Last month, longtime collaborators Future and Metro Boomin announced plans to release two collaborative albums, pretty much back-to-back. We Don’t Trust You, the first of those albums, arrived three weeks ago, and it immediately became a huge deal, largely thanks to the “Like That” verse where a furious Kendrick Lamar went off on his supposed peers Drake and J. Cole. “Like That” debuted at #1 and served as a seismic rap event, the kind of thing that can shape an entire year’s worth of narratives. Last week, Cole responded with a Kendrick diss track, which he apologetically retracted two days later. Now, Future and Metro Boomin’s second collaborative album has arrived.
The first thing that you will probably notice about We Still Don’t Trust You, the follow-up to We Don’t Trust You: It is long — 29 songs over 89 minutes. It’s longer than Beyoncé’s overwhelmingly long Cowboy Carter, and it’s too long to fit on a conventional CD. There are plenty of great movies shorter than We Still Don’t Trust You.
The second thing that you’ll notice about We Still Don’t Trust You: It’s pretty. There’s a seven-song run at the end, helpfully labeled “disc 2,” where Future and Metro Boomin return to the majestic trap sound of We Don’t Trust You. For the most part, though, this is Future in horny, vulnerable crooner mode. Future interpolates Boyz II Men’s “End Of The Road” on “Right 4 U.” Metro samples the Isley Brothers’ “Let’s Lay Together” on “All To Myself.” Notably, there’s also a Drake interpolation on “This Sunday,” though Drake never appears. Neither, for that matter, does Kendrick Lamar.
Given the past precedent of Future and Hndrxx — two Future albums, one hard and one soft, released a week apart in 2017 — maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise that Future and Metro Boomin’s two new LPs are so dissimilar. It’s still striking. The album’s guest appearances are all uncredited, meaning that the handful of other voices are meant to work as surprises when they arrive, so please consider the next paragraph to be a spoiler.
The opening title track sounds a whole lot like the Weeknd even before the Weeknd appears on the song, and it seems like he was probably a big influence throughout. The Weeknd makes three appearances on We Still Don’t Trust You, and he appears to throw some shots at Drake on “All To Myself,” but it’s not a Kendrick-style broadside. J. Cole also, surprisingly enough, appears on “Red Leather,” and he sounds really good. During the final stretch of rap-centric songs, Lil Baby and A$AP Rocky also pop up. The album is a lot to sort through, but after one late-night listen, I’m liking what I’m hearing so far. Stream We Still Don’t Trust You below.
We Still Don’t Trust You is out now on Epic/Republic.
