A little under nine months ago, Houston rapper Maxo Kream released his third studio album, Weight Of The World, which included appearances from fellow standout rappers such as ASAP Rocky (“Streets Alone“), Don Toliver, Freddie Gibbs, and Tyler The Creator (“Big Persona“), as well as the singles “Greener Knots” and “Cripstian.” Talking about this album in interviews, he said, “With this one, you’ll understand what’s going on from Brandon Banks, like where I left off.” It looks like he’s got a little more explaining to do; today, he released the deluxe edition of Weight Of The World with six new tracks.
Included among them: new tracks “Jigga Dame,” “Football Heads” featuring Benny The Butcher, “The Vision” featuring Anderson .Paak, and “Mixin Juices” with Detroit rapper Babyface Ray. Maxo has been carefully rolling out the new songs over the past month, leaving an enticing trail of breadcrumbs to follow up to the new release. To commemorate its release, Maxo also dropped the video for “Mixin Juices.” The frenetically-edited clip is simple and stripped down, depicting the two rappers posted up with some high-end cars, bottles of cough syrup, and a few of their closest friends.
You can watch the “Mixin Juices” video above and get the Weight Of The World deluxe edition here.
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There are only so many people in the world that deal with pressure as Maxo Kream does. Through projects like 2018’s Punken, 2019’s Brandon Banks, and now Weight Of The World, the rapper reveals the causes o these pressures as well as what often pushes him through them. In an interview with Complex’s Andre Gee, he explained how the three albums relate to each other and further his goal of helping fans understand what goes on in his world. “I feel like Brandon Banks coming after Punken allowed my fans to understand Punken more,” he said. “So now, with this one, you’ll understand what’s going on from Brandon Banks, like where I left off.”
Throughout Weight Of The World, Maxo delivers clarity for his previous work, as well as clarity towards his current position and his hopeful future. The album presents a man who must balance the multiple worlds he’s immersed in as a family man, supportive friend, experienced gang member, and rapper, as well as the responsibility that arrives when these worlds collide — intentionally or not. He details the collision of the streets and family through the tragic death of his brother Mmadu, which he details on “Trips,” and his success as a rapper providing a better lifestyle for his family and friends, allowing them to live a life away from danger. His hopeful future is captured on “Mama’s Purse” when he raps, “I was tryna buy her love, but I really made it worse / Put a price tag on her love but can’t afford how much it’s worth.” Behind the tough persona lives a man who yearns to provide greener pastures filled with “greener knots” to his inner circle, even if the cost is more than he ever imagined.
While Brandon Banks covered Maxo’s childhood, growth, and his clashes with both loved ones (his father specifically) and the streets, on Weight Of The World, he’s a well-established man with a family of his own in the making. However, now his conflicts are with those who doubt his legitimacy and commitment to the lifestyle he often raps about. On “They Say,” just three songs into the album, he rhymes, “And they say Maxo a b*tch, they say Maxo a h*e / He got rich and he dipped, don’t come around no more / They say he switched on his clique, yeah, he turned on his bros / And he ain’t pimpin’ a b*tch, he out here trickin’ on h*es.” In response, Maxo sets the record straight with a menacing display of his receipts. “Like we ain’t slang that rock for paper, totin’ scissors,” he quips. “Told you worked n****s ass off so how I owe you n****? / ‘Cross the globe, took you to my shows, done bought poles for n****s.” In Maxo’s eyes, there’s more than enough proof that he’s carried the weight of the world for people, making his doubters’ attempts to rewrite history a sure failure.
To a certain extent, Maxo insists on facing the world’s pressures rather than finding a way to diminish them. It could be because this path, as dangerous and as ruthless as it’s been, has given him everything he wanted in life and more. It’s what allows him to rap this on “Big Persona” with Tyler The Creator: “Eight figure n****, no more section 8 / Moved momma out the hood / We ain’t doin good, b*tch, we doin great.” Even when people in his inner circle beg for him to detach himself from the risks, as his mom and preacher do on “Streets Alone,” Maxo’s only response is to double down.
Maxo Kream is more than deserving of a moment to breathe freely in a world without danger. Unfortunately, it appears that Maxo was born into a world where peril lurks around the corner. For Maxo, acquiescing to these dangers is a lot like running away from your own shadow, and that’s something he will never do. “Never ran from a n****, don’t ask if my legs work,” he says on “11:59.” For more than a half-decade, Maxo Kream has explained the many responsibilities, pains, and traumas that rest on his shoulders; on Weight Of The World, the rapper insists on carrying this weight. The ups and downs of the past years gave him the strength to do so, and hasn’t buckled under this weight before, he certainly won’t now.
Weight Of The World is out now via RCA. Get it here.
Maxo Kream dropped a new album, Weight Of The World, earlier this week. Now he returns with a new video for the album’s opening track, “Cripstian.” It follows a young man who finds himself stepping onto a lavish estate after dying in the back of an ambulance. Upon entering the building and running into family members and friends who presumably passed away, he realizes that he’s in the afterlife.
“Cripstian” joins “Big Persona,” “Greener Knots,” and “Local Joker” as songs from Weight Of The World to receive the video treatment. Throughout the album’s 16 songs are guest appearances from Tyler The Creator, ASAP Rocky, Freddie Gibbs, and fellow Houston natives Monaleo and Don Toliver. It arrived on Monday, October 18, which goes against the industry’s tradition of releasing albums on Fridays, but in a trailer that Maxo released before dropping Weight Of The World, he explained why he chose that date.
“10/18 is symbolic,” he says. “10/18 hold a lot of weight. That’s the day Woodrow [his late cousin] died, you feel me? And that’s the same day Jalae [his niece] was born, and that’s the first show Mmadu [his younger brother] ever missed.”
You can watch the video for “Cripstian” above.
Weight Of The World is out now via RCA Records. Get it here.
This past summer, Houston rapper Maxo Kream celebrated the second anniversary of his sophomore album, Brandon Banks, which marked his first release with Roc Nation and RCA and a step upward in the rapper’s artistry. Now the Houston native has announced his third album, Weight Of The World, which will arrive on October 18, giving his fans just five days to prepare for its release.
The big announcement was paired with a new video for the latest single off the album, “Greener Knots,” which features production from Hit-Boy. The song finds Maxo discussing the harrowing things he saw during his childhood, while the video reenacts a crime Maxo and his friends committed.
“Greener Knots” is the third single from Weight Of The World. Maxo began the rollout for the project with “Local Joker” and its sentimental video. He followed that with “Persona,” which features a strong verse from Tyler The Creator and a braggadocious video. As for his upcoming new album, Maxo has yet to share the full tracklist and cast of guest features, but he did reveal that it checks in at 16 songs.
You can watch the video for “Greener Knots” above.
Weight Of The World is out 10/18 via RCA. Pre-order it here.
