On March 13, Philadelphia rapper Lil Uzi Vert did something rather unprecedented for an artist of his status– release a deluxe album with 14 (!) additional songs on top of his highly-anticipated studio album, “Eternal Atake”, which was released a week prior.

The deluxe album is titled “Eternal Atake (Deluxe) – LUV vs. The World 2”, a homage to his 2016 album “LUV vs the World”. For the deluxe version, Uzi used the original cover art for “LUV vs The World” and inverted the colors. He put the 14 added songs on top of the original 18 songs on “Eternal Atake” in one album, essentially creating a 32-song album clocking in at one hour and 45 minutes.

When he released“Eternal Atake” on March 6, exactly 924 days after his last studio album “Luv is Rage 2”, the album was met with mixed reviews from fans and critics alike. A large number of people cited that while the album was good, it wasn’t necessarily worth a wait over two years long.

I shared the opinions of those people– the album was good, don’t get me wrong, but I didn’t think that it was more impressive than his previous works. While “Eternal Atake” has its share of bangers, such as “Baby Pluto”, “Lo Mein” and “Bust Me”, there were far too many good-not-great tracks to justify a waiting period dangerously close to 1000 days.

Upon listening to the album, I immediately thought there was more to come. With an artist as unpredictable as Lil Uzi, I had a feeling that anything could happen. When the “deluxe version” was released only a week later, my gut feeling was realized. But this time, he did way more than I ever could have expected.
If you include the deluxe extension as a part of “Eternal Atake” itself, the album instantly goes from solid to exceptional. One of the main issues I had with the original album was that there were very few artists featured on it, and the deluxe version delivered on this glaring missing component. Notable artists featured on the deluxe version include Young Thug, Future, Chief Keef, 21 Savage and Gunna.

Some of the songs on the deluxe version were remastered, previously-leaked tracks that were released by popular demand from fans, such as “Bean (Kobe)”, “Myron” and “Come This Way”. I had heard “Bean (Kobe)”, which features Chief Keef, months before on Soundcloud, as it was one of the leaked tracks. However, hearing it in high-definition audio made it a million times better, especially after the tragic, unbelievable passing of Kobe Bryant.

Along with the remastered leaks, he also included brand new tracks with the featured artists mentioned that were nothing short of fantastic. Of the 14 songs included as a part of the deluxe version, there are only maybe two or three that I haven’t been listening to regularly, whereas that’s probably the case with half of the songs on the original release. Tracks such as “Yessirski”, “Wassup”, “Lotus” and “Trap this Way” are among his best tracks ever released.

After a waiting period far too long, Lil Uzi Vert is back and in a big way, creating several radio hits and satisfying diehard fans with remastered leaks. He satisfied old fans and new ones alike, flashing off his versatility and establishing both his new style while keeping his old flow intact. It appears that the Philadelphia product understood that an only “decent” 14-track album was not enough to make up for the wait. The original “Eternal Atake” release would’ve gotten a 7.5/10 from me, but his decision to extend the album by almost double a week later with far better tracks nets the album as a whole a 9.5/10.