Rap or Go to the League was supported by two singles: "Girl's Best Friend" and "Rule the World". The album received widespread critical praise from music critics and was a commercial success. It debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart, earning 65,000 album-equivalent units in its first week.[1]
Background
In February 2018, 2 Chainz released the EP The Play Don't Care Who Makes It and soon after announced that his next album would be titled Rap or Go to the League.[2]
In February 2019, it was revealed that Los Angeles Lakers small forward LeBron James would executive produce the album. The album cover was later revealed.[3]
A Def Jam press release said the intent of the album is "celebrating black excellence and focusing on the power of education and entrepreneurship." The press release also says the title "challenges the notion that the only way out of the inner city is either to become a rapper or a ball player".[4]
On February 28, 2019, the official tracklist was revealed.[5]
Promotion
In November 2018, the song "Girl's Best Friend", featuring American artist Ty Dolla Sign, was released as a double single with the song "Hot Wings" as "Hot Wings Are a Girl's Best Friend".[6] The music video for "Rule the World" featuring American singer Ariana Grande was released on March 11, 2019, and it then became the album's second single eight days later, on March 19.
Rap or Go to the League received critical acclaim from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received a score of 82, based on 8 reviews.[7] Sheldon Pierce of Pitchfork called the album his most cogent and organized album by far, and his most thoughtful one and stated that "the album is proposed as the rapper’s rejection of the very premise in the title, and in asides and outros he does occasionally question this bifurcation of black liberation, but the music mostly tracks his own path to prosperity through a minefield."[13] He also stated that "As he provides more context for his story than ever, he rewrites the rule book on winning, opening up about his life as certified dealer to rap stars, critiquing the broken collegiate athletics apparatus, and warring against Uncle Sam."[13] Thomas Hobbs of NME gave the album four stars.[12] Hobbs praises 2 Chainz' growth as an artist stating "But even though 2 Chainz has been prolific as a guest rapper, he’s yet to release the kind of classic solo album that will truly solidify his status as a top-tier rapper. This is something he’s hoping to change with ‘Rap Or Go To The League’, a record that suggests that his talent is finally starting to catch up with all his hard work."[12]
Commercial performance
Rap or Go to the League debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart, earning 65,000 album-equivalent units (including 13,000 copies as pure album sales) in its first week.[1] This became 2 Chainz' fifth consecutive US top-ten album on the chart.[1] The album also debuted at number one on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, becoming his third album to top the chart.[15] In its second week, the album dropped to number 14 on the chart, earning an additional 26,000 units.[16]
^Bernucca, Carolyn; Wines, Tiffany; Skelton, Eric; Tharpe, Frazier (March 1, 2019). "The Best New Music This Week". Complex. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
