Issa Album

"FaceTime (song)" redirects here. For the Ari Lennox song, see Facetime (Ari Lennox song).

Issa Album is the debut studio album by British-American rapper 21 Savage. It was released on July 7, 2017, through Slaughter Gang Entertainment and distributed by Epic Records. The album features production from frequent collaborator Metro Boomin, alongside Southside, Pi'erre Bourne, Zaytoven, Wheezy, DJ Mustard and 21 Savage himself. It succeeds 21 Savage's collaborative EP with Metro Boomin, Savage Mode (2016).

Issa Album
Studio album by 21 Savage
Released	July 7, 2017 (2017-07-07)
Genre	Hip hop trap
Length	56:30
Label	Slaughter Gang Epic
Producer	21 Savage Cubeatz DJ Mustard Metro Boomin Pi'erre Bourne Southside Twice as Nice Wheezy Zaytoven
21 Savage chronology
Savage Mode (2016) Issa Album (2017) Without Warning (2017)
Singles from Issa Album
"Bank Account" Released: August 8, 2017

Issa Album was supported by the lead single, "Bank Account". The album charted at number two on the US Billboard 200, and received generally positive reviews from critics.

Background

On February 9, 2017, 21 Savage announced the title of the album.^[1] On June 29, 21 Savage revealed the album's cover art, along with the release date.^[2] On July 2, 2017, 21 Savage confirmed the album's producers.^[3]

Promotion

"Issa" featuring Young Thug and Drake, was a planned single to be released on Savage's album.^[4] On December 19, 2016, Young Thug posted a video confirming that he will collaborate with 21 Savage on his debut studio album.^[5] However in May 2017, the original track was leaked online and made many fans unaware of the song being on the album. It is also been confirmed that 21 Savage has scrapped the song from his studio album.^[6]

Singles

The album's lead single, "Bank Account", was released to rhythmic contemporary radio on August 8, 2017.^[7] The song peaked at number 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100.^[8]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	6.5/10[9]
Metacritic	70/100[10]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[11]
Consequence	C+[12]
Exclaim!	8/10[13]
Gig Soup	73%[14]
HipHopDX	3.3/5[15]
HotNewHipHop	72%[16]
Pitchfork	6.5/10[17]
RapReviews	6.5/10[18]
Tiny Mix Tapes	4/5[19]
XXL	4/5[20]

Issa Album was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 70, based on 10 reviews.^[10] Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 6.5 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.^[9]

In XXL, Scott Glaysher opined that the artist "manages to craft a fairly concise project with Issa Album about all the things that make him such a compelling rapper in today's hip-hop landscape".^[20] Exclaim!'s M.T. Richards wrote that "Savage's strength of feeling against certain people cannot be overstated".^[13] Corrigan B of Tiny Mix Tapes noted, "Despite expectations, it's an utter joy to listen to—a simple display of what 21 Savage sounds like when he's having fun rapping".^[19] Jon Caramanica of The New York Times wrote positively, "Issa Album contains some of 21 Savage's best and most fully realized songs to date—especially "Bank Account" and "Bad Business"".^[21] Justin Ivey of HipHopDX stated, "The budding star easily could have played it safe and stuck to a winning formula, which remains a strong suit (i.e. Issa's "Bank Account" and "Close My Eyes"). Instead, he challenged himself to be more musically ambitious. While his experiments didn't produce dynamic results, the positives overshadow the negatives".^[15]

Steve "Flash" Juon of RapReviews said, "For better or worse the album also achieves a certain bland uniformity at times by staying so true to the trap aesthetic and having Metro Boomin produce so much of the music. It's not ill-conceived, it's just that it all winds up becoming a bit monotonous if you don't randomize it and/or mix in some songs by other artists".^[18] Sheldon Pearce of Pitchfork states, "He is so compelling when he digs deeper into his psyche this way, providing more than superficiality, but there aren't enough of these moments to sustain Issa Album, which is as basic as its title".^[17] In a mixed review, AllMusic's Neil Z. Yeung stated: "Overall, Issa is a competent statement that demonstrates promise from the young rapper."^[11] Brian Josephs of Spin said, "Issa Album needn't be The Infamous, but it could've benefitted from a clearer and tighter direction".^[22] Wren Graves of Consequence criticized the "repetitive odes to getting high, getting laid, and getting lots of money".^[12]

Commercial performance

Issa Album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 with 77,000 album-equivalent units, of which 22,000 were pure album sales.^[23] On November 24, 2020, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales, streaming and track-sales equivalent of one million units in the United States.^[24]

Track listing

Issa Album track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Famous"	Shayaa Abraham-Joseph Leland Wayne Xavier Dotson	Metro Boomin Zaytoven[b]	3:54
2.	"Bank Account"	Abraham-Joseph Wayne Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson	21 Savage Metro Boomin[a]	3:40
3.	"Close My Eyes"	Abraham-Joseph Wayne	Metro Boomin	4:52
4.	"Bad Business"	Abraham-Joseph Joshua Luellen	Southside Jake One[b] Sam Wish[b]	2:42
5.	"Baby Girl"	Abraham-Joseph Jordan Jenks	Pi'erre Bourne	2:49
6.	"Thug Life"	Abraham-Joseph Wayne Curtis Mayfield	Metro Boomin	4:23
7.	"FaceTime"	Abraham-Joseph Dijon McFarlane Te Whiti Warbrick Nicholas Audino Lewis Hughes	DJ Mustard Twice as Nice[a]	3:59
8.	"Nothin New"	Abraham-Joseph Wayne Dotson	Metro Boomin Zaytoven	3:39
9.	"Numb"	Abraham-Joseph Wayne	Metro Boomin	4:31
10.	"Dead People"	Abraham-Joseph Wayne Luellen	Metro Boomin Southside Jake One[b]	2:27
11.	"Money Convo"	Abraham-Joseph Wayne	Metro Boomin	3:33
12.	"Special"	Abraham-Joseph Wesley Glass	Wheezy	3:37
13.	"Whole Lot"	Abraham-Joseph Wayne Jeffery Williams	Metro Boomin Cubeatz[b]	5:13
14.	"7 Min Freestyle"	Abraham-Joseph Wayne Luellen	Metro Boomin Southside[b]	7:11
Total length:				56:30

Notes

• ^{^[a]} signifies a co-producer
• ^{^[b]} signifies an uncredited co-producer

Sample credits

• "Bank Account" contains a sample of Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson's original composition "Flashbulbs".
• "Thug Life" contains a sample of "Something He Can Feel", written by Curtis Mayfield and performed by En Vogue.

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal and XXL.^[25][26]

Performers 21 Savage – primary artist Young Thug – vocals (track 13) Technical Alex Tumay – mixing (all tracks) Gordie Tumay – assistant mixing (all tracks) Joe LaPorta – mastering (all tracks) Blake Harden – recording (all tracks) Derrick Selby – recording (all tracks) Ethan Stevens – recording (all tracks) Anthony Gonzales – recording (all tracks) Brian Smith – recording (all tracks) Todd Bergman – uncredited recording (track 7) Production Metro Boomin – production (tracks 1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14), co-production (track 2) Zaytoven – uncredited co-production (track 1), production (track 8) 21 Savage – production (track 2) Southside – production (tracks 4, 10), uncredited co-production (track 14) Jake One – co-production (tracks 4, 10) Sam Wish – co-production (track 4) Pi'erre Bourne – production (track 5) DJ Mustard – production (track 7) Twice as Nice – co-production (track 7) Wheezy – production (track 12) Cubeatz – uncredited co-production (track 13)

Charts

Weekly charts Chart performance for Issa Album Chart (2017) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[27] 42 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[28] 56 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[29] 195 Canadian Albums (Billboard)[30] 8 Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)[31] 74 Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[32] 29 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[33] 22 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[34] 23 French Albums (SNEP)[35] 106 Italian Albums (FIMI)[36] 76 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[37] 27 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[38] 22 Slovak Albums (ČNS IFPI)[39] 40 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[40] 37 UK Albums (OCC)[41] 42 US Billboard 200[42] 2 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[43] 2

Year-end charts 2017 year-end chart performance for Issa Album Chart (2017) Position US Billboard 200[44] 55 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[45] 24 2018 year-end chart performance for Issa Album Chart (2018) Position US Billboard 200[46] 141 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[47] 70

Certifications

Certifications for Issa Album

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[48]	Platinum	80,000‡
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[49]	Gold	10,000‡
United States (RIAA)[24]	Platinum	1,000,000‡
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

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2. "21 Savage Reveals Cover, Release Date for 'Issa Album'". XXL. Archived from the original on February 19, 2021. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
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