“When my little brother heard that, he was so shocked at Metro’s awareness and loyalty and care for the way his mother perceives him,” Mustafa says. “Then on my way home, he was like, ‘I just went through Metro’s [Instagram] page and there’s not a single photo or video of him smoking.’ He really has maintained that for his mother. I was like, ‘Isn’t that a beautiful thing?’”
His mother’s passing is just one of the somber elements that permeates Heroes and Villains. “There’s so many reasons why [this album is] bittersweet,” Metro says solemnly.
There are three names on the list of featured collaborators who aren’t here to celebrate its release. Young Thug and Gunna are, of course, currently incarcerated, facing a looming RICO trial alongside the rest of their YSL collective. Thug’s “Metro” tag is heard throughout the record, and his outro on the track “Metro Spider” comes off eerily prescient given his current predicament: “Bigger than the president, now my whole life a scandal,” he raps, later adding, “If anything happens, my kids got Ms so everything’s alright.” He and Gunna appear together on the album’s bonus track, “All the Money,” a palatial anthem that reminds listeners what hip-hop has been missing this year with the pair in jail.
And the final new voice on the project is easily the most poignant. Migos member Takeoff, who was killed two weeks before our interview, had been slated for a starring role on Metro’s sophomore album. Though Metro is known for his work with the group, especially Offset, he deliberately didn’t put the other two Migos members on the record, wanting to give the often underrated Takeoff a solo spotlight. He says the late rapper was originally set to appear on three songs, but after his death that had to be cut to one, the triumphant closer, “Feel The Fiyaaaah.”
With Heroes and Villains, Metro felt a sense of duty to these three, as well as his mother, who he calls “my biggest supporter and fan of my music.” (Metro was incredibly close with his mother, who died in June.) Metro says that after her death he took some time off, but was inspired by a conversation he had with his aunt. “[She] was just like, ‘Everything you’re feeling right now, you could channel that. That’s when a lot of the most impactful art and music has ever been made.’” That conversation flipped the switch for him, and Metro pushed through to finish Heroes and Villains as a testament to his loved ones.
“I was already gonna make sure anything with anybody on here is crazy, but it became more of a responsibility, like, ‘I gotta make sure I do my boys justice, even beyond music,’” he says. “These are my real brothers. I love Thug, I love Gunna, I love Take. I’ve known Take for so long, ten years, from when we were both 18. We took our first trip to L.A. together, me, Sonny Digital, Migos.”
Grant Rindner
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