文化3 (2021)

Culture III is the fourth studio album by American hip-hop group Migos. It was released on June 11, 2021, by Quality Control Music and Motown. The album features guest appearances from Drake, Cardi B, Polo G, Future, Justin Bieber, Juice Wrld, Pop Smoke, and YoungBoy Never Broke Again. It is the follow-up to their 2018 album Culture II and serves as the conclusion to their Culture trilogy. A deluxe edition was released six days later, including five additional tracks. It is the last album to be released in Takeoff's lifetime following his death in November 2022.

Culture III was supported by two singles: "Need It" and "Straightenin", as well as the promotional single, "Avalanche". The album received generally positive reviews from critics and debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200.

Background and release

In October 2018, Quavo stated in an interview with the Associated Press that following his own recently released solo album Quavo Huncho, first Takeoff and then Offset would release solo efforts. When questioned on when new Migos music would arrive, he replied that Culture III would arrive "at the top of 2019", along with suggesting that a collaborative project between Migos and Canadian rapper Drake would be released after their touring together. On March 25, 2019, Takeoff stated that the album was on the way. On December 12, 2019, Offset revealed the album would be the last chapter in the Culture trilogy and that it included a song with late American rapper Juice Wrld titled "What's Brackin", only four days after Juice Wrld died from a drug overdose.

The album was delayed and rescheduled for release in early 2020. However, the album was pushed back again, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Quavo spoke to Billboard in March 2020, announcing the trio's decision to hold off on releasing Culture III, explaining that it was largely due to their inability to properly roll out the album once social distancing rules went into effect in most states in the United States of America. Instead, the trio stated that they would first release a different project, titled Quarantine Mixtape, in the lead-up to Culture III. On May 22, 2020, while appearing on American rapper Lil Wayne's Young Money Radio show on Apple Music, Migos announced they would change the title from Culture III to another title. No release date was announced at that time.

On April 18, 2021, Quavo tweeted that mixing of the album had begun. On May 17, 2021, Migos announced that Culture III would be released on June 11, 2021. The release date was announced through a letter that they wrote as part of Quality Control, the label that they are signed to.

Promotion

Singles

On May 22, 2020, Migos released the album's lead single, "Need It", featuring American rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again. The song was produced by Buddah Bless. It peaked at number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100. The music video premiered on August 20, 2020.

On May 14, 2021, the trio released "Straightenin" as the second single, their first release in slightly less than a year. The song was produced by DJ Durel, Atake, Sluzyyy, Slime Castro, Nuki, and Osiris. It peaked at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. The music video premiered alongside the song.

Promotional singles

The album's lead promotional single, "Avalanche", was released on June 10, 2021, as well an accompanying music video. The song was produced by DJ Durel and Quavo.

Critical reception

Culture III was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 75, based on nine reviews. Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 6.6 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.