21 Savage and Metro Boomin Talk Creating ‘Savage Mode II’ in The Source Cover Story

Words and Interview Shawn Grant Photography John Canon

The summer of 2016 didn’t see what was coming for it. After a spring where the good guys and commercial titans of Hip-Hop appeared to have placed their stamp on the forthcoming summer, Atlanta’s annual breakthrough star was coming with force. With Metro Boomin by his side, 21 Savage brought his gritty, dark, and intense view of the trap in Savage Mode. The reality of Savage’s lyrics coupled with the dark and transcendent production of Boomin created the new street symphony, songs that evoked no smiles, while each bar was the bridge between the listener and the rising star’s reality.

Throughout Savage Mode, the stories and demeanor depicted by 21 Savage are ferocious. The EP is a perfect marriage of his everyday life and mentality with Metro’s menacing score. While Savage Mode was weighted and aggressive, the rawness made it attractive. The talent in both men was undeniable and the music itself resonated in every circle, including those neither man likely aimed for. Savage Mode became critically acclaimed, launching 21 Savage into the national and eventual global forefront while continuing to prove that Metro Boomin was a generational talent. Savage Mode spawned two platinum singles: “X,” a flex on your old bae, bringing in Atlanta’s go-to hitmaker and Boomin’s What a Time to Be Alive collaborator Future, and “No Heart,” the album’s hardest-hitting single that put 21’s flow-flipping ability on display. By the conclusion of track nine, “Ocean Drive,” a star was born and a young legend was cemented.

Coming into Savage Mode, 21 Savage was up next. Those in and following the Atlanta scene knew it was only a matter of time once his 2015 run of Slaughter King, Free Guwop, and The Slaughter Tape became staples in the area. Savage Mode was the introduction for the masses, kidnapping everyone’s ears. What followed its release was what dreams were made of. In 2017, Savage would release his debut album, Issa, powered by the massive single “Bank Account.” With a star shining bright, 21 Savage became a force on features, his most successful pairing him alongside Post Malone for “Rockstar,” landing Savage at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time. The high-profile looks would continue as he found himself deliver a stellar feature to Cardi B’s “Bartier Cardi.” Savage would launch into another solo effort and sidestep the sophomore slump in I Am > I Was. The album would grant 21 Savage his first GRAMMY win after he showed he could rap alongside J. Cole’s feature hot streak on “a lot.”

With success unfortunately came trouble. On 2019’s Super Bowl Sunday, Savage couldn’t enjoy the success of “a lot,” as he was taken into custody by ICE as they allege he was unlawfully in the states, an event that put the government at the forefront of HipHop as they attempted to tear him down. The efforts were futile and 21 Savage would continue to show another side of himself in supporting the Atlanta area through various initiatives including the annual “Issa Back to School Drive” and also utilized his hit “Bank Account” single to promote the 21 Savage Bank Account Campaign. Both efforts aim toward impacting the youth of the inner city, a population that is often underserved or entirely ignored.

The road coming in and out of Savage Mode was different for Metro Boomin. The St. Louis native has long had an ear for crafting the hottest sounds in rap and his 19 & Boomin release wasn’t a knock on the door, it was kicking it in and letting the game know it was his time. Boomin would go on to align himself with the hottest names you could find in Young Thug, Gucci Mane, and Future. Boomin eventually found himself as the executive producer of the classic

collaborative effort, What a Time to Be Alive, pairing Future and the hottest artist on the planet Drake. The joint effort, which just turned five last month, placed Boomin at the center of Hip-Hop at just 22-years old but also showed that there are few, if any, who possess the talent to sway an entire genre as he does.

Metro Boomin became the go-to, the zenith, an instant legend. If your single opened with his “If Young Metro don’t trust you I’m gon’ shoot you” producer tag, you had Hip-Hop’s instant stamp. The star was so bright, records so massive, aura so rarified for a producer, his retirement announcement in April 2018 caught both fans and the industry by surprise. Rumors and fans pointed to reasons, including issues with his label, but his November comeback album, Not All Heroes Wear Capes, ironically doubled as a rise to the call of the moment. Hip-Hop needs Metro Boomin.

Savage and Boomin would reunite a year after Savage Mode, bringing in Offset for the collaborative album, Without Warning. The album took the Kobe and Shaq dynamic of the two and expanded into a Big Three as it was Offset’s first venture outside of the Atlanta chart-topping group Migos. With Boomin once again at the helm of the bangers, 21 Savage and Offset proved they could bounce off each other well. Not lost in the effort was the Savage Mode chemistry of the Savage-Boomin duo poking through on “My Choppa Hate Niggas” and “Run Up the Racks,” often recalling the magic created a year before. Then in May 2020 it happened, 21 Savage revealed he and Metro would be coming back with a sequel to their classic.

“Savage Mode 2 on the way,” 21 Savage told fans on Instagram. “You know I gotta perfect my shit. This shit take time. I be putting a lot of hard work into my shit. I ain’t finna drop anything. My shit gotta be hard. So it’s gonna take me a little bit longer. We working. I got a lot of other shit going on in my life, too, that I gotta balance, make all this shit work. But I promise you I’m working. It’s finna drop. I promise, it’s on the way.”