featuring J. Cole. The song speaks out on the rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine, that is in prison right now for various charges. There are lyrics like “pray for Tekashi” and others about the artist. Another hit song on the album is “all my friends” featuring Post Malone. This track talks about losing friends from solely trying to make money and not caring about anything else. I think it is trying to emphasize the power of greed and how it has negative effects on people.

The next star track on the album is “can’t leave without it” featuring Lil Baby and Gunna. This track is not as deep as some of the other ones on the album. It really just talks about fame and being rich; which is kind of the culture of the hip hop game right now. Another big track on the album is “monster” featuring Childish Gambino. It talks about how the money and the fame makes people monsters and kind of builds off of the previous track. The last big track on the album is “letter 2 my momma”, with no features. This song sets more of a sorrowful mood in which Savage talks about his mother and all the things she did for him, what he did wrong, and what he wish he had done for her.

Overall, the album is very good and has something for everyone to listen to. There are upbeat songs, R&B songs, chill songs, and sad songs. There is quite the variety in this album, which is a new style for Savage. With the wide range of genres and features, this album is enjoyable for a wide range of people. There is also a deluxe version of this album which includes the song “out for the night, pt. 2” featuring Travis Scott.