So far, 2017 is the first year Rae Sremmurd has not released an album since their debut, and it's looking to stay that way. The duo made up of Slim Jxmmi and Swae Lee confirmed on Twitter this week that their forthcoming third studio album would arrive in 2018.
Though they haven't released a full-length project this year, the brothers have been more visible than ever. Beginning the year by briefly returning to Number 1 on the Hot 100 with their viral single "Black Beatles," the duo went on to earn a worthy follow-up hit with "Swang." From there, Swae Lee appeared on the top 5 single "Unforgettable," which while technically fronted by French Montana, was more of a Swae solo single in structure. Sremm also appeared on Mike WiLL's "Perfect Pint" single with Gucci Mane and Kendrick Lamar, and released the infectious Sremmlife 3 teaser "Perplexin' Pegasus." Most recently Jxmmi had a scene-stealing appearance on Gucci Mane's "Stuntin' Ain't Nothin."
In August, Swae shared some info on the project with Tim Westwood. "We got a whole Sremmlife 3 next project coming soon," he said. "We bout done with that mug already. Bout to wrap it up....We might just throw out some like, turn-up songs."
In our 2016 cover story on Rae Sremmurd, Jxmmi said that the duo's third project would be a departure from the SremmLife series, but Swae announced that plans had changed in May. "We gotta keep the chronicles going," he said. "SremmLife 1, 2 -- keep the chronicles going."
In the profile, Swae shared some thoughts on his songwriting approach and the opposition it's received from more traditionally-minded rap fans. “It’s a rollover in music. If you don’t like it, cool, you can listen to the old music, listen to instrumentals, listen to country, to each his own,” he said. “People don’t even know. I could get on an old school beat and just wreck it, but I choose to go out of my way to present these words to you in a more creative way, a more melodic way, a more easy-to-listen-to way.”