The already infamous cover for Jeffery, Young Thug’s third project this year, sees the 25-year-old Atlanta rapper, who can currently be found on billboards in Manhattan modeling womenswear for Calvin Klein, working a purposefully genderless outfit by Italian designer, Alessandro Trincone. His face is masked by a white bonnet of sorts, body engulfed by a baby blue gown, as he strikes a pose eerily reminiscent of one of Michael Jackson’s signature dance moves. The accompanying tracklist photo sees him peeking out from under the same ensemble, beaming his $20,000 smile. Although Young Thug, born Jeffery Lamar Williams, has been publicly toying with the idea of changing his stage name to his birth name, citing his growing kids and his own career trajectory as reasons for not wanting to be referred to as “Thug,” the rapper seems as self-assured as ever in this photoshoot – a trait which fortunately translates to the music itself. This year’s I’m Up and Slime Season 3 cast considerable light on Jeffery’s progressiveness.
Executive produced by Wheezy and TM88, and mixed by the engineer behind 2015’s Barter 6, Alex Tumay, this album is, sonically, Young Thug’s most ambitious effort to date. All producers involved (from relatively unknown composers such as Billboard Hitmakers to rising star CassiusJay) experiment with their given styles, subtly incorporating newfound elements of reggae and dancehall throughout the 42-minute run time. Together, they dispel paper-thin criticisms of the production within Thug’s camp being redundant or atypical to the southern “trap style.” “Future Swag” may have the menace of a standard 808 Mafia beat, but on “Wyclef Jean,” and “Kanye West,” Thug floats over increasingly bubbly instrumentation outfitted with strumming guitars (electric and acoustic), delicate keys and bouncing basslines.
Where Barter 6 showcased Young Thug’s sprightly flows and nuanced songwriting, Jeffery now hinges on the artist’s increasingly elastic vocals; his blunt-force delivery is the main spectacle here and Jeffery does approximately 35 new things with his voice. At times, the experimentation frays at the outer edges, but you know that part on James Brown’s “Lost Someone,” the Live From the Apollo version, where he shouts “I feel so good I want to scream,” then screams before playing the track out? That’s basically Jeffery’s entire vocal style in a nutshell: it’s a whirlwind of sporadic yet purposeful emoting that’s finessed with frightening ease. It’s a high-stakes performance that sees him waking up mid-verse on “Swizz Beatz” to howl “wake up to Young Thug,” delivering strained yet affectionate yelps on “RiRi,” and embodying a bluesy intonation for the centerpiece, “Harambe.”
All memes aside, take that very track, “Harambe.” Jeffery spends the entirety of the song reciting a grocery list of people he’d love to wipe off the face of this Earth, with pent-up aggression that becomes more apparent with every strained crack in his voice, before running head first into an existential crisis. “I got the devil inside me,” he growls, effortlessly toying with his inflection, “God tryna decide, do he wanna leave me or sign me.” “RiRi” showcases a similar internal struggle as he slurs: “I know I’m a blood, I’m a gang banger/I know I ain’t a bitch but I’m still singin’.” These asides are delivered with palpable conviction and act as necessary moments of self-reflection that ground the surrounding celebration.
Throughout the project, Jeff repeatedly touches on love: “all my children spoiled, yeah they got it all” he claims on the intro and, inversely, “mama told me I’m her brightest star” on the bonus cut. On “Webbie,” he passionately promises the same mom that she “can’t lose,”while “Kanye West” is an ode to his fiancée (the verses see him adding her to his will). “RiRi” makes that same fiancee playfully work for his love as he showers his friends with adoration (and yacht parties). “Swizz Beatz” may never receive the same fanfare, but for what it’s worth, it’s one of the best self-love songs this side of Kendrick Lamar’s “i.”
And therein lies Jeffery’s main shortcoming: after countless projects and a handful of singles teasing commercial success, Young Thug still floats somewhere between internet obscurity and pop-renegade. Mr. Willaims claims the songs are titled after his idols, but rather than shed light on his influences, he only further obscures his appeal. His cultish fanbase upholds his momentum, but for the uninitiated, this intrigue can prematurely fade as early as the second track, “Floyd Mayweather.” Overlong and featuring a sputtering Travis Scott verse, “Floyd…” as well as “Future Swag,” and “Guwop,” struggle to break new ground. For the most part, Jeffery is an economical tape, making inspired use of new YSL signee Gunna, a rejuvenated Young Scooter and a world-weary Wyclef Jean. However, its reach doesn’t often extend far beyond Young Thug’s pre-existing universe. The potential is there, but it may be time to retreat and regroup before casting another reel into the mainstream.
Young Thug ends Slime Season 3 wanting a “fuckin’ Grammy,” and Jeffery opens with him promising he’ll “do it my way.” With his debut still in limbo, the artist soon-to-be formerly known as Young Thug is refreshingly confident in himself and his career trajectory (“I just signed a deal with Calvin, baby clap for me”) but is also continuously reckless with his execution, for better or worse. Regardless, from the jamming intro to the sublime closer, Jeffery is a testament to the rapper’s carefree spirit. And if his uninhibited self-expression offends, he has but one bar for you: “pardon me, pardon my soul.”
bro ur crazy its a 5/5
We gave B6 a 4/5, and this is definitely right up there. Somewhere between Im Up/SS3 (3.5 and 3.8 respectively on here) and B6.
I’m glad you love it though, hopefully others do as well and people buy it!!
By the way, you can rate the album yourself when you leave a comment!
amateur review..wheres the quality control??
where do you see the deficiencies?
Quality control is when millions of people listen to your shit and like it..I’m sick of people who can’t even understand what he’s saying have an opinion..muhfka you don’t even know what he’s saying wtf
This album is way better than TLOP, Blonde, Tory Lanez and Vin Staples.
bruh where you been!?!? good to see ya back, or maybe its just me
Well, after the family fued started, Wayne and Drake hired thier own online marketing guys. Since cash money didn’t have any releases of its own, there was no need for me to help the marketing team (a few of those guys got laid off). Also, the litigstion process has required a lot of forensic accounting so I’ve been too busy to log on and post recreationally. But I would expect a resolution shortly so things will be returning to normal.
how can you hear songs like future swag…riri..harambe..kanye west.. and still say he isnt breaking new ground or expanding beyond his “existing universe” smh what jokers do they get to write these reviews this album sounds like its from a different dimension
As the review said, RiRi, Harambe and West are all highlights….the only songs cited as being the same territory are future swag (he’s not rapping in any way he hasnt already), guwop and Floyd.
I clearly said he’s doing plenty of new things with his voice elsewhere. But it’s not enough to expand his audience…as confirmed by his sales projections.
You’re right…this is a great album. If you calmed down and read the review again, you’d realize we’re on the same page.
didnt read cause ur shit at writing lol
calling thug “Mr. Williams” is so fucking cringey holy shit
narsh when you read this…. know that im coming for you*
**at barracudas
Narsimha Chintaluri you’re the biggest groupie and know NOTHING about hip-hop. HipHop DX should be ashamed of themselves for giving this album a 3.9 and completely disrespecting Drake’s Views. In what world is Young Thug a credible artist when you can’t understand a word coming out of his mouth? You and this site are garbage and have no business discussing hip hop. HipHop D**k riders is a more appropriate site name than DX.
Shut it nerd. Views was garbage and so is your opinion
Who even says “Shut it nerd”? I guess your parents are monitoring what you’re typing. It takes a bitch like you to listen to a bitch artist like Thug. You don’t know shit about anything.
Travis Scott’s Floyd verse bumped this album from a 3/10 to an 11/10 how dare you slander the GOAT
Lol, birds coming soon
unblock me on twitter bro
don’t unblock me on twitter bro
This is a masterpeice.
all the gay shit aside, his music, and this album, isn’t anything spectacular. what is the appeal of damn near inaudible mumbling? whatever it is, I can tell you what it is not and that’s hip-hop. Jeffrey, nor it’s creator, is hip-hop.
He’s pretty easy to understand on most of this project.
Cool. Have fun with that, Ru Paul.
It’s amazing
Try as you may, hiphopdx, there’s no deep, technical intricacies to elaborate on. This nigga says absolutely nothing, and that’s it. Attempting to evaluate this clown shit on any kind of level is a waste of time, talking about how he uses his voice like it’s genius, nigga please. Just because he has fans doesn’t mean there’s something under the surface we’re not understanding, just means they like this bullshit…
Are you finished or are you done?
This guy gets it! Pathetic how these websites just start laying down one-by-one for these gimmicks. There is literally NOTHING to analyze here. No underlying concepts. No genius. No musical artistry. Absolute garbage. Gay antics to sell records. What’s even worse is the rap community starts cosigning this nonsense. Comparing this clown to the incomparable Andre 3000?! What in THE absolute F**K are they talmbout?
By “they” do you mean Erykah Badu?
Bruh? Go somewhere. You’re not convincing any of us to listen to this BS. No matter how hard you troll. Vote it up all that you want. His sales numbers are in and it’s just another 20K weedplate. Congrats.
It was a simple question m8. When you said: “Comparing this clown to the incomparable Andre 3000?! What in THE absolute F**K are they talmbout?” where you talking about Erykah Badu?
When you said: “Comparing this clown to the incomparable Andre 3000?! What in THE absolute F**K are they talmbout?” where you talking about Erykah Badu?
It was a simple question
Troll harder. Numbers are in and it’s another 20K double uranium flop. Congrats.
this album is fire.
better than all of drake stuff and jay-z stuff including reasonable doubt and blueprint.
finally, someone who can really spit.
retard. Sit down
Troll harder.
Your on better drugs than me. Where the plug?
5/5
Beautiful album that you can use to communicate w dolphins 5/5
The only thing worse than your reviews is your appearance and stench IRL
Narsihma Chinchilaturi is just Birdman disguised as a journalist. I’m fuckin done with this site makin hiphop worse everyday and taking zero responsibility, the only reason i stayed so long was the template which is both nice and easy to navigate. Too bad the content is fuckin garbage. Reply your suggestions below, some alternatives to this shitty website. And no, Hollywoodlife, TMZ, Bossip, Cosmopolitian & Jezebel doesn’t count lol… i can already see Trent Clark or Chinchilaturi replyin to my comment with all that sus shit.
Rap Radar. 2DopeBoyz. Complex. Hypebeast. Etc.
So y’all over @ HHDX are giving this a score comparable to a Nas album? Wow! Okay.
Hang yourselves, Black people. You Blacks make garbage music. Go cut yourself and kill yourselves, Black people.
Hey now, the people who run the entertainment industry and own the labels are not black. And those people dictate the kind of music that is put out by these artists. The black people you hear on the radio are nothing but vehicles used to further the agenda of the people who are behind this all.
loved it
Damn, I guess the comments are glitching. I meant to reply to “SMH” both times. My bad
Album is pure fire, future swag my fave track
Ya that songs fun for sure…RiRi, Swizz Beatz and Harambe are tied for my favorite, I think
Jeffery is God
this fire af, score way too low imo
Thug showed real progression with the content in his verses including structuring and story telling throughout tracks
5/5
his most ambitious release yet
If garbage could get any hotter than this Florida Heat, this is it Young Thugina ain’t hip hop and never will be hip hop. Thanks DX for letting us voice our opinion on hat garbage music.
This is the most anticipated project of the year and it did not disappoint. Young Thug came back with another masterpiece but he expanded his game and took it to the next level. He keeps pushing the envelope with his craft, from the album cover to the actual music. This is the best album of the year and it’s not even close. No one in hip-hop history attacked the game with the level of talent, style and charisma that Young Thug did. Classic album!
young thug sound has evolved its artistic and trancends the hip hop genre
rather transcends the hip hop gender
this album changed my life
The Fact that ppl are on here saying this is good makes my stomach turn. he sucks and is not hip hop if anything he is hurting the culture. You new fans or next generation listeners have lost it. and Hip Hop Dx what happend to you guys?? Giving this 3/5 just wow!!
so only hip hop can be good music? your issue with him is that he doesnt sound like veryone else and is unique? You just wanna hear the same shit for the next hundered years with no variability? Nice bro
the issue isn’t that he sounds unique. This issue is that his music his trash. The idea that anyone is against variability is hyperbolic nonsense. Music has been changing since forever- hiphop has been changing since it was born… But this shit is garbage.
“i dont like it so it must be trash”
3.9* actually
Fuck young homo far from a thug straight basura
Jeez I thought this was 2016
These album is much powerful than Ever.
ARtWOrk #masterpiece
Young Thug changed my life
this is a 4.5 anyone saying this is not hip hop doesnt understand the musicality of this project melodies on point.. beats on point voice on key.. lyrics on point. barter 6 got alot of play in the car very turn up uplifting music this ones even better. thug will go down as one of the greatest gays in hip hop along with dr dre and kanye west
ur really giving the album props because his voice was on key. kill urself. RIP hip hop
Signs* why do people even argue about this shit? We all know that everybody will have there different outlooks on who’s nice and who’s garbage. Idk why people even try to fuss with hiphopdx about their “reviews”? It’s them stating an opinion about how they feel about another persons project. Yeah their “reviews” can seem a little bit to sketchy but fuck it. That’s the world we live in now. Hip hop just won’t be the same anymore. People are trying to evolve the hip hop industry with the next best thing. Such as young thug himself and that god awful freshman class of 2016 (that’s my opinion on that) but anyways. I mean I know I don’t mess with his music like that but I mean some people do and some people find it to be amazing more than others. Some people prefer sound over lyrics idk why but they do. So it’s kind of pointless to post comments about these “reviews” because at the end of the day hiphopdx are going to make their “reviews” and their money and young thug or whoever the hell it is, will always make money and their fan base will always grow some how. So just stop wasting y’all time arguing about these “reviews”.
no need to defend your statement on the freshman class of 2016, they all were some hot garbage (except for Dave East and Anderson Paak, and he sings).
The author tries to find deep meaning in his songs and music but fails miserably. This whole review is a joke to any human being with an atom of intellect. His music and lyrics is very shallow that’s why he does flamboyant stuff like wearing women’s clothes. The truth is he has no talent and Black Media and black people have sold out. Money rules everything. Hip Hop is dead
“I don’t like it so it must be bad”
Ya dig ya dig
This album truly shows that young thug has endless creativity from the Album cover to the music that song he has with Wycleff is beyond sensational It shows his high level to create endlessly I don’t think it has anything to do with him being a sellout or sexuality I mean even if he is gay who cares although I don’t believe he is, what I will say about young thug is that he is free and when you become free in you mind then you will truly understand and capture the art of endless creativity. Amazing album.
I believe Thug possesses some great musical qualities, more specifically his ability to create a captivating melody. He can listen to a beat and understand how to use a vocal pitch that fits it perfectly; the issue is, and something that was documented in a video between himself and Lyor Cohen, is that he doesn’t, and openly refuses, to make anything specifically ‘radio friendly,’ which is something you find on many of his pieces of music. ‘Check’ was great, as was ‘Power,’ but he’s just missing that one single that will be grasped by the masses. I view him the same way I viewed Lil Wayne prior to his leap to stardom in 2007-08, has the talent, just missing the ability to reach a broader audience.
Trash. This site gives Torey Lanez’s album a bad review and then tries to legitimize this garbage. Hhdx is being used by White liberal degenerates to push homosexuality on the black youth.
THANK YOU SOOOOO VERY MUCH YOU ARE CORRECT SOMEBODY GETS IT
Crap
There is only one artist truly pushing hip hop forward. Maybe it’s so far forward it’s not hip hop anymore, but something far better. Rhythmic, melodic, more twists and turns then a Hendrix or Coltrane solo. This is new music, follow if you can.
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha thank you i needed a good laugh comparing this pile of hot garbage to Hendrix or Coltrane GTFOHWTS!!!!!!
Just an embarrassment to rap music his kids gon grow up like WHY??? All this homo suspect stuff wearing a dress for what 18,000 first week sales lmao he sold his soul and got nothing back lyor cohen need kicked out the game for supporting this fuckery
“who gonna listen to a man in a dress”
andre 3K, prince, and bowie fans for one
all guys who wear dresses, im sure dennis rodman is a fan too
Please tell me you’re not trying to compare 3k, Prince, or Bowie to Young f’n Thug?
What the fuck has this site turned into? I remember finding hidden gems in hip hop based on your reviews, stuff like Homeboy Sandman, Diamond District, Blu & Exile….
Now you just hand out good ratings to horrible rappers.
me
the cover art is the most interesting thing in this album
@Narsimha Prince, Andre 3000 and Bowie NEVER wore a women’s dress. They never sang about “smoking penises”. Bowie used to wear some tight outifts that were questionable but you would have to be a retard to compare young Thug talent to Bowie’s talent.
And you wrote that young Thug is “FINALLY emerging as vialable artist across all board” so why was he signed in the first place when he wasnt a fully developed artist in the 1st place? The fact is you just can’t pull talent out of your ass you have to be born with it and Young Thug has no talent whatsoever. 19k sales and here is the Hip Hop media making him out to be the next Biggie and Pac. He’s FINALLY emerging as an artist but you MFS gave him great reviews for his other “albums”.
You people would believe everything that your Puppet’s tell you. SUUUURE that’s a genderless outfit….. only in your brainwashed manipulated world! That looks exactly like a Mary Poppins dress that WOMEN wear.
You are a brainwashed idiot.
**Puppet MAster***
You don’t get the music, so you hate it.
“No talent” – yeah no talent that you can see, because you’re narrow minded.
Some people don’t get that there are many branches to the hip hop tree. It doesn’t have to be backpack rap to be valid.
trash
That Kanye West track featuring Wyclef Jean is the best one I like, the rest maybe considered trash.
nice music.
people saying it’s “trash” just because they are afraid to listen to some “gay music”… you don’t want to be associated with lgbt, that’s understandable, but then don’t aim at the music, aim directly at the gay cues. the music IS good and innovative.
man u gay asf
People always hate on things that are different. This album is dope, and i’m usually on the underground shit (Sean Price is my all time fave).
Real heads recognise that there are many different branches to the hip hop tree. Thugga is doing something that is unique and fun to listen to. Don’t hate, because you dont get it.
Wow. Just wow. RIP hip hop
Concentrate on the music not who he fucks in HIS personal life……haters geez…..who cares if he like dudes wtf is wrong with you people geezus we should all love the fact we can be who we want to be….hell I bet y’all all got some sgit you like in life that others would frown upon ….be urself and fuck everything else…..don’t be scared ……HATERS
This album is pretty unique and pushes the boundaries showing a different dimension of Young Thug. The album was actually produced by Drake and the beats are solid & lyrics flow well together.
Wack…. shit is trash… garbage….basuda