Hall of Fame (2021)

Hall of Fame is the third studio album by American rapper Polo G. It was released on June 11, 2021. The album features guest appearances from the Kid Laroi, Lil Durk, Lil Wayne, Scorey, G Herbo, Rod Wave, DaBaby, Young Thug, Roddy Ricch, Nicki Minaj, the late Pop Smoke, and Fivio Foreign. Production was handled by Einer Bankz, Angelo Ferraro, D Mac, Karltin Bankz, Londn Blue, BKH, Synco, Tahj Money, Varohl, & WizardMCE, among others. The deluxe edition, Hall of Fame 2.0, was released on December 3, 2021, with fourteen bonus tracks. It features additional guest appearances from Lil Baby, Moneybagg Yo, Yungliv, NLE Choppa, and Lil Tjay.

Hall of Fame debuted atop the Billboard 200, earning 143,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, becoming Polo G's first and only number-one album of his career. The album was supported by four singles, including his first number-one hit on the Hot 100, "Rapstar".

Background and recording

In April 2021, Bartlett hinted at a song with fellow Chicago rapper Lil Durk and Australian rapper the Kid Laroi with a recorded music video. In May, he confirmed fellow Chicago rapper G Herbo would appear on the album, with DJ Scheme previewing a snippet of their song during an Instagram live.

On May 16, 2021, Polo took to Twitter to confirm that he had finished recording the album.

Artwork

The album's artwork was created by art director Zanic, and features Polo G in a suit standing at a podium with platinum plaques for his prior albums behind him, and a bust of Polo G.

Release and promotion

In September 2020, Polo released the album's lead single "Epidemic". It peaked at number 47 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

On February 5, 2021, he released the album's second single "GNF (OKOKOK)". The song peaked number 55 on the Billboard Hot 100. On April 9, he released the third single "Rapstar". The song peaked number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking the song being his first number-one single in his career. "Rapstar" was previously previewed back in May 2020 in a YouTube video in which Polo and the song's co-producer Einer Bankz performed an acoustic version of the song. The song was then announced two days prior to its release with Polo posting a teaser for the music video. On May 21, "Rapstar" was certified platinum and the same day he released the album's fourth single, "Gang Gang" featuring Lil Wayne. The song peaked number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100. On May 27, Polo released a teaser trailer for the album which also revealed its release date of June 11, 2021, and features a snippet of a new song coined "Lil Wooski" by fans with an option to pre-save the album for all streaming services. On June 2, Polo posted an Instagram video teasing another song from the album with the caption "Toxic", indicating the song's title. On December 3, 2021 Polo released a Deluxe version of the album with 14 additional tracks featured on it.

Critical reception

Hall of Fame was met with critical acclaim upon release. Pitchfork writer Matthew Ismael Ruiz said in his review of the project: "The Chicago rapper steps further into the mainstream on his third album, an ultimately hopeful exploration of how trauma manifests". Fred Thomas from Allmusic also stated that "Hall of Fame swims even further into the mainstream, offering more of Polo G's catchy if painful reflections over more accessible and pop-minded production. Even still, Some of Hall of Fame's best moments come when Polo G is in his original element, like when he's commiserating with fellow pain rapper Rod Wave on 'Heart of a Giant' or trying on more aggressive approaches on the short but ruthless 'GNF (OKOKOK)'."

Commercial performance

Hall of Fame debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, earning 143,000 album-equivalent units (including 18,000 copies as traditional album sales) in its first week. The album also accumulated a total of 181.9 million on-demand streams of the album's songs during that week. During the week of September 3, 2021 the album sold 17,100 equivalent units bringing its cumulative total to 514,100.