Latest Release
- SEP 29, 2023
- 1 Song
- Culture · 2016
- Lil Uzi Vert Vs. The World · 2016
- The Perfect LUV Tape · 2016
- Luv Is Rage 2 · 2017
- Lil Uzi Vert Vs. The World · 2016
- Die Lit · 2018
- Luv Is Rage 2 (Deluxe) · 2017
- Luv Is Rage 2 · 2017
- Harder Than Ever · 2018
- Playboi Carti · 2017
Essential Albums
- One of the most heralded hip-hop artists of his generation, Lil Uzi Vert built no small part of his well-deserved reputation off of the promise of a record nobody had heard. For nearly two years, fans eagerly anticipated the release of Eternal Atake, a maddeningly delayed project whose legend grew while tragedy befell some of the Philadelphia native’s emo rap peers, including Lil Peep and XXXTENTACION. With the wait finally over, the patient listenership that made do with running back 2017’s Luv Is Rage 2 again and again can take in his glittering opus. Without relying on showy features—save for one memorable duet with Syd on the otherworldly “Urgency”—Uzi does more than most of those who’ve jacked his style in the interim. He imbues the post-EDM aesthetic of “Celebration Station” and the video-game trap of “Silly Watch” alike with speedy, free-associative verses that run from gun talk to sexual exploits. An obvious influence on Uzi’s discography, Chief Keef provides the woozy beat for “Chrome Heart Tags,” reminding that there are levels to Uzi’s artistry. Not to be outdone, for the deluxe edition of* *Eternal Atake he appends an entire new album dubbed LUV vs. The World 2. Loaded with features by predominantly Atlanta-based rap all-stars, this bonus offering represents a windfall for Uzi’s base while contrasting with the largely guest-free original version. He gives an energetic performance over the synth swells and 808 rattle of “Wassup” with Future, and lets 21 Savage take the lead on the Pi’erre Bourne-produced “Yessirskiii.” Young Thug comes through twice, embracing Uzi’s return on the bubblegum trap of “Got the Guap” and then linking with Gunna for the club-crushing “Strawberry Peels.” Closing out the side is the uplifting “Leaders” with NAV, a fitting endpiece from one of his most vocally supportive friends.
- A vertiginous, gone-viral stage dive at 2017’s Rolling Loud Festival upheld Uzi’s claims to being a “rock star.” On Luv Is Rage 2, he engages one of rock’s other key tropes: peering into the abyss. With his sharply melodic flow, he makes plenty of allusions to his success, comparing his diamonds to Pharrell’s over the video-game bleeps of “For Real” before trading triumphant verses with the man himself on “Neon Guts.” However, he also peels back some layers of an unsettled soul, confronting the pain of a broken relationship on “Feelings Mutual” and “XO TOUR Llif 3.”
Albums
- 2023
- 2017
- 2016
- 2015
Artist Playlists
- The Philly rapper/comics nerd makes club-friendly music with a romantic sensibility.
- Listen to the hits performed on the blockbuster tour.
- Mike WiLL Made-It
- DJ Khaled, Lil Baby & Future
- Bring Me The Horizon
- Ghostluvme
- XXXTENTACION
- skaiwater
- From Beastie Boys to Lil Uzi Vert, how rap made its own rock stars.
- Uzi’s futuristic sound channels major New Year’s Eve energy.
- Lowkey celebrates five years of Lil Uzi Vert’s third mixtape.
- Lil Uzi Vert teleports us to another planet.
- Lil Uzi Vert tries to dethrone "Old Town Road" with new music.
- The YouTuber talks "Monster" and her Five Favorite songs.
- Featuring Imagine Dragons, and 5 Seconds of Summer.
About Lil Uzi Vert
Lil Uzi Vert told us up front, in their intro to Playboi Carti’s “Wokeuplikethis*”: “I’m a rock star.” The metaphor wasn’t about dominance so much as it was about flamboyance, for Uzi as a purse-carrying, post-Kanye MC raised on anime and Marilyn Manson, whose indifference towards hip-hop orthodoxy made them a punk to some and a hero to more. Where previous generations of rappers leveraged influence through the boardroom (JAY-Z: “I’m not a businessman/I’m a business, man”), Uzi represents a generation fluent in fashion and social media, not just a recording artist but a kind of creative director whose personality and sense of world-building comes through almost as loudly as the music. That they could turn a line as bleak as “Push me to the edge/All my friends are dead” (“XO TOUR Llif3”) into a sing-along only made them more vital—here was a person feeling the pain and packaging it in style. So, a rock star, maybe. But definitely not a rapper in the traditional sense. Born Symere Woods in North Philadelphia in 1994, Uzi first started rapping to one-up a classmate, quickly making the leap to national relevance through features with Young Thug and Migos while building a tight-knit collective of producers and collaborators, known as Working on Dying, at home. Like Thug, Uzi is a distinctive rapper (the stage name was given, not taken), but the key to their sound is melody, mixing post-trap rumble with the candied hooks of pop punk and neon surfaces of EDM for a style that splits the starkness of modern hip-hop into prismatic color. After the massive success of 2017’s Luv Is Rage 2, Uzi announced that they’d deleted all works in progress and were retiring, only to surface in 2020 with the almost mythically anticipated Eternal Atake, following the album about a week later with a deluxe edition that doubled its length. Guess they had to find something to do with the free time. Speaking to Apple Music in 2017, they described themself as an alien, but the reality is more interesting: They're of the earth, they're here, they're now.