Lil Uzi Vert – Eternal Atake/LUV vs The World 2 Review

Uzi’s long-awaited album Eternal Atakehas finally landed. The second part LUV vs The World 2 came as a surprise though, as it was also a continuation of his LUV mixtape series. Uzi’s album comes with a space concept that’s nothing too rigorous but gives the project a lot of flavour – there are a few skits sprinkled throughout the first half about meeting aliens and so on but they don’t interrupt the flow of the album too much. 

It’s the subtle space themes here that are a lot more gripping. Both parts have some interesting things going for them but it was the feature filled surprise second half of the album that really won me over.

The first half Eternal Atakeis mostly characterized by a major lack of features (barring Syd on ‘Urgency’) making it stand out against most trap projects. ‘You Better Move’ is a banging beat accompanied by Microsoft Space Cadet sound bites, and the hook hits the pocket of the beat so well. The repetition in the hook is one of those tropes in trap that are very divisive. Personally, I love these moments, where you just hook into a mantra and let body and subconscious flow. In the absence of new lyrical stimulus, it’s much easier to catch onto the smaller rhythmic pockets that occur, allowing it to be more mesmerising.

Where most of the beats wouldn’t be out of place on many other rapper’s albums, like Migos or a passable 21 Savage album, there are many more signature electropop beats on EAthat Uzi fits so well. ‘I’m Sorry’ has a neat synth melody that lays back in the mix, and is definitely more interesting than most of the beats here. The same goes with ‘Celebration Station.’Its increased variation in melody fits Lil Uzi’s personality so much better. I love Uzi, but it’s hard to picture a 5-foot man with dyed hair being intimidating or sounding sexually appealing over a song like ‘Silly Watch’or ‘POP’. But under the brighter, happier beats, he comes off much more playful about his braggadocio.  

On Eternal Atake, Uzi’s flow for the most part runs on-and-on barely stopping. It gives it a bad kind of repetition, unlike the former kind, where a majority of the songs easily get washed into the background. Luv vs the World 2really departs from this, not only because of a bunch of features, but Uzi’s performance is elevated.

Luv vs. the World 2starts of with the song ‘Myron’and immediately you can hear that Uzi is jumping so much more rhythmically and it is fresher and more dynamic than on Eternal Atake.  Lyrically he gets a touch more personal with some anecdotes about his home life on ‘Wassup’ and about wanting kids on ‘Myron’. They’re not fantastic or particularly insightful but they add colour while not distracting from the main attractions of Uzi’s flow, voice, and beat selection.

This second half is much more dynamic than the first half. There is no point more striking than the amazing scream on the intro of ‘Strawberry Peels’, featuring Young Thug and Gunna. It’s such a great posse cut for only two minutes, and the edge it gives makes this harder song work for Uzi where harder tracks in the first half didn’t. Same goes with ‘No Auto’which is very much in reverence to older trap music that was ruled by Lil Wayne, T.I. and Gucci Mane. The old school and hyphy nods definitely make this song. 

‘Bean (Kobe)’featuring Chief Keef is by far my favourite song on this. Keef’s autotuned croons in the background, and the reversed loop in the outro, are the exact things that Kanye were influenced by in his album Yeezus – and they hit so hard on this track. The beat itself is amazing, with its muted synths that gives this hermetically sealed distance, that makes you feel like you’re hearing this song in space. There are similarly strong space vibes on ‘Wassup’featuring Future, with its crackly synths, that sound like they came straight out of an 80s arcade machine. Future’s verse here is great too, very effervescent and complements Uzi’s style. 

One part that is sore on LUV vs The World 2is Lil Uzi Vert’s lyrical charisma. I almost wish ‘Yesirskii’featuring 21 Savage wasn’t on here, as 21 is so charismatic it contrasts with Uzi and does Uzi a disservice. 

A lot of Eternal Ataketended to blur together, with a few highlights sprinkled in. However, the second half - LUV vs The World 2, was a really solid trap album that I had on repeat for weeks. 

If you like Eternal Atake/Luv vs. the World 2here are some more songs you might enjoy:

Key! – Miami too much 

Yung Skrrt – 5k Magnificent

Soulja Boy – Zan with that Lean 

S.B.E. – Killin’ It