On Friday (Oct. 27), Maryland’s own Brent Faiyaz released a surprise mixtape called Larger Than Life with 14 songs boasting features from legends like Missy Elliott and Timbaland mixed in with stars like A$AP Rocky, Coco Jones, and Babyface Ray.

The famous Grammy-nominated crooner also made space for upcoming talents like FELIX!, Cruddy Murda, TTM Dawg, Lil Gray, N3WYRKLA, A$AP ANT, FLEE, and Tommy Richman. The album boasted dynamic production and captivating creative concepts courtesy of Faiyaz’s burgeoning collective, ISO Supremacy. This was his first project under his new innovative partnership with UnitedMasters.

Early Thursday (Oct. 26) morning, reports started to swirl on social media that the “Moment of Your Life” singer would be releasing a full-length project due to it going live in digital stores in Australia. Shortly after the news started circulating, Faiyaz reposted a short Y2K-themed clip with a young hustler selling physical CDs on the corner donning the new project’s cover with the caption, “14 songs. Midnight.”

Many fans were pleasantly surprised and excited to hear what the follow-up to his critically acclaimed album WASTELAND would sound like. Many people instantly applauded Faiyaz’s use of the early 2000s-inspired sound. One fan said, “This new Brent Faiyaz is giving ’90s/2000s R&B. The samples and sonic choices, especially with Timbaland, are so good.” Another fan stated, “Brent Faiyaz somehow made his album sound like it’s from 2003 but still made it fresh.”

One social media user boldly proclaimed, “The whole music industry needs to take notes on how Brent Faiyaz did his 2000s samples.” After running through the project for the first time, a user said, “This Brent Faiyaz album is a masterpiece on first listen; his sound is so aesthetically pleasing to the ears, man. It’s a gift.”

Listen to the new surprise mixtape from Brent Faiyaz below!