Metro Boomin enlists a set of A-listers (and some incarcerated friends) to tease his upcoming album, Heroes & Villains. On Tuesday, the musician released a short film trailer — that shares the name with his album and features appearances from Morgan Freeman, Lakeith Stanfield, Gunna, and Young Thug — to present his upcoming record, out Friday.
In the trailer, Metro Boomin becomes a superhero that “protects the city from the threat of evil” from the Boominati in the comic book-inspired visual directed by Gibson Hazard. The video also teases upcoming songs featuring the likes of Future, 21 Savage, and Chris Brown.
“Metropolis is on the brink of chaos,” says a narrator over comic book images with “Free YSL,” before the villain (played by LaKeith Stanfield) pulls out of the building in a fire truck.
After the title scene, two fake news anchors — played by Gunna and Young Thug who giggle and smoke a blunt on air — prepare to direct viewers to watch a reporter “at the uh scene of the fucking crime.” (Both Gunna and Young Thug are in prison on racketeering charges for their alleged work with collective YSL.)
The visuals — backed by Metro Boomin’s “Umbrella” plays — then pan to Stanfield driving the fire truck through the city and spraying buildings with fire as scared Metropolis residents hear a message over loudspeakers: “There’s a new villain in town!”
The visual transitions to Morgan Freeman — who was accused in 2018 of sexual assault by eight women — seeing the chaos as he tells hero Metro Boomin, “Fuck! You’re going down there, right? … There’s more to being a hero than the glory that comes with it… It’s choosing to risk everything for the people and expecting nothing in return.”
In the video, Freeman convinces Boomin to get into the city to face Stanfield’s chaos-causing character as he dramatically breaks through a glass, puts on a pyramid-shaped necklace, and transforms into a superhero.
“You know what they say? If Young Metro don’t trust you, where the fuck are you gonna run?” says Freeman, referencing the hip-hop heavyweights catchphrase. Metro then pulls out of a building in a Batmobile-esque vehicle before the words “Metro Boomin Album: Heroes and Villains” show on screen, announcing his upcoming album.
Heroes & Villains continues the comic book character album title of his 2018 project Not All Heroes Wear Capes with 21 Savage, which featured songs like “Space Cadet” with Gunna, “100 Freaky Girls,” and “Overdue” with Travis Scott. (He also dropped Savage Mode II in 2020 and his album with Big Sean, Double Or Nothing, in 2017.)