Rae Sremmurd – Sremm 4 Life

Time is elastic. It’s been almost a decade since Rae Sremmurd broke out, the innate chemistry between the Southern duo adding a fresh chapter to US rap. Club-focussed bangers, debut album ‘SremmLife’ – and its aptly titled follow-up ‘SremmLife 2’ – enjoyed massive success, spawning a legion of imitators. The air of the newcomer still hangs over Rae Sremmurd, yet new album ‘Sremm4Life’ finds the self-proclaimed ‘Black Beatles’ releasing their first full length project in over five years.

Taken as a whole, ‘Sremm4Life’ digs into Rae Sremmurd’s core appeal, but truly thrives on its most unexpected moments. ‘Mississippi Slide’ is practically a mission statement, the glossy 80s leaning synths of the production aligned to some bold raps smothered in studio effects. Bold and larger than life, heaters like ‘Bend Ya Knees’ – with its insistent one-finger piano line – and ‘Torpedo’ will thrill fans. ‘YMCA’ switches it up, the spartan sonic landscape providing space for Rae Sremmurd to do their thing, while ‘Diamond Dancing’ has a shuddering, three-dimensional swagger.

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A compact, finessed 14 tracker, ‘SREMM4LIFE’ finds space for two excellent features. Young Thug lights up ‘Royal Flush’, while Future – who’s on a roll right now, in terms of creative collaborations – appears on ‘Activate’, one of the record’s true standouts. ‘Not So Bad (Leans Gone Cold)’ is a murky, paranoid hymn whose production accidentally recalls Bristol’s Purple Sound – and it also contains some Dido-echoing lyrics. Equally, the outright funk on ‘Flaunt It / Cheap’ flips the production once more, dipping into the early 90s playbook, while the raw lyrics – “probably got a sex tape coming soon” – shoot from the hip.

Closing with ‘ADHD Anthem (Too Many Emotions)’, this is an album that strips Rae Sremmurd down to their bare essence. Removing any excess, it allows their contradictions to come to the fore, with sometimes fascinating yet always gripping results.

7/10

Words: Robin Murray