ZOO

Even after his 2017 debut, *There’s Really A Wolf*, catapulted to the top of streaming charts, Atlanta-raised do-it-all Russ (he often engineers and mixes the music he produces) was extremely vocal about the lack of support he’d gotten from traditional music media. Having thrived without it, the rapper and singer turns the lens inward for his sophomore album, walking listeners through the way his life has changed since. “It’s a really weird balance of living your dreams and all of these amazing things are happening,” he told Beats 1 host Zane Lowe, “but then some of the most negative things happened.” He goes into great detail about these things on “Parkstone Drive,” a song about familial troubles built on a loop of Sting’s “Shape of My Heart,” and “Keep My Wits,” a song about not being able to trust new acquaintances. Elsewhere, Russ includes a letter to an old flame on “Missin You Crazy” and promises only the best intentions for a new interest on “Serious,” which samples the Jagged Edge aughts R&B classic “He Can’t Love U.” And if you’re at all worried about Russ losing his signature competitive edge, look no further than the album’s main reference to his competition: “Kill Them All.”