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“Super Slimey” and “Without Warning”: A comparison

With “Super Slimey” and “Without Warning” sharing similarities right down to use of alliteration in the titles, it’s impossible not to compare them.

Jonathan Kermah, Contributor|December 5, 2017

Young Thug and Future (glenjamn3 and thecomeupshow [left and right]/ Wikimedia Commons)

“Super Slimey”

On paper, Future and Young Thug are a trap duo made in heaven. Both Atlanta artists helped shape today’s trap landscape with their heavy use of auto-tune, creating melodic and sometimes incomprehensible cadences and flows that blur the lines of what is considered “rapping” today. With so much in common in terms of sound, “Super Slimey” seemed like a slam dunk for the two at first glance, but instead, the project feels a bit mailed in.

Surprisingly, the best moments of “Super Slimey” come when the two artists work alone. On “Cruise Ship” and “Killed Before,” Young Thug provides catchy melodies over some of the most unique instrumentals on the entire project. Future’s “4 da Gang” holds one of the more emotional moments of “Super Slimey” when he dedicates the track to his recently deceased audio engineer Seth Firkins. With these tracks being the standouts on the project, it makes you question the point of coming together to make this mixtape.

On a collaborative project, it would be expected that the two collaborating artists would push each other musically to a level that couldn’t have been reached otherwise, but for “Super Slimey” this isn’t the case. On most songs, Future and Young Thug provide mediocre verses with equally average hooks that don’t feel special, but instead feel rushed.

The first two tracks, “No Cap” and “Three,” are perfect examples of songs with potential to be bangers, but feel incomplete. Both tracks lack a hook and end abruptly, almost as if they just freestyled and put it together last minute. While these tracks have infectious energy and solid beats, they’re a few details short of feeling great.

In the end, “Super Slimey” comes off as a little underwhelming. Other than “Patek Water,” which features great performances from Future and Young Thug as well as an exciting guest verse from Offset, there aren’t many hits that include both Atlanta rappers on “Super Slimey.” The duo relies too much on star power to make this project successful, leaving it feeling incomplete and disappointing.

“Without Warning”

On Oct. 31, Atlanta artists Metro Boomin, 21 Savage and Offset released a collaborative project out of nowhere, properly titled “Without Warning.” Even though Savage and Offset are two of the biggest stars in trap music today, a whole project wasn’t something hip-hop fans were necessarily begging for from the two. Ultimately, Metro Boomin’s production is the glue that holds this project together, setting the perfect tone for 21 Savage and Offset to rap about the real-life horrors of trap.

Metro’s eerie beats give “Without Warning” a sense of direction, something that can often be forgotten in group projects (i.e. “Super Slimey”). In tracks that don’t feature both rappers, there still is a connection, because of the similar horror theme. This connection is most exemplified on the tracks “My Choppa Hate N*****,” and “Nightmare,” where the spooky transition between the songs makes them feel as if they’re one long track.

21 Savage sounds right at home over Metro Boomin’s graveyard trap beats, seemingly on a mission to be more savage than ever. On “My Choppa Hate N*****,” 21 Savage walks a risky line as he compares his gun to the Ku Klux Klan, then manages to come off as even less heartless when comparing the “water” of his diamonds to the floods caused by Hurricane Irma and Harvey in the appropriately titled track “Disrespectful.”

Savage’s references may come off as very insensitive, but what else can be expected from the “No Heart” rapper? The coldness of these lyrics makes the songs just that much grimmer. There’s nothing necessarily new from 21 Savage in “Without Warning,” but it’s still enjoyable in a “what’s he gonna say next” kind of way.

Offset continues his 2017 campaign for best solo Migo with his intricate flows on tracks like “Ric Flair Drip.” In this rare solo Offset track, he proves that he is more than capable as a solo artist, providing different cadences throughout the track as well as an uber-catchy hook with the line “Ric Flair drip go woo on a b****,” paying homage to the legendary professional wrestler.

21 Savage and Offset may not be the Jordan and Pippen of trap music, but the pairing feels natural. Besides maybe a little too much 21 Savage on “Rap Saved Me” the duo shares the mic well, with Offset’s energy and liveliness matching Savage’s emotionless delivery.

While it doesn’t warrant a sequel, “Without Warning” is a solid one-off project from this hip-hop trio. With so many songs sharing the same tone, and Offset and 21 Savage essentially rapping about the same thing on every track, there is a small feeling of redundancy by the end of the project. But still, there are enough songs with replay value such as “Ghostface Killers” or “Still Serving” to outweigh this issue. “Without Warning” isn’t anything inherently new or different for any of the artists involved, but still manages to be an enjoyable project perfect for annual Halloween parties.

With “Super Slimey” and “Without Warning” sharing similarities right down to the use of alliteration in the titles, it’s impossible not to compare them. In the end, what really separates these two projects is the presence of Metro Boomin. Offset and 21 Savage aren’t elevating each other any more than Future and Young Thug do for each other, but Boomin’s production makes “Without Warning” feel that much more complete.

“Super Slimey”