SremmLife 2 was supported by four singles: "
By Chance", "
Look Alive", "
Black Beatles" and "
Swang". The album debuted at number seven on the US
Billboard 200 and later reached number four. It received generally positive reviews from critics.
Promotion
The album's lead single, "
By Chance", was released on February 13, 2016,[1] the song peaked at number 39 on the US
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.[2] The album's second single, "
Look Alive", was released on April 14, 2016,[3] the song peaked at number 72 on the US
Billboard Hot 100.[4]
"
Black Beatles" featuring
Gucci Mane, was sent to
urban contemporary radio on September 13, 2016, as the album's third single.[5] On September 22, 2016, the music video for "Black Beatles" was released on Rae Sremmurd's
Vevo account on YouTube.[6] The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.[4]
"
Swang" was sent to urban contemporary radio on January 24, 2017, as the album's fourth single,[7] the song peaked at number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100.[4]
Other songs
The album's first promotional single, "Over Here", was released on March 23, 2016, the song was released as an interactive music video powered by
Doritos.[8] "Set the Roof" featuring
Lil Jon, was released on August 7, 2016, as the album's second promotional single.[9]
SremmLife 2 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 13 reviews.[11] Aggregator
AnyDecentMusic? gave it 7.1 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.[10]
Exclaim!'s Calum Slingerland gave the album a positive review, calling it "a rarely relenting party with more substance than the last".[14] Narsimha Chintaluri of HipHopDX gave the album a positive review stating, "SremmLife 2 is worthwhile (and much needed) bid for album of the summer. It's top heavy, "By Chance", "Look Alive", and "Black Beatles" feeling a lot like one of the best three song stretches of the year, but Swae brings a promising sense of experimentation to the entire project".[15] Sheldon Pearce of Pitchfork wrote: "SremmLife 2 collects all of the quirks in the margins of its
predecessor and develops them; more than anything else, SremmLife 2 is the ultimate middle finger to grouches who think this brand of rap can't be complex."[18] Grant Rindner of The Line of Best Fit commented: "There are real signs of musical development on Sremmurd 2 that point to longevity for the duo."[17] David Sackllah of Consequence said, "SremmLife 2 may not pack the punch of its predecessor, but it shows that the brothers are growing musically. Far from one-note, Rae Sremmurd have the chops to sustain a long and varied run going forward".[13] David Jeffries of
AllMusic stated that "Hotter singles make their debut a better buy, but for a group pegged as a one-hit wonder early on, SremmLife 2 dispels that myth with style".[12]
In more mixed reviews, XXL's Scott Gleysher stated: "SremmLife 2 is by no means a sophomore slump but just doesn't quite fill the same space as the first installment did last year."[21] Lukas Maeder of Rolling Stone commented: "Stretching beyond SremmLife, their party-starting choruses are squeaked, squawked and shouted; mellower stuff can get a
Makonnen-esque broken falsetto ("Swang"); "By Chance" succeeds with a haughty
Dana Dane accent."[19]
SremmLife 2 debuted at number seven on the US
Billboard 200, with 30,000
album-equivalent units with 15,000 pure album sales in its first week.[25] The album later reached a new peak at number four on the chart on the issue dated November 26, 2016, due to the success of "Black Beatles".[26] On November 10, 2017, SremmLife 2 was certified
platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) with a million album-equivalent units in the United States.[27]