“Angry Sexâ€, “2 Cups Stuffedâ€, “Pikachuâ€, and “Danny Glover†practically lunged from their respective full lengths the same way “Stoner†and “Lifestyle†did from radio playlists. Previous Young Thug required no effort to find their highlights. A skirt wearing ATLian who openly refers to other men as “bae†that raps like Roger Rabbit with a double cup of lean and molly in his system who thinks you could take your “real rap†and shove it. If Kendrick Lamar represents one side of the spectrum, a straight A student of rap music history who receives universal respect and accolades, than Young Thug sits at the other end. No rap artist of the moment is more likely to inspire long winded comment section venom than Young Thug and, no coincidence, he’s the most exciting rapper out. From Drake to Nicki Minaj to Chief Keef to the Migos, these artists are smacked down today only to end up reshaping rap in their own image tomorrow. The ones being dragged through the mud for refusing to fall in line behind rap’s most superficial tenants - lyrical complexity, hypermasculinity, respect for elders - are usually the ones making the most exciting music out. After years of rappers trying to be the next Young Thug, there’s still only one.Review Summary: Young Thug plays it safe.įinding rap music’s greatest innovators has long been a case of finding its most vocally hated. At the core, he’s rapping as good as anyone, like he always has. Cole and Travis Scott assisted “The London,” as well as the hard-nosed Southside-produced Atlanta street hit, “Pussy.” And then, there’s a song like “Light It Up” that has the bizarre ad-libs and sudden melodic outbursts. He’s got the single aimed for the Billboard charts with the J. He might not mystify as he did in the early stages of his career, when he was stumbling into new flows and deliveries at an inhuman pace, but now he’s able to wield the madness with ease, satisfying in many modes. (It ends in a draw.)īut despite all the collaborations on So Much Fun, the album is about Young Thug. Lil Keed is still in the midst of being groomed, but the two share a connection in their vocal similarities, trading helium-pitched deliveries on “Big Tipper.” Even when Thug dips outside of his immediate circle of influence, he’s just as comfortable, clearing the runway for Nav to list off his favorite pairs of Gucci tube socks and getting caught in a battle with Lil Uzi Vert about who wears the tightest pair of jeans. His most accomplished pupil, Lil Baby, makes him proud on “Bad Bad Bad,” as his unrelatable boasts about real estate and foreign whips are on par with Thug.
On “Hot,” he educates Gunna on how to expertly flex one’s jewelry over triumphant Wheezy-produced horns.
With guests on most songs, each of his Atlanta rap sons get some swings in, but Thug makes sure to show them they’ve still got a ways to go. On the album, Thug takes some time to pat himself on the back, aware of his own widespread influence. “Lethal weapon, let it rip from out the top of the drop to his scalp,” says Thug, in the same tone as he talks about his favorite pair of custom Nikes. “I’m Scared” is just as good, with Thug and 21 Savage bonding over their mutual love of terror. “Surf” immediately jumps out: We get Thug screeches, sass, and some of his best ad-libs in recent memory (“Totally dude”). He develops a natural connection with Pi’erre Bourne throughout the project, as the super-producer gifts Thug four beats that sound like he locked himself away in a submarine specifically to lace Thug with something futuristic and beachy to talk his shit over. Young Thug rarely leaves his comfort zone, but he’s able to add a melody, a flashy ad-lib, or a new flow that keeps the sound fresh and pushing toward new ground. Thug just needed to be himself, and that’s exactly what we got with his latest project, So Much Fun. But still, Thug never needed to throw on a cowboy hat or aim his music at the masses-his coos and ad-libs over the trap snare and 808-heavy sound of Atlanta were more than enough. BTG set the acoustic-tinged blueprint for his apprentices Lil Baby and Gunna, and the pop songs broadened his visibility. Then, he successfully parlayed his talents into the pop world by laying down vocals for Camila Cabello and Post Malone. So what would come after his first quarter-century? Young Thug didn’t know.įirst, he tried to get weirder-a nearly impossible feat after he slipped into the mainstream with 2013’s deranged and innovative 1017 Thug-flipping himself into a country singer on 2017’s Beautiful Thugger Girls. Between 20, the Atlanta-born space alien released the premier collaborative album of the 2010s, the rare trilogy that wasn’t a disappointment, and his opus, Barter 6. Before he turned 25, Young Thug had already reshaped the way we looked at rappers and birthed an entire subgenre in his wake.