Lil Uzi Vert's "Eternal Atake" is Worth the Two and a Half Year Wait
After a two and a half year wait, Lil Uzi Vert finally comes through with his sophomore album “Eternal Atake.” Uzi has put fans through some peaks and valleys, most notably retiring at the end of 2018, before releasing “Free Uzi” on Soundcloud followed by “Sanguine Paradise” and “That’s A Rack.” Somehow, Lil Uzi’s relevance hasn’t disappeared despite only releasing six songs in the time between “Luv Is Rage 2” (Late August 2017) and “Eternal Atake.” Now all Uzi has to do is give us a lot of great music on Eternal Atake, a project that spans 18 tracks for a 62-minute duration with one feature, Syd appearing on the tracklist. How good is Eternal Atake? Let’s find out!
Categories
The songs on this album divided into three lanes that are prevalent throughout the project and scored on a 1.5 scale. (0 = trash, .5 = not for me, 1 = good, 1.5 = a standout)
Spit Like an Uzi
Uzi shows his rapping ability switching out flows at will.
• “Baby Pluto” (1)
• “Lo Mein” (1)
• “Silly Watch” (1)
• “Prices” (1.5)
Weird beat Uzi
Uzi shows his many flows on beats with weird melodies and patterns.
• “POP” (1.5)
• “You Better Move” (1)
• “Homecoming” (1.5)
• “Futsal Shuffle 2020” (1)
Cadence like an Uzi
Uzi produces a mellow vibe, changing his cadence and dragging his notes.
• “I’m Sorry” (1.5)
• “Celebration Station” (1.5)
• “Bigger Than Life” (1.5)
• “Chrome Heart Tags” (1.5)
• “Bust Me” (1.5)
• “Urgency” ft. Syd (1)
• “Venetia” (1)
• “Secure The Bag” (1)
• “P2” (1.5)
• “That Way” (1)
The Standouts
The songs that would give the best overview of the album as a whole. Songs that stand out for reasons to be described in the pending descriptions of the songs.
“POP”
Track four produced by Working on Dying, is a certified moshpit banger, starting with a background synth sound for Lil Uzi’s first verse. The intense high hat and bass combo comes in for the hook where Lil Uzi repeats “I’m the nigga make your bitch wanna pop,” creating a catchy repetitive chorus that sets the moshpit vibe for the song. That vibe is carried out through the verses as well as the variations of the same repetitive, catchy hook. The song ends with a small 5-second skit of Lil Uzi being chased before a lazer sound that symbolizes him being caught and a lady saying “abducted.”
“I’m Sorry”
The seventh track on Lil Uzi’s “Eternal Atake” produced by Brandon Finessin and Starboy is one of the softest songs on the album. A Wii like sound starts the beat before Uzi comes in with the first part of the hook along with a soft bass that adds to the vibe of the song. The high hats and bass of the beat come in on the second part of the hook. Uzi complements the beat with his soft cadence, dragging out the last syllables of each line.
“Chrome Heart Tags”
Produced by Chief Keef track ten starts with a violin type melody until a synth comes in for the first verse. A relatively soft lagging bass comes in for the second verse with harmonizing in the background. The beat is remotely simple, however, perfect for Uzi’s vibe on this song. Especially on the hook as he starts his lines fast but finishes slow, showing off his cadence by dragging out his syllables.
“Prices”
Harold Harper and Cashmere Cat come together to produce track twelve on Lil Uzi Vert’s “Eternal Atake.” The highlight of this beat is definitely the use of the second part of Travis Scott’s “Way Back” as the melody under the high hat and bass combination that ultimately proves to be somewhat complex. Lil Uzi uses the lines “I just went up in my price” to create a catchy hook that sets the tone for the swag illustrated by Uzi in his verses.
“P2”
Lil Uzi Vert links with 808 Mafia’s TM88 on track sixteen to remix what is arguably Uzi’s biggest song, “XO TOUR Llif3,” which was also produced by TM88. Lil Uzi flips the line “I don’t really care if you cry” on “XO TOUR Llif3” to “I don’t really care ‘cause I’m done” for this song, illustrating he’s over the situation that led him to make “XO TOUR Llif3.” Uzi also sings familiar lines like “stackin’ in it, it was the top, now are you alright, damn, my money’s right,” that are present throughout “XO TOUR Llif3.” For the most part, the beats in both songs are the same, a mild bass, fast high hat combo, however on “P2” there’s an added guitar solo in the background of the beat.
Final Review
Lil Uzi Vert’s “Eternal Atake” in my humble opinion will go down as one of the classic albums of the decade. From beat selections to flows and rhyme schemes, this album has every component for classic status. Firstly, the skits at the end of songs like “Baby Pluto,” “POP,” “Celebration Station”, etc… were perfect for the theme of the album. Uzi also confirmed that the album had three sections with tracks 1-6 being the aggressive songs or Baby Pluto, tracks 7-12 being the softer songs named, Renji and finally tracks 13-18 just being him. However, I’d argue that tracks 7-11 for Renji would make more sense, especially since on track 6 “Homecoming” and track 11 “Bust Me” Uzi talks about to a button that needs to be pressed alluding to the next segment of “Eternal Atake.” Also, during the skit on “Bust Me,” a voice says, “you are now leaving EA, the dark world,” which serves as more proof for my theory. Anyway, let’s talk beat selection. On tracks 1-6 we saw more traditional trap beats for Uzi to spit on, with some outliers such as “You Better Move” which samples sounds from that old pinball game you used to play on the computer when you had no internet, Space Ball Cadet. On tracks 7-11, we saw more melodic beats for Uzi to show his vocal skills and cadence with the highlight being “Prices” which samples the second part of Travis Scott’s “Way Back.” On tracks 12-18, there wasn’t much of a theme on each beat, just Uzi doing whatever he wants, most notably remixing the Backstreet Boys’ classic song “That Way.” Oogie Mane and Brandon Finessin from the producer group Working on Dying had a hand in producing beats for at least half the album. Overall, Eternal Atake has music for every mood executed exceptionally well, making it a candidate for classic status.
Scoring
Raw Score: The number of good songs on a project versus the overall amount. Songs must have a 1 or above to be counted.
Quality Score: The total amount of points accumulated over the total amount of songs.
Playback value: The resonance an album is perceived to have if played again in full. Scale out of 5.
Raw Score: 18/18
Quality Score: 22/18
Playback Value: 4/5
Go out and listen to Lil Uzi Vert’s “Eternal Atake” wherever you listen to your music. Also, don’t forget to check out OldMilk’s Instagram page and Twitter (@Oldmilk_co) for more Hip-Hop Album Reviews, The DJ 500K Playlist, The OldMilk Radar and more! Don’t Know it? OldMilk Does!
