Post Malone had 18 of them. Migos had 24. Chris Brown recently released one with 45 songs, and even he didn't have the gall to call it a triple album.
But Rae Sremmurd have the gall. Slim Jxmmi and Swae Lee have all the gall. And the Mississippi brothers put all that gall on display on SR3MM, rap's first triple album, a blockbuster effort that clocks in with 27 tracks and is nearly two hours in length.
It's split into three nine-track albums meant to be digested in this order: SR3MM, the official sequel to their very enjoyable flexes Sremmlife and Sremmlife 2; followed by Swaecation, Swae Lee's warped solo record, one doused in drowsy Auto-Tuned lyrics; and finally Jxmtro, Slim Jxmmi's solo effort designed to be blasted from a very expensive car stereo.
Phew. It sounds like a lot, and it is a lot. It should be too much. Occasionally, it is. But SR3MM has so much going for it: the expansive production efforts of Mike Will Made-It, the growth of Swae into Rae Sremmurd's Andre 3000, with Slim filling the boots of Big Boi; and the thing that made the first two Sremmlife albums so good: an overabundance of hazy pop hooks.
The best bits are the weirdest bits. Like Close, a woozy mood piece featuring Travis Scott playing excellently off Swae, or Chanel, which features Pharrell singing a falsetto so high it sounds like he's been sucking on helium. Buckets is a horror-film score you won't want to end, while Zoe Kravitz lends several brutal lines to Anti-Social Smokers Club.
SR3MM is the album you'll go back to for the singles. Jxmtro is the album you'll go back to for the bangers. And Swaecation is the album that will continue to warp your mind, a corrupted Love Below for the digital age.
Not a bad effort from a pair of rappers originally accused of channelling the spirit of 90s two-hit wonders Kriss Kross.
Rae Sremmurd - SR3MM
Label: Ear Drummers/Interscope
Verdict: A rap triple album? You're kidding, right?