The next chapter of Atlanta rap is shaping up to be something of a return to form. Projects from Metro-Boomin and Anycia, as well as a crop of young rappers, are reprising the “Old Atlanta” feel. In July, Anycia dropped Grady Baby, the first Gangsta Grillz project from a woman rapper from Atlanta. Playboi Carti’s I Am Music was praised as a mesh of boundary-pushing sonics while paying homage to his youth, sampling Rich Kidz (“LIKE WEEZY”) and Bankroll Fresh (“WALK”). Meanwhile, surging singles like Pluto and YKNiece’s “Whim Whamie,” as well as BunnaB’s “Mad Again,” feel like a callback to Atlanta rap from the early 2010s, as a recent Pitchfork essay points out.
YKNiece and Bunna are both on Metro-Boomin’s Futuristic Summa, a tribute to Atlanta’s “futuristic era,” a fun, melodic sound popularized by artists like Yung LA, YC Hollywood, and J Money (formerly J Futuristic). The project isn’t a callback to the early aughts’ big white tee and crunk era, but the late aughts-early 2010s, when tight-fitting Aeropostale and American Eagle were the wave. It speaks to Atlanta’s rich history and vibrant community that they have multiple distinct eras to pay homage to.
But before we dive in too far, it’s important to note that, like with too many hip-hop spectacles, there are less celebratory elements to address. Most importantly, many are recalling that in October, Vanessa LeMaistre filed a civil suit against Metro alleging that he raped and impregnated her in 2016. LeMaistre is represented by Wigdor Law LLC, the same law firm that represented Cassie in her November 2023 civil suit against Diddy. The trial is set to begin on September 23 in the Central District of California, with a September 9 pre-trial hearing. A lawyer for Metro Boomin, real name Leland Wayne, denied the allegations. It’s disappointing that yet another beloved hip-hop act has been accused of patriarchal violence.
And in far less consequential territory, some are calling out Metro being from St. Louis, as if that precludes him from celebrating Atlanta. On Monday, Atlanta artists Young Cooley and Hollywood YC went online to gripe about not being on Futuristic Summa (though artist-producer Reese LaFlare, involved in the project’s conception, claims Hollywood YC was called and said he was “out of town”). Though some futuristic progenitors didn’t make the original project (there’s still time for a deluxe), many listeners are celebrating the project as a cross-generational mesh of Atlanta greatness.
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Metro links with a who’s who of Atlanta mainstays such as Future, Young Thug, 21 Savage, Quavo, Lil Baby, T.I., and Gucci Mane. Up-and-coming artist Breskii adds some literal futuristic sauce to the project. And, most notably, there are numerous Atlanta acts straight from the DatPiff era: Waka Flocka, Roscoe Dash, Young Dro, Rocko, Yung LA, Travis Porter, Yung Booke, J Money, Meany of Shop Boyz, iMcfli of Fast Life Youngstas, as well as Jose Guapo, Skooly, and Shad da God (formerly Rich Kid Shawty) of seminal Atlanta group Rich Kidz. A vocal clip from the late Young Scooter leads off the DJ Spinz-hosted project; it’s hard to believe the beloved rapper, who died in March, wouldn’t have had multiple appearances on the veritable mixtape. Metro worked with producers like DJ Plugg, Bobby Kritical, Zaytoven, Honorable C.N.O.T.E., and others to craft Futuristic Summa, which Boomin called the “most fun” he’s ever had making a project.
And that enjoyment radiates out for Atlanta rap fans who were there for its heyday, while younger listeners are becoming acquainted with the heroes of that generation. Melodic masters Young Thug and Future are regarded as entrenched roots of modern rap; Yung LA and J Money, two pioneers of the futuristic movement, demonstrated on Metro’s project that they were forebearers of the wave. Roscoe Dash, Travis Porter, and the project’s Rich Kidz contributors showed that while they have universal DJ staples from the turn of the 2010s, they can still get parties rockin’ now. Young Dro, a protégé of T.I., is a charismatic lyricist who might’ve been one of the city’s brightest stars if not for personal trials that hindered his career. His four-song contribution feels like a movie about an embattled boxer who turns it around and gets another run in the spotlight.
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The project wasn’t a matter of merely looping Yung LA’s “Ain’t I” or Rich Kidz’ “Wassup” over modern 808s and calling it nostalgia. Metro and his co-producers nailed the full scope of the futuristic era, from the earworm melodies of neon synths and spooky keys with reverb to the subtleties of the pitter-pattering drum programming. One can’t help but hear a couple elongated “Yeeeah” ad-libs while Gucci goes into a time machine on “They Wanna Have Fun”, or picture DJ Drama or Holiday talking shit at the end of some songs. A Futuristic Summa is a treatise on anthemic hooks, catchy cadences, braggadocious bars, and ass-shaking percussion. As the meme goes, you can tell that era meant something to him.
Metro Boomin said as much on X, posting, “IF YO HOMEBOY NEVER HAD TO HOLD YOU UP IN THE TEEN PARTY WHILE U WAS GETTING TWERKED ON THEN YOU MIGHT WANNA SIT THIS ONE OUT,” adding, “IF YOU NEVER HAD TO WRITE A NUMBER DOWN PERIOD THEN YOU MIGHT WANNA SIT THIS ONE OUT,” and “IF YOU STARTED LISTENING TO RAP MUSIC IN 2017 THEN YOU MIGHT WANNA SIT THIS ONE OUT.” The average producer who undertook this kind of effort would want everyone to take a listen, but Metro is firmly gatekeeping, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Mainstream rap is geared toward mass consumption, but the project’s disconnect with certain fans shows that everything isn’t meant for everybody.
During his defense of the album, Metro also posted, “LETS GET BACK TO ACTUAL CULTURE AND REGIONAL IDENTITY.” To be clear, hip-hop in general doesn’t have a regionalism problem. The spirit of the late Drakeo presides over the California rap scene, artists like Peezy and Veeze are liable to say anything over a “Michigan type beat,” Cash Cobain has the whole tristate getting Slizzy, free car music aka DMV Crank is the sound of the DC area, just to name a few bubbling scenes. So while A Futuristic Summa didn’t bring back regionalism, it’s a skillful glimpse of Atlanta after the first wave of trap and before new school hip-hop fans sought to memify Gucci Mane and Young Thug to death.
Anycia did the same with her latest mixtape, Grady Baby. If you don’t know that Grady is referring to a hospital in the city, the music might not be tailored for you. Anycia collaborated with DJ Drama for a classic feel, asking producers to sample Atlanta staples like Jeezy’s “And Then What” on “ATW,” and Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz’ “Nothing’s Free” on “So Fine.” In March, she told Rolling Stone that her criteria for samples were “songs that’s like, ‘Oh my God, I forgot about that song!’ … I wanted to make it super-duper Atlanta, super Southern, super nostalgic.“
She also revealed that her mother and aunts served as the muse for the project’s creative direction: “I was trying to come up with an idea for my album and my mom was like, ‘Why don’t you just base this album off of the shit that you was around, girl?’” And she paired the project with a Waka Flocka co-starring series of clips that could probably be extended to a Paper Soldiers or I Got The Hook Up type of rap movie if those were still en vogue. The mixtape and its rollout were unmistakably Atlanta.
“Atlanta is my home. Atlanta’s culture is what I feel like made me who I am today,” Anycia says. “This is me having a little tough love: I feel like Atlanta could be doing better right now when it comes to showing who we really are. We’re losing our culture a little bit.”
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That’s especially true in a music scene that’s been decimated by the justice system and premature deaths in recent years. Part of the scene’s inability to keep the conveyor belt of stars rolling is that the infrastructure that built old Atlanta isn’t as strong, with gentrification and heavy policing uprooting the city’s cultural landscape. Before we knew too much about alleged gang ties, intra-city beef, and predatory prosecutors trying to RICO the rap scene to nonexistence, we knew Atlanta as an oasis for trends, a (mostly) cooperative community, and some of the most fun music of all time. The latter is what Futuristic Summa, Grady Baby, and new artists like YKNiece and BunnaB are tapping into. Even if city brass resents the reality that hip-hop made Atlanta the Black mecca, there are plenty of artists who don’t.
If this trend continues, it might be the most overt example of Atlanta rap in conversation with itself, spurred in part by a new project harkening to an era called futuristic. It’s the kind of paradox that exemplifies how good music transcends time. We see the same dynamic throughout the arts, with movies, TV shows, and books taking structure and arcs from their historic peers. No matter how innovative artists think they are, they’re all paying dues in some fashion to Grandmaster Flash, Kool Herc, and a swath of other hip-hop pioneers. The genre is at a commercial pinnacle where top artists may believe they’ve reached the summit of creativity, looking solely forward, but we’ve only achieved this height on the foundation laid by our forefathers. This year, Atlanta’s experiencing a renaissance thanks to artists who understand that.
