SREMMLIFE 2 (EX)

Coming two years after they hit big with the singles "No Type" and "No Flex Zone," plus one year after they dropped their debut album, SremmLife, Mississippi rap duo Rae Sremmurd return with more reasons to swag, dab, and chill, but not flex. Kicking off with the aptly titled "Start a Party," this sophomore LP is a much more druggy affair than the duo's debut, as it stumbles up to space like Future on a bender. Highlight "Look Alive," which comes courtesy of the album's main producer Mike Will Made It, glides with an ultra-sheen and a galaxy-sized echo that's as beautiful and as vast as they come, while the Gucci Mane feature "Black Beatles" churns like a robot gone full Terminator as drum machines pound in circles before they fall into a chasm. "Do Yoga" ("All my girls do yoga, then get high at night") warps traditional Asian music into something Desiigner would welcome on his mixtapes while many of the other songs drift into nightmare landscapes and dank territory, although it's all intoxicating. Big exceptions come when Juicy J goes full strip bar on "Shake It Fast" and when DJ Mustard and Lil Jon join forces for the crunk-trap track "Set the Roof." Lyrically, it's the same Sremm swagger as before with boasts like "I got Playboy bunnies on standby," all of it delivered in an infectious style, even with the slow tempos. Hotter singles make their debut a better buy, but for a group pegged as a one-hit wonder early on, SremmLife 2 dispels that myth with style. ~ David Jeffries