Mike WiLL Made-It is a 36 year old producer from Marietta, Georgia who has become one of the most in-demand producers across hip hop, trap R&B & pop for the last decade. He would also drop 5 mixtapes throughout the early 2010s including the Est. in 1989 series as well as #MikeWiLLBeenTriLL & Ransom, the latter of which came out through his own label Ear Drummer Records & gave us a sequel under Interscope Records almost a decade ago. The soundtrack for Creed II however became his final major label offering, returning a few days shy of his birthday to drop a sophomore effort independently.
“ATL (APPR3CIAT3 TH3 LOV3)” by 21 Savage splits itself into halves to get things going showing love to the city that made them whereas “Standing O” by Monaleo & Travis Porter co-produced by Shawn Ferrari blends some hi-hats & synthesizers for a decent single catered to the strip clubs. “TIM3” by SahBabii wasn’t as strong of a 2-parter as the intro although I appreciate the respect paid to the late Black Sabbath frontman & WWE Hall of Famer Ozzy Osbourne, but then “RUSSIAN ROULETT3” by Young Thug makes up for it talking about the game of chance.
Anycia, J Money & KARRAHBOOO all get together for “My Way” moderately talking about having things how they’d like while “@ 874” by Hunxho & 2 Chainz shows off Mike WiLL’s ear for sampling with the help of Pluss although Tity Boi had the strongest performance out of both of them. “D33P3R” by Ludacris & Teezo Touchdown was easily my favorite single due to them tastefully combining R&B & pop rap to describe being deep in love while “Rooms” by Chief Keef & YoungBoy Never Broke Again unites both of them to explore the typical themes of their own individual discographies.
“O.F.G. (Opportunities For Growth)!” by J. Cole gets the 2nd half going talking about there being too much money for him to get & only having chances at evolution going forward in his career while “STOV3 LIT” by OJ da Juiceman has to be one of the best songs I’ve heard from him in quite some time recalling his days when he was trappin’ in the lab. “MONEY TALK$” by Killer Mike, T.I. & Young Dro brings all 3 of them together with Zaytoven helping behind the boards to talk about the paper while “AAA” by Sid Sriram continues with this mediocre attempt at trap soul named after the Endeavor-owned TKO Group Holdings division WWE’s subsidiary Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide.
The late Lil Keed gets a posthumous track of his own with “IN MY H3AD” talking about being in the same trenches Thug discovered him & having some shit going on mentally until his passing while “All I Know” by Cee-Lo Green shits all over “AAA” combining gospel & soul for a passionately sung ode wondering if anyone believes in God because He believed in him. “Major” by Swae Lee ends the R3SET with an outro that’s far more tolerable than the latter’s “Flammable” single, which gives me some hope for his upcoming sophomore effort Same Difference.
Taking the opportunity to cement his presence in a new decade, Mike WiLL Made-It’s follow-up to Ransom 2celebrates his birthday a few days early by dropping an improvement above it’s predecessor & one of the better mainstream producer curated albums that I’ve heard more recently. The production expands the trap & pop rap styles he’s become known for in addition to occasionally venturing out to experiment with gospel & trap soul, primarily bringing the right guests in those lanes other than a couple lulls.
Score: 3.5/5
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