Punk - Young Thug: Review
Young Thug
has been one of trap music's biggest stars for the past few years. Hailing from the genre's inception city of Atlanta and participating in collaborations with all of it's biggest stars as well as high profile crossovers with more pop oriented acts like Drake and Camila Cabello have all risen Thugger's profile dramatically. Now after releasing the most commercial album of his career back in 2019 he's following it up with a lightly indulgent venture into acoustic and singer-songwriting music, though it's all still heavily steeped in trap influence.
Review By Lav:
*sigh*, I really like Young Thug. While his occasionally transphobia is, lets call it alarming, he's hip hop's ultimate charmer. His brash willingness to experiment with his personal and musical style compared with his capacity to write charming and silly lyrics that go over perfectly on song after song has made him one of contemporary rap's most protected voices. After a high profile NPR Tiny Desk concert a few months ago I was excited to see what new direction Young Thug would pursue. For the first 5 or so tracks on the record he really is stepping outside his comfort zone and leaning into elements of acoustic singer-songwriter music. Then for the entire rest of the project it's pretty much just a trap album. Regardless of what portion of the record you're in, results vary drastically.
Because it's a Young Thug album there is of course plenty of good to be found so we will start there. The record gets off to a hot start and I'm a big fan of four of the first five tracks. Die Slow is the opener where Thugger kicks the whole thing off with a pretty serious story about his parents before immediately transitioning into something so silly I laughed out loud and I'm happy to let you all have the opportunity to authentically do the same. It's quite an interesting opener that shows a more sincere and reserved side of him as an artist and sets up the next few tracks. Stressed is another highlight as the sincerity continues with Thug singing the hook backed by a pretty standout J Cole feature that's matched the heart-bearing personal approach in both his lyrics and performance.
Stupid/Asking is the longest song on the record by quite some distance and it really does embody the two part song well. The first half is the hip hop staple story of a cheating couple but Young Thug lends the perspective to the woman in his life whom he is cheating on and even if it's occasionally condescending I think it's really interesting. The second half is a more conventional and light-hearted trap song, despite their differences both halves sound pretty and the whole song holds up over 5 minutes. Contagious is one of the last times we really get any attempt to interpolate the albums "concept". Thug flips the frequent hip hop song topic of keeping it real and instead paints the song as wishing that keeping it real was contagious. It has quite a pleasant instrumental with some Kanye like vocal samples on the hook and explosive drums on the verses that make it a standout track.
Thankfully there's one pair of highlights on the back end where Thugger delivers on his own interesting promise. Faces features an extremely memorable melody alongside some of the whacky singing vocals that I expected to hear more often on the album and they work really well. Droppin Jewels on the other hand is one of his highlights as a story-teller even if the lyrics generally speaking are what you'd expect to see from Young Thug. He paints a vivid picture and helps make it one of the more standout songs.
While the features are generally one of the more disappointing aspects of the record there are a few that stand out. Peepin Out The Window sees Future and Thugger which may be a slightly overdone combination but it's one of the better ones. I like Future's hook more than I would have thought and while there's a BSlime feature in the middle that's just okay I still found the song pretty memorable. Bubbly sees Young Thug teaming up with Travis Scott and Drake which was always going to be a hit. The song has a banger beat, catchy flows and is one of the albums biggest highlights. Finally there's Love You More which I was really excited about given it sports a rare feature from Nate Ruess of Fun. fame. He delivers a strong hook on top of having provided a few funny lines in the Complex feature on Young Thug from last week. Thematically the song is quintessential Young Thug with a splash of lustful heartache. Even though Gunna is drastically out performed by Nate and Thugger he doesn't completely take the song thankfully.
The rest of the songs here go from forgettable to flat out terrible. While we're on the subject of Gunna he shows up two more times on the record and and it's almost like the boringness he brings to his own albums follows him here. Recognize Real is the most nondescript song in the records opening run where as Insure My Wrist is the most nondescript on the rest of the album. Not to be outdone both Scoliosis and Fifth Day Dead don't really have any memorable characteristics about them either.
Yea Yea Yea is a kooky song and the type of thing that only Thugger could really make but I can't overstate just how deflating the hook is. While there are some funny lyrics and vocal lines it doesn't really add up to an actual song. Rich N**** Shit on the other hand is certainly a song, a Playboi Carti song with the Pi'erre Bourne beat and everything. It is one of his worst instrumentals I've ever heard and there is an extremely poorly interpolated Juice Wrld feature as well. Thugger shouts out Julius Peppers in the lyrics though that's the one thing I can get behind. Hate The Game is probably the worst song on the record with just Thug and it helps to make the records ending stretch a true slog.
The biggest disappointment on the album was definitely the complete flopping of some of its most high profile features. Livin It Up grabs Post Malone and A$AP Rocky to make a party song that sounds like it was written and performed by camp counselors, one of the records very weirdest decisions. Even worse is the closing track Day Before which I absolutely cannot believe Mac Miller's estate allowed to be released in the state it's in. The worst of the bunch is Icy Hot, a terrible idea for a song that isterribly executed with one of Doja Cat's worst features ever. Nothing about it is at all redeemable.
Young Thug can only be unique, so while almost all trap records are inconsistent, Thug's is inconsistent in a completely inexplicable and unpredictable way. There are tracks here content with totally blending in to contemporary styles, some of which are great others are awful. There are also tracks here willing to make bold and occasionally even ambitious stylistic shifts, a few of which work many absolutely do not. There is a 35 minute version of Punk that is absolute fire from start to finish, but the 65 minute version of Punk is content to waste time with filler tracks and wander down lanes it has no business being in. 5.5/10
For more trap check out my review of Pop Smoke's Faith here
