Big Three or Big Me?: WE DON'T TRUST YOU Review

On March 22, 2024, Future and Metro Boomin released the highly anticipated collaborative album, WE DON’T TRUST YOU. This duo had previously worked together on projects such as Mask Off, an album which possessed such an alluring instrumental that it peaked fifth on Billboard charts instantly. While Metro Boomin had already achieved success within the rap scene since 2016 with hit singles such as Jumpman by Future and Drake as well as songs like Father Stretch My Hands, Metro Boomin truly achieved international acclaim from his late 2022 album Heroes & Villains. With this undeniable producing talent combined with Future’s prevalence and reputation, the album was bound for success. 

However, what perhaps propelled this album even more into fame was the expected but nonetheless shocking diss track from Kendrick Lamar. In the song Like That, the Pulitzer Prize winning rapper fires shots at Drake for claiming to be the superior rapper in the latter’s album For All The Dogs. While this response was perhaps not as serious as many expected, it still triggered a national response, in which rappers such as J. Cole responded. While Jermaine promptly apologized and retracted his diss track, Kendrick and Drake embarked on a rap-exchange tirade that continues to this day. While Metro Boomin had an established antipathy for Canadian rapper Drake on Twitter, Future, who has collaborated with Drake numerous times, also instigated and participated in this rapper drama. 

World-famous rappers Travis Scott and Playboi Carti also bolstered this album's production, appearing together on the hit song Type Sh-t. As different segments of the song blew up on TikTok, notably Scott’s part, the song helped accelerate the album as well as perpetuate the beef between Kendrick and Drake. Carti’s cult-like following also certainly helped promote the album beyond the rap scene. While the song’s repetitive lyrics repeating the title can be boring, the beat flows smoothly between each rapper, as Metro seamlessly works his magic. 

Beyond the two hit singles, however, the album is only decent. While Metro Boomin provides the “psychedelic instrumentals” that Future and Metro’s work is known for, Future sometimes falls short on his rapping. While it is understandable that a seventeen song album is not full of instant hits, one can’t but hope for more. The starting and titular song itself was underwhelming, but the beats transitioned nicely and set the precedent of elegant changes between each song. Luckily, in addition to the already existing all-star cast, The Weeknd joins the album and ad-libs in a background hum for the song Young Metro. Perhaps it was the shared dislike for Drake that allowed all three artists to create an honestly really harmonious song. Metro Boomin’s production also really shined on GTA,  perpetuating the dark ambience that the album had established. WE DON’T TRUST YOU has sent the public reeling off one song alone, but fails to live up to the level of production that Future and Metro Boomin have established for themselves. While still above average, the two international talents came together just to produce an album that is just a solid 7 out of 10. With the sequel album WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU having been released at the time of writing and the Drake v Kendrick beef ongoing, I have hope that Metro can maintain his level of production while Future improves his lyricism. While perhaps not a timeless album, WE DON’T TRUST YOU certainly made its impact. 

Ethan Yuan