Hi, everyone. Grandthony Slamtano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Metro Boomin project, A Futuristic Summa.

Here we have the newest and second commercial mixtape from Atlanta superproducer Metro Boomin, a Missouri native who is probably one of the most impactful beatsmiths of the modern era. His work with artists like Future and 21 Savage and Migos really helped mainstream the modern Atlanta music scene in in the 2010s. Sure, while he may not have been the only producer to contribute to that paradigm shift, he is definitely one of the only ones to become a household name in his own right, thanks not only to multiple successful collab albums where his name is right there next to the artist he's primarily working with, be it Nav or Big Sean or Gucci Mane.

But he's also masterminded some pretty massive solo projects as well and had his name and fingerprints all over that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse soundtrack from back in 2023. And considering he produced "Like That", he clearly had a hand in the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef that dominated our feeds. Well, it's still dominating our stupid ass feeds right now.

The growth of Metro's popularity and influence in recent years has most definitely coincided with a homogenization of mainstream hip hop today a bit. Now it's to the point where it feels like Southern hip hop or really any sound that specifically originates out of Atlanta can come from just about anywhere on the internet.

While the damage at this point is probably already done in terms of a lot of music in the US today losing its regionality, I guess Metro is trying to counteract that in his own way on this new project, which, again, is a mixtape, but it's in a double-album format. It's got 24 tracks, two discs. And with the batch of songs here, he's not just giving us a very Atlanta sound, but a throwback sound, too. Something that is very specifically mid-2000s, early 2010s, and is a strain of pop rap packed with these party anthem choruses, futuristic synths, and crispy trap beats. Think back to hits like T.I.'s "Whatever You Like" or Jeezy's "My Hood", or any number of Soulja Boy bangers from this time period. Metro, of course, with this sound and his knowledge of this era, was able to pepper this tracklist with a lot of names that contributed to this trend, be it Young Dro or Travis Porter or Roscoe Dash.

A move from Metro at this point, like this, in his career, is a really interesting one, because right now he has the track record and the influence and the impact to be able to just accept the fact that he's helped change the modern rap landscape to fit his style, and he could just be enjoying the spoils without thinking about it. But instead, he's choosing to go niche and nostalgic, not only because what's on trend can make or break a new album from an artist of Metro's size. But on top of it, this sound and era in the grander scheme of things was just so short-lived and mostly led to a lot of one-hit wonders and one-off singles from artists whose greater catalogs weren't necessarily defined specifically by this sound.

So yeah, not only is Metro trying to make a bygone era work on a new project today, but also he's giving us over 20 tracks of stuff in this direction, over 70 minutes of run time. And I guess for me personally, therein lies the problem with Futuristic Summa, because out of the gate, this wasn't built to be a super versatile, dynamic sound.

And as a result, Metro paints himself in a corner pretty quickly on this thing, as the direction of this tape gets fairly predictable by around the 10th song. Nevermind the second disk, which is loaded with repetitive feature placements, as well as a horrendous run of song appearances that just don't go over very well, whether it's on "Don't Stop Dancin'" or "Overly Trimm" or "Partying & Drinking". Tracks like these, in my opinion, would have either been fixed, song by somebody else, or just left on the cutting room floor when devising a more sensible tracklist.

Because you have to admit, even if you like this sound and are nostalgic for it on some level – and to a degree, I am; I remember some of these hits when I was in college – an entire two discs of this is a lot. But still, even if Futuristic Summa is a bit bloated, some of the most fun pop rap I've heard all this year does appear on this tape.

I do think for the most part, Metro does pull through with a very faithful tribute to this style, whether it's with the first full song on the project "I Want It All", which features some 808 drums, cute synth flutes and horns, soaring chorus vocals from J Money, too. It is an undeniably bright, blissful, sweet cut. There's also, "Take Me Thru Dere", which has all these girl group refrains that I love, plucky midi strings too, a charismatic verse from none other than Quavo. It's a track that is simple and effective.

Then from here, we have more insanely good hooks with "Loose Screws", as well as "Stealin All the Swag". Going deeper into the project, "Slide" is like this neon-lit dance number that comes from a time when people actually used to dance when a dance song came on at the club. There's also some very cute call and response boy/girl vocals on this one that I love a lot.

But again, a great project isn't just simply highlights. An entire double tape like this is only going to be as good as its consistency, as some of its weakest moments you do have tracks in the first half of this thing, like "Clap", featuring Waka Flocka Flame – which I mean, that's a name I'm very excited to see on this tape; I do love his contribution on the closing track – but on this particular song, which features a very skeletal instrumental, his performance is more mild than I would have wanted it to be.

Meanwhile, you have tracks like a "My Lil Shit", where personally, I think, chorus-wise, it feels like everybody's just throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks. It's not the best example of songwriting on this thing.

Unfortunately, Futuristic Summa does lose even more steam in the second half as you get cuts like "I Go", that have no business being this forgettable. The Young Thug appearance [on "Birthday"], which is another name that should be electrifying on a tape like this, is one of the most boring this entire thing has to offer.

But yeah, sadly, I just think in total, there are too many skips on this thing, too many tracks that are just so plainly okay. I do think one of the better rap albums of 2025, though, is somewhere in here. But in order to get there, there would need to be a lot of paring done in order to get to that point, which is why in its current state, even if I do really appreciate and like the stylistic direction, the era tribute that Metro tried to pull off here, I am feeling like a decent to strong 6 on this thing.

Anthony Fantano, Metro Boomin, Forever.