“Creepin’” by Metro Boomin, The Weeknd & 21 Savage
The term “creepin” is a well-established colloquialism within the hip-hop community, one that generally points to the notion of someone cheating on their lover. In the case of this song, that someone would be the significant other of the vocalist(s).
And likewise, the sentiments resultantly being expressed are pretty well-trodden in the music industry, and let’s say amongst hip-hop artists especially. In fact, this song relies heavily on the classic Mario Winans’ piece “I Don’t Wanna Know” which, as its title implies, revolves around a vocalist who has basically decided to ignore his girlfriend’s adulterous ways.
The Weeknd for the most part takes on a similar stance, i.e. being convinced that his lover is seeing another guy behind his back but opting not to confront her about the matter.
Then comes 21 Savage who, as with any mainstream rapper worth his salt, comes off as if he’s spent hella funds in the name of making his lady happy. So what that would mean, within the context of hip-hop, is that he can’t understand why she would cheat on him, since the common conception in this line of music is that money is the main thing that makes women happy.
Thesis Sentiment of “Creepin'”
So as for the comprehensive thesis sentiment of this piece, neither of the vocalists are happy about what’s going on. But that said, apparently they are smitten to the point where they’d rather hold onto their unfaithful lovers, so long as their ladies don’t make it explicitly known to them that they are cheating.
So the conclusive implication is that the vocalist would rather stay with the addressee, even if she is creepin’, than to risk losing her altogether.
Some Interesting Facts
Although 21 Savage, The Weeknd and Metro Boomin share equal billing on this song, it is actually featured on the latter’s album, a project titled “Heroes & Villains”. This project came out on 2 December 2022. The labels backing this outing are Metro’s own Boominati Worldwide, as well as the more-established Republic Records.
Metro Boomin is actually a producer and therefore does not contribute any vocals on this song. He has an established collaboration history with 21 Savage. For instance, the two of them dropped a full-length album together in 1017 titled “Without Warning” (alongside the recently-deceased Offset). Also in 2020, they dropped another album together titled “Savage Mode II”.
Meanwhile, it doesn’t appear that Metro has ever worked with Canadian crooner The Weeknd before on a song that has actually been released prior. Neither has 21 Savage.
To note, turn-of-the-century R&B singer Mario Winans is credited as a background vocalist on this track. So is 21st century rapper Travis Scott. In terms of Winans, his signature song, 2003’s “I Don’t Wanna Know”, is healthily interpolated into “Creepin’”.
As such, the following writers of that piece (“I Don’t Wanna Know”) are all also acknowledged as authors of Creepin’:
- Mario Winans
- Diddy
- Loon
- Michael Carlos Jones
- Enya
- Roma Ryan
- Nicky Ryan
- Erick Sermon
- PMD
In addition to the above, other co-writers of this song include:
- Metro Boomin
- 21 Savage
- Johan Lenox
- Peter Lee Johnson
- DaHeala
With the exception of Savage, all the names listed above also produced this track.
Also interpolated into this track is “Sacrifice”, a Weeknd tune that came out earlier in 2022.
Metro Boomin began teasing the forthcoming of this track about a week before it was officially issued.
