''Swervo'' is a collaborative studio album by American rapper

G Herbo Herbert Randall Wright III (born October 8, 1995), better known by his stage name G Herbo (formerly Lil Herb), is an American rapper from Chicago. G Herbo is signed to Machine Entertainment Group. He has released the mixtapes ''Welcome to Fazo ...

and

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

Southside Southside or South Side may refer to: Places Australia * Southside, Queensland, a semi-rural locality in the Gympie Region Canada * South Side, Newfoundland and Labrador, a community in the St. George's Bay area on the southwest coast of Newf ...

. It was released on July 27, 2018, by Machine Entertainment Group, Epic Records,

Cinematic Music Group Cinematic Music Group is an American record label, management, publishing & touring company distributed by Geffen Records founded in 2007 by Jonny Shipes. Their roster as of 2020 consists of Joey Bada$$, Pro Era, T-Pain, Smoke DZA, Va$htie, ...

, 150 Dream Team and

808 Mafia 808 Mafia is an American record production and songwriting team, founded by record producers Southside, TM88, and Lex Luger. Southside is currently at the helm of the group. The group also includes producers Young Miami , Fuse 100, Tarentino ...

. The production on the album was entirely handled by Southside, alongside

Jake One Jacob Brian Dutton (born May 11, 1976), known professionally as Jake One, is an American record producer and songwriter.Palermo, Thomas (2008)Jake One Readies New Album, XLR8R, September 5, 2008Matos, Michaelangelo (2004)Rocketship Blowing Up, Se ...

and

TM88 Bryan Lamar Simmons (born April 4, 1987), professionally known as TM88 (also known as TrackMan 88), is an American record producer and DJ from Atlanta, Georgia. He is a member of the Atlanta-based record production and songwriting team 808 Mafi ...

, among others. The album also features guest appearances from

21 Savage Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph (born October 22, 1992), known professionally as 21 Savage, is a rapper based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Born in London, he moved to Atlanta with his mother at age seven. He became known after releasing two ...

Chief Keef Keith Farrelle Cozart (born August 15, 1995), better known by his stage name Chief Keef, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. His music first became popular during his teen years in the early 2010s among high school s ...

Juice Wrld Jarad Anthony Higgins (December 2, 1998 – December 8, 2019), known professionally as Juice Wrld (pronounced "juice world"; stylized as Juice WRLD), was an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He was a leading figure in the emo rap and S ...

and

Young Thug Jeffery Lamar Williams (born August 16, 1991), known professionally as Young Thug, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is considered to be an influential figure of his generation, with his music impacting the modern sound of hip ...

. ''Swervo'' was supported by four

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

: "Who Run It", "Focused", "Swervo" and "Some Nights". The album received postivie reviews from music critics. It debuted at number 15 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, earning 22,000

album-equivalent unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to tradit ...

s in its first week. Its sequel album, ''

Still Swervin ''Still Swervin'' is the second studio album by American rapper G Herbo. It was released on February 1, 2019, by Machine Entertainment Group, Cinematic Music Group, and 150 Dream Team. The album features guest appearances from Gunna, Juice Wrld, ...

'', was released on February 1, 2019.

Background

On September 11, 2017, G Herbo was featured in an interview with '' XXL'', in which he spoke about the project, he said: The album's tracklist, cover art and release date was revealed on July 20, 2018. The announcement comes a month after G Herbo and Southside released the music video for the title track. G Herbo described ''Swervo'' as his "alter-ego" and the "opposite of G Herbo". He further commented on the project during an interview with ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' detailing the concept of him "having fun and party records." In an interview with ''

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

'', G Herbo talked about how the project came about, by saying:

Artwork

The album's artwork features G Herbo and Southside wearing custom-made jackets, sitting on a top of a white

Rolls-Royce Ghost The Rolls-Royce Ghost is a full-sized luxury car manufactured by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. The "Ghost" nameplate, named in honour of the Silver Ghost, a car first produced in 1906, was announced in April 2009 at the Auto Shanghai show. The produ ...

. It draws inspiration from Eric B. & Rakim's 1988 album '' Follow the Leader''.

Singles

The album lead single, "Who Run It" was released on April 12, 2018. The second single, "Focused" featuring

was released on May 24, 2018. The third single, "Swervo" featuring Southside was released on June 21, 2018, accompanied by the JMP-directed music video. The fourth single, "Some Nights" was released on June 26, 2018.

Critical reception

''Swervo'' was met with generally positive reviews. At Album of the Year, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 74, based on three reviews. Narsimha Chintaluri of ''

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of hip hop music criticism and news. The website's current president and publisher is Sharath Cherian and the Head Of Content is Jerry L. Barrow. ''HipHopDX'' is the flagship publication of Cheri Media Group. ...

'' stated that "G Herbo’s travels outside of Chicago and his comfort zone felt natural and necessary." "Unlike his debut, Herbo’s content on Swervo is more compartmentalized; a majority of the tracks here are strictly meant for the young man to vent and talk his CEO boss shit." In addition, Chintaluri stated that "Humble Beast presented a stark look at survivor’s guilt, Swervo mainly attempts to represent the flipside – leaving Herbo free to finally revel in success." Trevor Smith of ''HotNewHipHop'' stated that "the 22-year-old rapper only continues to grow. Really, there's no limit." Sheldon Pearce of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' stated that "He delivers some of his starkest verses like a steamroller, almost completely desensitized. This daredevil approach to gunplay and cadences makes him seem unbreakable, but the longer the album goes on, the more it wears on you. Swervo is all velocity. He delivers high-powered, stampeding stanzas looking to bum-rush you before you even know what happened."

Commercial performance

''Swero'' debuted at number 15 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, earning 22,000

s (including 3,000 copies as pure album sales) in its first week. The album also accumulated a total of 25.4 million on-demand streams from the set's tracks that week.

Track listing

All tracks written by Herbert Wright III and Joshua Luellen, and produced by

, except where noted. Notes * signifies an uncredited co-

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

Sample credits * "Who Run It (Remix)" contains a sample from "

Who Run It "Who Run It" is a song by hip hop group Three 6 Mafia, released as the lead single from their fourth studio album '' When the Smoke Clears: Sixty 6, Sixty 1''. The song is a posse cut, featuring a verse from every group member. The song peaked at ...

", performed by

Three 6 Mafia Three 6 Mafia is an American hip hop group from Memphis, Tennessee, formed in 1991. Emerging as a horror-themed underground hip hop group, they would eventually go on to enjoy mainstream success. The group's 1995 debut album ''Mystic Stylez'' ...

Personnel

Credits adapted from album's back cover. Technical * Max Lord – recording, mixing * Tony Wilson – editing * Slavic Livins – Mastering engineer (fo
Chicago Audio Mastering
Additional personnel * Oscar "YT Designs" Galvan – art direction, design * TeeJay Spencer – art direction, design * Rowdee "TheManBehindCovers" – art direction, design

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2018 albums G Herbo albums Cinematic Music Group albums Epic Records albums Albums produced by Southside (record producer) Albums produced by Cubeatz Albums produced by Jake One Albums produced by TM88