• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Vinyl Chapters

Vinyl Chapters

The Stories Behind The Music

  • Home
  • About
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • News
  • Submit
  • Shop
  • Contact
  • Cart
Home » articles » Migos: Culture III – Album Review

Migos: Culture III – Album Review

June 15, 2021 by Imogen Lawlor

Migos

After a long wait and much anticipation from the trio, Culture III from Migos has finally been released, completing their Culture album trilogy. 

While Culture III from offers some refreshing summertime sounds and a strong sense of atmosphere, this appeal is not enough to hold one’s engagement across the 19 tracks. The trio quickly descend into, and become dependent upon, hypnotic cyclical triplet flow structures and uninspiring filler lyricism.

From the offset (pun fully intended), it is clear that Migos intend to inject freshness into their signature style, which is very exciting. For the most part, this is successful, as the wistful groove and clarity of Avalanche excellently juxtaposes the mellow, cinematic tones of Picasso feat. Future and Antisocial feat. Juice WRLD. Moreover, the latter collaboration brings out some earnest lyricism, (“They want us to stop taking drugs, but nobody stopping the killing”). The collaborations on Culture III are excellent (mostly – sorry Justin Bieber and Cardi B), as Drake (Having Our Way) and Pop Smoke (Light It Up) are given ample artistic license to execute their own styles whilst being smoothly integrated into the Migos sound. 

Migos - Culture III

As always, the production on Migos albums is consistently very strong, but the lyricism is lacking overall (admittedly, as expected). It feels an unfair comment given the very different priorities of this music compared to other rap subgenres, but it has to be said that Culture III exhibits the classic “rapping about rapping/rapping about predictable topics” trope that this music often gets criticised for. A lot of effort is put into every other element, meaning one can still listen to tracks like Malibu feat. Polo G and enjoy the barrage of ad-libs, interjections and production on offer. 

When decent lyricism is hidden underneath all this, however, (on Modern Day, for example) it feels near impossible to uncover. Holding it all together is the linchpin of predictability through the same flows, rhyme schemes, sound, buzzwords (Vaccine exhibiting all of these in abundance, complete with a bizarre Nutcracker sample…). 

There is no doubt that Migos will enjoy continued success in their careers from this release, due primarily to their ability to stick closely to their sound and only venture away from it as much as is profitable. Migos’s music is its own unique product fitting into a musical lineage that doesn’t necessarily match up with that of other hip hop artists. 

On the one hand, this is completely valid and it is always encouraging to see what new direction rap will be taken in next. On the other hand, having heard this style many times and still not feeling overly convinced, it’s safe to conclude this style has its own merits and standards it adheres to –  but it just isn’t for me (and that’s fine). 

Score: 2.5/5

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Review

About Imogen Lawlor

A lover of hip-hop and beyond. A keen ear for a strong album. A true lover of music and everything that can be unravelled from it.

Reader Interactions

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Search

Subscribe

Subscribe to our Newsletter

* indicates required

Recent Posts

DEAD STAR TALK: Solid State Chemicals – Album Review

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift: Midnights – Album Review

Charlie Puth

Charlie Puth: Charlie – Review

Footer

Navigation

Home

About

Reviews

Features

News

Submit

Contact Us

Shop

Search

Recent Posts

  • Linkin Park: From Zero – Album Review
  • DEAD STAR TALK: Solid State Chemicals – Album Review
  • Taylor Swift: Midnights – Album Review
  • Charlie Puth: Charlie – Review
  • Calvin Harris: Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2 – Review

Social Media

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

Affiliate Disclosure

Vinyl Chapters is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. In doing so, this helps us continue providing free content. It does not increase the price for you in any way.

Copyright © 2025 Vinyl Chapters | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Editorial Team