Album Review: Lil Uzi Vert has returned to Earth to chart his intergalactic journey on 'Eternal Atake'

Uzi takes his listeners through several dimensions of his existence on his long-awaited project that has finally dropped.

Written by Thomas Galindo

Lil Uzi Vert has landed. He is back after a two-and-a-half year hiatus. Although there have been a handful of singles and features Uzi has dropped since, they have been clouded by controversy and confusion amongst fans. Uzi was right up there with Rihanna, Playboi Carti, Kendrick Lamar, and Frank Ocean — fans were begging for an album they thought they’d never get. But it’s here now, and Eternal Atake is quite the adventure.

Uzi opens the album with “Baby Pluto,” an up-tempo flow similar to that of his 2019 single, “Free Uzi.” He uses the first minute of the track as build up to an eventual beat drop that resembles a rocket ship taking off. Throughout the record, Lil Uzi Vert uses three different personas to identify his mind-frame during the journey: Baby Pluto, Orenji, and Uzi. Baby Pluto is the first persona he introduces on the project, who appears to be a high-energy, slick-tongued character, full of ferocity and spontaneity as he lifts off on his space escapade.

On the second track “Lo Mein,” Uzi/Pluto shows off his fast-paced flow on the chorus, fitting 66 words into 14 seconds, which equates to an astounding 4.7 words per second. Uzi zooms through these animated beats on the first leg of the album, and demonstrates an exciting combination of thrilling, repetitive choruses like those on “POP” and “You Better Move.” There’s also the expected flexing of material possessions and sexual conquests as heard on the bar, “Got my money, then I had to just flood the block / I'm the only one that f---ed on that b-tch / But I made that ho just cum and just neck the block / Yeah, I pulled up in my car, b-tch, I blessed the block” from “Silly Watch.”

On most of the six tracks within the Baby Pluto story, Uzi finishes the songs with a short skit of a flustered Baby Pluto wondering why he’s on the ship. He finally lands on the planet, Eternal Atake, and exits the ship on “Homecoming” to close the album’s first leg. Overall, the energy and variety of this introduction make it a ton of fun.

Lil Uzi Vert introduced his second persona, Orenji, on Twitter, exactly a month before the album dropped. The Orenji leg of the album begins with track seven, “I’m Sorry.” This is the listener’s first experience on the planet, and the atmosphere feels techno, but laid-back. This portion of the record is much more melodic, with spacey beats and Uzi singing rather than rapping. The highest quality output from this section comes from songs with the grooviest choruses, like “Bust Me” and “Bigger Than Life.” The vibe of the planet Eternal Atake is more serene, thanks to the soothing background choir vocals and harmonies in songs like “Bigger Than Life” and the Chief Keef produced “Chrome Heart Tags.” Closing this chapter of the album, it is made clear that we are departing from this planet. The spaceship’s automated voice tells us “you are now leaving EA, the dark world,” at the close of the eleventh song, “Bust Me,” completing the transformation from Baby Pluto to Orenji.

On Christmas Day 2019, Lil Uzi Vert tweeted that he wanted to treat 2020 like it was 2016. This was the year Uzi was an XXL Freshman, dropped two mixtapes, Lil Uzi Vert Vs. The World and The Perfect LUV Tape, and became a star in hip-hop. So, in the last portion of the album with the persona of Uzi, he brings back some of the fun and nostalgia of that era to remind us of early Uzi. He opens this leg of the record with the twelfth song, “Prices,” containing a beautiful interpolated sample from Travis Scott’s “way back” from his 2016 album Birds in the Trap Sing Brian McKnight, certainly fulfilling the 2016 nostalgia.

This section also includes “P2,” a second part to his early-2017 hit single “XO Tour Llif3” that utilizes the same beat. He essentially introduces a new flow over a mellower version of the beat. This part of the album builds an atmosphere that makes the listener feel as though they are under the influence of drugs, ascending into the sky. The ethereal production on songs like “Prices,” “Venetia,” and “Secure the Bag” contributes to this chilled-out feeling. This represents the final character settling into his identity and being comfortable with his existence.

At the end of “Secure The Bag,” Uzi closes with a skit that appears to finish the story. He says “I never saw anything in my whole entire life like this, I don't know what they were, bro, I was right here lookin' through the glass. I don't know, bro, I'm trying to figure it out, nothing's making sense. Bro, I gotta drop this album, all this bro.” This makes the story seem to resemble his record label dispute with Generation Now that prevented him from dropping Eternal Atake the past few years. Now that he is free of this wild ride, his only focus was to drop the tape. This skit leads into “P2,” signifying Uzi’s return to his early version of himself, when he first started topping charts.

The album closes with the two singles that dropped before the record, the TikTok viral “Futsal Shuffle 2020” and the Backstreet Boys influenced “That Way,” two uniquely catchy bonus tracks that got fans excited for the record. With many rap fans and critics having lost hope that it would ever drop, the release of Eternal Atake is truly special. The album is an insightful journey through Uzi’s mindset over the past few years, and where his head is at now. He seems to be content, like he really cared about the release of this project, though fans felt he was keeping it away from them.

The album’s diverse tracks are full of euphoria, and the songs and themes of the album flow in a way that makes every listen better than the last. As a successful release for a highly anticipated project, Eternal Atake will continue to age well as time goes on, especially since Uzi plans to add on to it. In a series of tweets, he referenced a deluxe version with around eight new tracks and hinted at a second half of Eternal Atake. Uzi is not stopping any time soon, and his starved fans are certainly getting more quality output than they could’ve imagined.

Afterglow ATXMarch 11, 2020