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The South got something to say.

Andre 3000s infamous response to a hostile Manhattan crowd at the 1995 Source Awards tends to be remembered as prophecy. The quote rarely gets cited directly, but you can hear its puckish echoes anytime someone declares Rae Sremmurd the best duo since Snoop and Dre, or defends Rich Homie Quan forgetting Biggie lyrics, or proclaims Migosare better than the Beatles. Theres something perpetually vindicating about the South, especially Atlanta, eclipsing New York, Los Angeles, and rock, as the epicenter of rap, of music, of culture. Donald Glovers Atlanta plays this game quite adeptly, fueling Atlantas mystique even as itsneers at the sus beliefs that keep that mystique alive. Whats lost in the jokes, the trolling, and the thinkpieces, though, is that Andre 3000 wasnt prophesying: he was picking a side in a culture war.

Culture wars in rap are both high-stakes and utterly insignificantEast vs. West, Lyrics vs. Personality, Written vs. Freestyled, Underground vs. Mainstream, Street vs. Club, Mixtape vs. Album, Thrift Shop vs. Swimming Pool, Detroit vs. Everybodybut the thrust of each skirmish is who, what, or where gets to define rap, for perpetuity, or for the moment.

Another Migos moment is underway, with the release of their latest LP, Culture, and its startling how starkly it contrasts the Migos moments of the past. Migos ended their debut album with a cautious reflection on their success. Now Im having recognition, Quavo crooned on Recognition, more surprised than triumphant. Back then, that surprise made sense. In 2013, on the strength of Versace Migos spread like e. coli in a water park, infecting rappers high and low. But there was skepticism from the start, from dunderheads like Ebro, who openly mocked Migos in an early interview, to backhanded love from places like the Washington Post, where Versace was deemed a flukey success, and the Fader, where Migos were described as getting by on drive and force of personality more than anything else. In 2014, Migos persisted, signing a distribution deal with Lyor Cohens 300 Entertainment, churning out five mixtapes, and riding high on singles Fight Night and Handsome and Wealthy, both of which cracked the Billboard Hot 100. But even they had begun to be touched by the skepticism. How long you think we gonna last? Quavo asked an interviewer toward the end of the year.

By the time Yung Rich Nation was released in the summer of 2015, Migos seemed to be edging toward the periphery. Offset was in jail again following an incident in Statesboro, Georgia, and the album itself was strangely contained, trading the mania and grit of their previous work for polished tracks with slower, bouncier deliveries. Plus, it lacked a strong single. They found their stride in dabbing, making a third song about it (Look at My Dab) and eventually embarking on the Dab Tour, but even as dabbing spread to athletes and politicians, the moment felt marred by how clearly Migos needed the attention. Y.R.N. 2, released in early 2016, was just as longing. We the ones came up with dabbin, we put em on trap fashion, Quavo scoffed on YRN 2 Intro, still seeking recognition.

Culture comes at a time of ubiquitous Migos appreciation, from Donald Glover, from the charts, and from social media. Riding high on Bad and Boujee Migos has earned a platinum certification and grassroots calls to replace Lady Gaga at Super Bowl LI are emerging. If Migos were looking for an opportunity to sneer down from the mountaintop, to definitively declare themselves better than the Beatles, the doubters, and the biters (especially biter-supreme Drake, who took seven years to score a No. 1 single as the primary artist; Migos took four), now would be the time. But Quavo, Takeoff, and Offset arent cynics. Culture is welcoming and assured, above the fray and beyond the conversation.

The album is introduced by DJ Khaled, who appears in full pundit mode to denounce fuckboys and doubters, but his cameo is satirical. Culture album coming soon, Takeoff says, as if the album will be released in some distant future. Quavo and Offset act just as indifferently, punching in and out with a few bars apiece. Khaleds made a career out of blurring the line between self-parody and calculated branding, but Migos choose a different route. Uninterested in either the highs or lows of the culture wars, Migos opt out, leaving the gassing to the blowhards. Its a subtle move and it immediately lowers the temperature in the room, allowingCulture to settle into casualness rather than stiffen into belligerence. The album is a city-sized no flex zone.

Musically, Culture doesnt take many quantum leaps from Y.R.N. 2, but there are some tiny refinements. Migos has been injecting more dead air into their songs since Yung Rich Nation, inserting pauses between rhymes and lightening the density of the vocal layering. This approach pays dividends on songs like T-Shirt and Brown Paper Bag. On T-Shirt Takeoffs opening verse is both choppy and fluid, backed by Auto-Tuned harmonizing from Quavo, which treads along the synths without disturbing Takeoffs punctuated ad-libs. Previous songs (see Trap Funk, Night Time) would have filled all that empty space like a slumlord in winter. The chorus of Brown Paper Bag is just as porous. Brown (brown), paper (paper), bags (bags), Offset calmly says. Bad and Boujee is the greatest testament to this tweak. The verses are full of choice gaps that give the song a blas feel despite its blitzkrieg rhyming. Yeah, that way, Quavo raps after a flurry of rhymes.

The other upgrade is a constant shift in performance order and a few tracks where not everyone contributes. Before Back to the Bando, which was recorded while Offset was incarcerated, the bulk of Migos songs began with Quavo and ended with Offset, with either Quavo or Takeoff handling the chorus. Unequal contributions within a group are acceptable when there are real gaps in skill (see Ratking, Odd Future, Wu-Tang, etc.), but its always a triumph when gaps are closed. Quavo still handles most choruses, but Offset and Takeoff really hold their own here, their strengths on full display on songs like Call Casting and Deadz.

Overwrought bores like What the Price, All Ass, and Kelly Price bring the album to a lull, but even thats forgivable, more sedate than nauseating. Migos lack the audacity of a Kanye, or the ambition of a Kendrick, or the cunning of a Drake, so it doesnt make sense to judge this album based on how it does or doesnt transform culture. Migos arent disruptors or visionaries or auteurs and they dont have to be. Theyre workmen, punching in and punching out, finding success not in leaps forward but in measurable steps.

We tend to think of culture in terms of objects and events, inventions and discoveries, but culture is also defined by repetition, reiteration, recurrence. Migos built a career out of consistency. Let them have their moment.

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Migos Are Above the Culture Wars - Complex