Boomiverse

After the release of Big Grams (2015), a collaborative extended play (EP) from rapper Big Boi and rock band Phantogram, Big Boi began writing for his upcoming third solo studio album. On April 19, 2017, he revealed the title for the album and released the first two singles, "Mic Jack" featuring Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Scar and Sleepy Brown and "Kill Jill" featuring Jeezy and Killer Mike of Run the Jewels two days later.[4]

On May 16, 2017, he revealed that Boomiverse was scheduled for release on June 16, 2017, and includes guest appearances from Gucci Mane, Janelle Monáe, among others.[5]

The song "All Night" was featured in an iPhone X commercial in November 2017.[6]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	70/100[7]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
Clash Magazine	7/10[9]
Courier Journal	[10]
Exclaim!	8/10[11]
The Guardian	[12]
Paste Magazine	8.4/10[13]
Pitchfork	7.4/10[14]

Boomiverse received positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 70, based on 13 reviews.[7] Jayson Greene of Pitchfork commented: "Boomiverse doesn't have the same freewheeling, blitzkrieg energy as Sir Lucious, but it reestablishes Big Boi as a dependable record maker who will always make music worth checking for, no matter what else is going on around him. He's not really in a position to be competing against Migos on rap radio, and he doesn't want to, at all."[14] Alex Macpherson of The Guardian stated: "A sprinkling of electro bleeps throws Boomiverse back to the 1980s and on irresistible highlight Chocolate, Big Boi morphs into Missy Elliott in her house-dabbling phase. He's careful to drop a Future reference here and borrow Kendrick Lamar's cadence there to root it in the present, but Boomiverse's self-conscious stylistic plurality is the new old-school. "All Night", simultaneously too wacky and too obvious, is a moment to cringe at, but for the most part this is dad rap that can hold its head high."[12]

Nastia Voynovskaya of Paste Magazine commented: "Boomiverse is an exuberant record that dabbles in different subgenres of hip-hop to emerge with a crisp, cohesive final product that stays true to Big Boi's roots while cultivating an up-to-date sound. With Outkast collaborators Organized Noize handling the majority of the album's production, Boomiverse is steeped in the classic Southern sound that predated what we know as trap music today. The album is far from the work of a legend resting on his laurels; instead, its inventive and genuinely fun sound makes a compelling case for why, 20 years after his debut, we should still be paying attention to Big Boi."[13]

Will Lavin of Clash Magazine praised Big Boi's lyricism and production style: "Laced with complex rhyme styles and diverse lyrical content Boomiverse is a welcomed return for Daddy Fat Sack. Walking a thin line between pretty much every musical genre known to mankind, don't be surprised when on Boomiverse one minute you’re breaking your neck on a bed of 808s, electro drum patterns and screaming synths and the next you're kicking back to a selection of funky rhythms, sax solos and acoustic guitars."[9]

Exclaim! critic Erin Lowers commented that "Big Boi continues to reinvent himself, and the Boomiverse signifies something of a new start. And while new beginnings aren't without their flaws, Big Boi's lyrical prowess and effortless delivery provide the thread that link the old Big Boi universe to this, the Boomiverse."[11]

Notes

• ^{^[a]} signifies a co-producer
• "Kill Jill" features background vocals from Rock D the Legend and Hatsune Miku.
• "Mic Jack" and "In the South" features background vocals from Miss C.C. LaFlor
• "Order of Operations" features background vocals from Eric Bellinger.
• "Get Wit It" features background vocals from Scar and Miss C.C. LaFlor.
• "Freakanomics" features background vocals from Sleepy Brown, Ian Kirkpatrick, Scar and Sean Douglas.