Swae Lee co-wrote “Formation.” He sang the hook on “Sicko Mode” with out getting credited. He made “Unforgettable” after which handed it to French Montana like spare change. That someone additionally owns the primary double-diamond single in RIAA historical past (“Sunflower”), a tune so inescapable it performed in grocery shops for 2 consecutive calendar years. And in any case of that, he’s solely now, at 32 years outdated, getting round to releasing an actual solo album. Swaecation existed in 2018, technically, however it was stapled inside a triple-disc Rae Sremmurd package deal, and no person handled it as a standalone assertion. He promised Billboard a solo album known as Human Nature again in 2020. Then 2021 handed. Then 2022. He stored popping up on different individuals’s data (a Post Malone tune right here, an Alicia Keys characteristic there) whereas the solo album stayed hypothetical. Six years of hypothetical, and the title modified, and at last, Same Difference confirmed up.
You’d assume eight years of fabric would give Swae one thing to speak about. On most of Same Difference, he talks about the identical three issues: bragging about automobiles, chains, and ladies he barely appears concerned about. “The Gospel” has him bragging about Frosted Flakes chains and Alexander McQueen footwear, then saying he’s on “autopilot.” He sounds prefer it. “Everyone Wants” rhymes “loner” with “loner” with “zoner” with “stroller,” which is the form of factor you write while you’re freestyling within the sales space and no person tells you to come back again with a second draft. The title monitor rattles off Bill Clinton, Tom Brady, Thanos, Johnny Bravo, and Kurt Angle in below three minutes, and never a single a kind of references connects to something. On “Sneaker”, he says, “I cheat but never cheated her,” after which two bars later, he’s asking for a foursome. On “E Off Emotion,” he told the Morning Hustle he took the E off “emotion,” which is a enjoyable title and a very empty tune. “Presidents on presidents/and shawty be all the way turnt up” is about so far as the thought goes. He mentions Alexander McQueen once more on “Flammable,” like he forgot he already introduced it up.
The options don’t assist. NAV sleepwalks by “No Call No Show” speaking about his orange Ferrari and popping capsules, indistinguishable from any NAV verse launched since 2018. French Montana’s contribution to “Suitcase” is a listing of Goyard luggage, gold medallions, LV suitcases, and three-quarter mink coats. Rich the Kid exhibits up on “Don’t Even Call” to rhyme about Patek Philippes and balloons on the crib, which is the precise verse Rich the Kid has been writing since The World Is Yours. None of those company had something at stake, and you may hear it. Even Slim Jxmmi, Swae’s precise brother, principally simply talks about checking luggage on planes and wanting a Rolex on “Working Remote.”
Four songs deep into the again half, “Violet” arrives and the temperature drops. Swae sings about strolling away from someone for his personal psychological well being, and for as soon as the phrases match the damage in his higher register:
“I wish I could buy more time
I wish I could settle down
I had to work some things out with myself.”
The second verse is even higher (“Breaking each other’s hearts, we can just take turns”) and he’s speaking to a selected individual in a selected room, someone with a reputation he’ll by no means say on wax (“How come everyone can see it but the one that you really need to?”). “Raising Awareness,” produced by London On da Track, goes to the identical place. “I wanna die with memories, not dreams/We all had our fair share of things that never came to be” is the sharpest writing Swae has delivered right here, and the road about social batteries being drained has a plainspoken honesty that the preliminary flex songs by no means contact. Jhené Aiko offers “Mural” a sweetness that Swae can’t fairly generate alone—her line about unhealthy ladies needing brow kisses is disarming and humorous and the tune is best for her being on it. And “Take My Heart” with Post Malone carries a selected dread: “These feet have walked over a few graves/I can’t see you walkin’ away ‘cause in my world, oh, everyone stays.” Swae’s stepfather was shot and killed in Tupelo in 2020; his youthful half-brother was charged.
If Same Difference have been simply these 4 songs, Swae would have a correct debut value bragging about. Instead they’re scattered throughout an album padded with luxury-rap filler backed by serviceable beats that his voice can solely accomplish that a lot to avoid wasting. And that voice—the excessive pitch, the wobbly runs, the best way he can bend a notice sideways till it’s virtually melting—remains to be in contrast to anyone else in pop-rap. He might sing the phonebook and also you’d most likely add it to a playlist. Which is precisely the issue with the opposite twelve songs: the voice papers over skinny materials so nicely that you may hearken to “Flammable” or “E Off Emotion” thrice earlier than realizing neither one stated something you’ll keep in mind tomorrow. When you’ve waited eight years for an artist to let you know who he’s with out Rae Sremmurd and and not using a characteristic credit score, “I feel like Michael Phelps” and “Alexander McQueen keep me fresher than an Altoid” aren’t the reply.
Slightly Below Average (★★½☆☆)
Favorite Track(s): “Raising Awareness,” “Violet”
