Quavo and Takeoff worked on the album over a two-year period and "modeled elements of the cover art" on Kanye West and Jay-Z's collaboration for Watch the Throne (2011) as well as Outkast’s album Stankonia (2000). The title is a reference to Raekwon's 1995 debut album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..., with Takeoff claiming that Raekwon approved of the title, as well as a reference to the "unbreakable bond" that Quavo and Takeoff have as uncle and nephew, respectively.[1] The album was notably made without input from Offset of Migos despite no formal split of the trio; Quavo also stated in an interview that he would like to see his and Takeoff's career "as a duo".[2][3]
Only Built for Infinity Links received positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 70, based on six reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[4]
AllMusic praised the album, writing that the duo "delivers the unfazable personality and triplet flows that made their group famous."[5] Robin Murray of Clash praised the album's variety and the two artists' creativity, describing it as "packed with highlights" and calling it a "record that blazes with life".[6] Similarly, HipHopDX's Peter Berry wrote, "Offset or no Offset, Quavo and Takeoff's stylistic DNA holds steady. It's home-grown. It's theirs, and it's as potent as ever."[7]
Commercial performance
Only Built for Infinity Links debuted at number seven on the US Billboard 200 chart, earning 33,000 album-equivalent units (including 2,500 copies in pure album sales) in its first week.[10] The album also accumulated a total of 41.1 million on-demand streams of the album's songs.[10]
