Throwback Review: Without Warning by Metro Boomin x 21 Savage x Offset

If you’re like me, you were waiting for Without Warning 2 since 2018 — the year after the first one released. Metro Boomin has since confirmed it was never coming but we did get Savage Mode II which was just as acceptable in my eyes. However, Without Warning was a surprise as the title suggests and contains the perfect eerie mood that lines up with the season excellently. Ironically, it dropped on Halloween meaning its mood was literally at the end of the month for the aesthetic it pushed. Still, it gets thrown back into the rotation every year around this time and with all members on it at an even higher point of their careers now, why not look back on it?

As I said, Without Warning dropped on October 31, 2017. Offset and 21 Savage brood over 10 tracks helmed by producer Metro Boomin. The only features are Quavo and Travis Scott. The album’s cover tells us off rip that this is going to be a project in the lane we usually find 21 Savage in — murderous eerie rap with menacing and clever punchlines throughout. Track titles like “Ghostface Killers” “Nightmare” “Mad Stalkers” and “Darth Vader” confirm this before even pressing play. However, the latter does not feature any samples from the titular character (or his theme) much to my own personal disappointment. Still — Metro executed the mood of the project perfectly. We get dissonant keys that range from pianos to organs to synthesizers. We get ominous bell chimes and even wolf howls. The drums are still trap based but subdued enough that they don’t bring unnecessary energy to the song. They maintain the dark brooding mood the album is going for excellently. “Mad Stalkers” has a melodic whistle on it that sounds just like the X-Files intro theme and the opening track “Ghostface Killers” has a bell that sounds just like the one that signals the arrival of the wrestler The Undertaker. “Rap Saved Me” has a melody that sounds like it’s playing in reverse and “My Choppa Hate Niggas” has some classic looped ominous choir vocals that make up the melody.

Considering the aforementioned aspects it’s still interesting that “Ric Flair Drip” made its way onto the final tracklist. This one is the most popular song from the album. Maybe because it’s the most accessible of all the songs and it was the project’s single and got a music video that naturally featured the Nature Boy himself. On the production side it has a “scary” melody that’s simultaneously fun and upbeat. This track and “Nightmare” only has Offset on the verses. 21 Savage gets the same solo treatment with “My Choppa Hate NIggas” and “Run Up the Racks”

The chemistry between Offset and 21 Savage is not exceptional but it still works well. Simultaneously, their chemistry both together and separately with Metro Boomin however works even better. One stand out moment from the duo’s chemistry is the transition from “My Choppa Hate Niggas” to “Nightmaare”. 21’s closing lines on the former are “Feel like Jason, Friday 13th/ Hockey mask with the .223/ Issa Nightmare on Elm Street/ A Nightmare on Elm Street” and during this moment the beat changes to the one we hear on “Nightmare”. We also hear the duo use an almost identical flow and rhyme scheme for a few bars on “Disrespectful”.

Naturally the subject material of Without Warning lines up with the dark and ominous theme that album carries. However, its execution is what makes it stand out. 21 has verses all over it that ride the line between ruthless and humorous/creative. Offset’s energetic flow is a great contrast to the more straightforward and cold monotone flow of 21 uses. There’s even some timely references are outdated at this point but they still make sense. 21 quips “Kim Jong yeah big bombs” and “Hurricane Irma on my neck nigga flooded out, Hurricane Harvey on my wrist shit flooded out” We also hear him say “On my face issa dagger” in reference to the viral moment that became a meme and even directly inspired the album he dropped the same year, Issa Album. I also must mention how Quavo used his feature to create an entire melody of his own vocally on the tail end of “Rap Saved Me” and how Travis’ feature has the line ‘Jumping out public houses, don’t you come outside” a possible double reference to his own song “outside” as well as another Metro Boomin and 21 Savage song “Don’t Come Out The House” which dropped the following year.

Without Warning is an enjoyable project that deserves to be played all October. Of course, you can play it at other times but its atmosphere really hItS dIfFeReNt during this season. The trio along with their features channel the mood well throughout the project and its length works well with (almost) everything sounding like it belongs there. If you dismissed this one initially, give it another shot. If you faithfully listen to it each year like me, perhaps I brought something new to your attention — or all my points resonated with you.

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