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I Am Greater than I Was

I Am > I Was (pronounced "I am greater than I was" and stylized in lowercase) is the second studio album by British-American rapper 21 Savage, released on December 21, 2018. I Am > I Was features vocals by J. Cole, City Girls, Offset, Post Malone, Gunna, Lil Baby, Schoolboy Q, Project Pat, Childish Gambino, and Savage's cousin Young Nudy. The deluxe edition was released three days later, featuring one more song, which features an additional guest appearance from Travis Scott.

"Break da Law" redirects here. For the Three 6 Mafia song, see Mystic Stylez.

I Am > I Was

December 21, 2018 (2018-12-21)

Hip hop

54:54

I Am > I Was was supported by two singles, "A Lot" and "Monster". The album received widespread acclaim from critics and performed well commercially, debuting atop the US Billboard 200 with 131,000 album-equivalent units, of which 18,000 were pure sales. It was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 2020 Grammy Awards.

Background[edit]

21 Savage tweeted "12-7-18" in November, which led to speculation that the album would be released on that date.[1] The tracklist was leaked by record producer Louis Bell via his Instagram story on December 13, 2018.[2] 21 Savage later stated in his Instagram story that he was "sorry" because he "forgot" to release the album, but a later video stated it would be released on December 21.[3]

Cover art[edit]

21 Savage posted the cover art on Instagram on December 6, which features a blurred out image of himself, captioning the image with a number of goat emojis.[1] Billboard called the cover art "cryptic".[4]

Singles[edit]

The album's lead single, "A Lot", was released to rhythmic and urban contemporary radio on January 8, 2019.[5][6] The album's second single, "Monster", was sent to rhythmic contemporary radio on May 7, 2019.[7]

Commercial performance[edit]

I Am > I Was debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 in the first chart issue of 2019, earning 131,000 album-equivalent units (including 18,000 pure album sales) in its first week, becoming 21 Savage's first US number-one album.[25] In its second week, the album remained at number one, earning 65,000 units, down 51 percent from its debut week.[26] In its third week, the album fell down to number two with 56,000 units (down 14 percent). A Boogie wit da Hoodie's Hoodie SZN surpassed him with 58,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending January 10, 2019.[27] On January 8, 2020, 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.[28]


Following the release of I Am > I Was, nine songs debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100. It was led by "A Lot", which peaked at number 12 in its seventh week.[29]

signifies a co-producer

^[a]

signifies an uncredited co-producer[30]

^[b]

"A Lot" features vocals by (Originally J. Cole's verse was only present on streaming and digital versions of the album however later pressings of the CD feature J. Cole's verse)

J. Cole

"A&T" features vocals by

City Girls

"1.5" features vocals by

Offset

"All My Friends" features vocals by

Post Malone

"Can't Leave Without It" features vocals by and Lil Baby

Gunna

"Good Day" features vocals by and Project Pat

Schoolboy Q

"Monster" features vocals by , Braylen Green, Mario Ricks, Jr., Hattori Williams, and Peyton Eleazor

Childish Gambino

"4L" features vocals by

Young Nudy

"Out for the Night, Pt. 2" features vocals by

Travis Scott

Notes


Sample credits

– guitar (tracks 4, 16)

Einer Bankz

Darnell Stoxstell – bass (track 14)

Credits were adapted from Tidal.[34]


Instrumentation


Technical