Luv Is Rage 2 Analysis

Which is fine, because artists have been plagued by hits with just a fraction of the pathos “XO Tour Llif3” has. But Uzi has been an ascendant star for at least a year and a half: from promising rookie to SoundCloud darling to rap’s A-list and beyond. He’s proven himself a popular force with solo cuts like “Money Longer” and guest turns on Migos’ “Bad and Boujee” and Playboi Carti’s “Woke Up Like This”; dozens, hundreds of imitators across digital mixtape platforms cite him as a major creative influence, or at least a welcome distillation of whatever’s happening in and around the Atlanta scene. And yet in some small way, Uzi’s long-awaited Luv Is Rage 2 is a referendum on whether he can live up to the standard “XO Tour Llif3” set. The goal isn’t a streaming figure or a chart position, but a feeling.

Lofty as that is, Luv Is Rage 2 comes very close to delivering. At its best, the album mines the psyches of exhausted and exhausting people, searching for the moment where enough drugs or heartbreak or iMessages or sleep deprivation can unlock a new part of the brain. It’s the Philadelphia native’s most musically developed work and features a bulk of his most interesting songs to date.

Take “The Way Life Goes,” which
“Pretty Mami” is a desperate missive from a tour bus; the excellent song about his mother, “Dark Queen,” sounds less like an ode to a parent than a supernatural reckoning. The plunges into Uzi’s psyche are mirrored by his delivery. He’s chaotically animated, flitting between short staccato runs and heartfelt singing, punctuated by yelps and bug-eyed ad-libs. The perpetual churn of style and song structure can be a strength, or at the very least helps cover up songwriting that can tend toward formlessness. “444+222,” never finds its footing or has much to say, but at least keeps the listener on his or her toes long enough for Ike Beatz and Maaly Raw’s beat to make its