Heroes & Villains

On November 17, 2021, Metro revealed the title of the album through a letter written with DJ Holiday for the three-year-anniversary of Not All Heroes Wear Capes, which was fifteen days before.^[3] On September 16, 2022, his 29th birthday, he took to social media to announce the album along with a trailer video, sharing that the album was dedicated to his late mother.^[4] At the time, the album was originally scheduled to be released on November 4.^[5] However, on October 26, Metro announced it would be pushed back by four weeks due to sample clearance issues.^[6] Fan speculation initially arose that it was due to the fact that his previous collaborators, Drake and 21 Savage, released their collaborative studio album, Her Loss, the same day that Metro originally was supposed to release the album, in which the reason was later proven untrue.^[7] On November 22, Metro shared the album's cover art and stated that it would have two sides: the "Hero" side and the "Villain" side.^[8] The cover art is inspired by Pink Floyd's ninth studio album, Wish You Were Here (1975).^[9] Exactly a week later, Metro shared a short film for the album that was directed by Gibson Hazard and stars himself alongside Young Thug, Gunna, Morgan Freeman, and Lakeith Stanfield.^[10] Eight days later, he shared songs from the tracklist one by one on his official website, in which fans would go to the website and tweet the name tracks they found on it and the names of the other artists on it.^[11] The next day, which was the day before its release, Metro used a comic book theme, in which he revealed the guest artists one by one and teased some of the lyrics that they said in the songs that they contributed to and shared the full tracklist to reveal the answers to the website.^[12] The lead single of the album, "Creepin'", a collaboration with Canadian singer the Weeknd and 21 Savage, was sent to Italian contemporary hit radio on January 27, 2023.^[13]

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Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	73/100[14]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Clash	7/10[15]
Mic Cheque	7/10[16]
Pitchfork	7.2/10[1]
Slant Magazine	[17]

Close

According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Heroes & Villains received "generally favorable reviews" based on a weighted average score of 73 out of 100 from five critic scores.^[14]

Robin Murray of Clash wrote, "Indeed, one faultline on the record is that there is simply too much going on. 'HEROES & VILLAINS' bursts with ideas, not all of which land. A record that revels in contradictions, it grasps towards the light while framing itself in darkness." He also summarized, "A bold artist statement from Metro Boomin, 'HEROES & VILLAINS' progresses his arena-level sonic tapestry, while also leaving space to grow. A statement of intent, he utilises one of the finest contact books in American hip-hop to build his rogue's gallery."^[15] Writing for Mic Cheque, Hamza R. felt that "it means one must treat Heroes & Villains like a holistic experience, driven by its tight theme, and Metro's muted but irresistible sound that keeps the album's engine running" and "he remains a conductor, waving his wand to summon a trap album that may not be his personal best but is robust enough to upstage most albums of its kind this year".^[16] Brady Brickner-Wood of Pitchfork described the album as "an ambitious, detail-rich record that splits the difference between streaming fodder and world-building", adding that "proves that Metro aspires to more than hits".^[1] Charles Lyons-Burt of Slant Magazine summarized that the album is "not very ambitious as far as subject matter goes, but the majority of the guests, whose appearances never feel obligatory, at least cursorily touch on the central theme".^[17]

In the United States, Heroes & Villains debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with 185,000 album-equivalent units, which included 5,000 pure album sales in its first week, making it his third number-one album in the country.^[18] In its second week, the album remained in the top ten and fell to number three, earning 102,000 album-equivalent units.^[19][20] On June 5, 2023, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over a million units in the United States.^[21] As of December 27, 2023, Heroes & Villains was the ninth best-selling album of the year according to Hits, moved a total 1,472,000 album-equivalent units, including 51,000 pure album sales, 77,000 song sales, 1.893 billion audio-on-demand streams, and 56 million video-on-demand streams.^[22]

Notes

• ^{^[a]} signifies an additional producer
• ^{^[c]} signifies a co-producer
• "Creepin'" features additional vocals from Travis Scott.

Sample credits

• "On Time" features an excerpt from the episode "The Only Man In the Sky" from the television series The Boys, as performed by Antony Starr.
• "Superhero (Heroes & Villains)" contains samples from "So Appalled", written by Kanye West, Ernest Wilson, Mike Dean, Shawn Carter, Terrence Thornton, Cydell Young, Kaseem Dean, Robert Diggs, Manfred Mann, and performed by West, Jay-Z, Pusha T, CyHi, Swizz Beatz and RZA.
• "Umbrella" contains samples from "Rainfall", written by Celso Valli and performed by Azoto.
• "Around Me" contains samples from "Constellation", composed by Simon Park on behalf of De Wolfe Music.
• "Metro Spider" contains a use of "Dead or Alive", composed by Elkan on behalf of The Rucker Collective.
• "I Can't Save You (Interlude)" contains an interpolation from "No Advance" written by Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph and Leland Wayne, performed by 21 Savage.
• "Creepin'" is a partial cover of "I Don't Wanna Know", written by Mario Winans, Eithne Ní Bhraonáin, Nicky Ryan, Roma Ryan, Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, Pras Michel, William Hart, Thom Bell, Chauncey Hawkins, Erick Sermon, and Parrish Smith, and performed by Winans, P. Diddy, and Enya.
• "Walk Em Down (Don't Kill Civilians)" contains an interpolation from the 2007 documentary Hood Affairs, starring Gucci Mane.
• "Feel the Fiyaaaah" contains samples from "Feel the Fire", written and performed by Peabo Bryson.

Musicians

• Metro Boomin – programming
• ASAP Rocky – additional vocals (tracks 1, 9)
• Morgan Freeman – additional vocals (1, 7, 11)
• Johan Lenox – strings (composition & arrangement) (1, 10), background vocals (1), keyboards (10)
• Marza Wilks – cello (1, 10)
• Kevin Lemons and Higher Calling – choir (1)
• Siraaj Rhett – trumpet, baritone horn, trombone, and French horn (1, 2)
• Peter Lee Johnson – strings (1, 10, 12), piano (5), violin (6), synthesizer (10), bass (12)
• Camille Miller – violin (1, 10)
• Yasmeen Al-Mazeedi – violin (1, 10)
• Delaram – background vocals (2)
• Mario Winans – background vocals (10)
• Travis Scott – background vocals (10)
• DaHeala – keyboards, programming (10)
• Simon Hessman – guitar (12)
• Thundercat – bass (14)

Technical

• Joe LaPorta – mastering
• Metro Boomin – mixing
• Ethan Stevens – mixing (all tracks), engineering (1, 2, 5–7, 9, 11–15)
• Patrizio "Teezio" Pigliapoco – engineering (2)
• Derek "206derek" Anderson – engineering (3, 4, 7, 9)
• Vern Emmanuel – engineering (5)
• Flo Ongonga – engineering (6, 15)
• Bainz – engineering (8)
• Kourosh Poursalehi – engineering (9)
• Isaiah "ibmixing" Brown – engineering (10)
• Shin Kamiyama – engineering (10)
• Eric Manco – engineering (13)
• Hector Delgado – engineering (14)
• Braden Davies – mixing assistance
• Zachary Acosta – mixing assistance
• Rebekka Zeyfiyan – engineering assistance (7, 9)
• Ryan Youngblood – engineering assistance (11)