Young Thug thread

Is this one of them? Cuz i love it

i knew the leak had to be inevitable, someone had leaked me a few unreleased songs before the whole dam broke open—did "guarantee" & "purple" leak? those are great.

if anything this leak makes me more certain about my POV on the barter 6, that this was an intentionally-shaped album statement, not a few throwaways to bide time.

i'm sure there's tons of stuff in there that didn't need to come out.

yeah those two are in the 100+ track zip

the quality level overall is really high

yea lotta jams

yeah i wish more was known or understood about how these super-prolific rappers work or how their releases get assembled, Wayne and Gucci and everyone that came after them that makes songs by the dozens. there's a widespread assumption that they're kind of indifferent to what songs get thrown onto what releases because they don't talk about it (and Wayne in particular has made statements to that effect) but who knows really.

and like, if it's not the rappers, is Birdman or whoever meticulously going through tracks and deciding what goes on Wayne's albums or Tha Tour Part 1 and what order the tracks go in?

does someone have a link to the 100?

I posted it upthread

i don't think its working any more

it is

https://mega.co.nz/#!7dZSxabT!M_2qdUUQEGJnYATVWt_u3puhSDhoEgSTYoE4gz_f_Uc

hmm it's just stalled at 'starting' for me but ill let it live and see what happens

i've let it sit long enough. comfortable saying that he's not my favorite rapper but easily my favorite rap vocalist

some of the best vocal instincts i've heard in general. his adlib takes are a kind of scatting i can really get behind

the bridge between rapper and rap vocalist will become gradually less distinct in years to come

if you mean that more and more rappers (/next crop of rappers) will be more mid period-wayne/thugga-styled, yeah, absolutely. all i meant in the distinction is that if i want "great rap lyrics" i'd probably nod elsewhere (as much as i love young thug's words and how they work with his delivery), but beyond that caveat he's my favorite-sounding rapper i think maybe ever

He's a good lyricist though

yes as i went out of my way to mention i "love" solely to preempt you, thanks

if you insist on repeatedly wheedling someone about not appreciating your favorite rapper of the moment enough when said rapper is also said somoene's favorite rapper of the moment you are on some serious one directioner shit

wtf dude, calm down, false wheedling alarm

lol it's a running thing, deej has nagged me re: insufficiently effusive praise for young thug a few times before

this guy is next level for me. i was listening to YT and compared him to some rap from just a few years ago, and that stuff just soudned so staid and stuffy by comparison.

have also let it sit long enough to say, pretty confidently, that "givenchy" is one of my the best rap songs i've heard. the way he builds cadence and momentum over the course of however many dozen bars is just awesome, all the little modulations in his delivery feel so intuitive and yet purposeful. took some headphones listening to really suss out the crazy production details in certain passages, too. even birdman's intro feels like crucial exposition at this point, whole thing is just a masterpiece. (nicely follows "just might be," by the way, if anyone's in playlist mode)

also re: the leak, finally got through it all, still processing what's best but "purple" and "stay focused" were a couple of the many memorable. appreciate the lyrical nod to "damien" (my favorite dmx song by a longshot, prob top 10 rap songs for me) in "boy / how to be real"

Givenchy is excellent. I agree about the intro.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkUKFdacHvo

finished version is out I think

every song he does w birdman is fire

Destroyed - https://youtu.be/2KZ60SKpEs4

Count Up - https://youtu.be/ovlwsss8Dy0

No No No -https://youtu.be/PBVev7lvnY0

B/c of me -https://youtu.be/HXkIM6_Iwa0

"i think her pussy is tight cuz she pigeon-toed"

^could double as a male john updike characters thought/statement fwiw

if you insist on repeatedly wheedling someone about not appreciating your favorite rapper of the moment enough when said rapper is also said somoene's favorite rapper of the moment you are on some serious one directioner shit

― soyrev, Tuesday, 19 May 2015 18:38 (3 days ago) Permalink

this is dumb. esp on ilx where many ppl's engagement with rap is cursory at best. of course there are ways of appreciating art that sell the artist short

this has been a constant stream w/ 'ratchet' rap music where folks sell lyrics short bc they dont understand them...he is a great lyricist.

Not like dude always makes it all that easy to understand him though

idk how saying "i love his lyrics" sell them short though? only 'negative' thing i said was in clarifying my statement that while he's now ~~officially~~ my all-time favorite rap vocalist, i.e., while i appreciate the sound of his voice and what he does with it more than any other rapper i've heard (certainly more than other vocal stylists like future or 2009 lil wayne), i would probably go with someone else for all-time best rap lyricist (i'm guessing you would too) despite loving his lyrics and how they work for him. you've chided twice now but i've agreed from the outset, he's a very good lyricist

the finished jamie xx collab is pretty great, though i liked the simplicity of the leak too. definite summer jam either way

just wanna say i definitely prefer the demo of Good Times to the official version. Popcaan is superfluous and detracts from the soul sample. And starting with the stroller line was the way to go

also the thugger feature on the new boosie badazz tape is great. tape in general is really good too.

YT's vocals are also more in front of the mix in the demo version

Ok well now I'm offended u think young thug is the ALL TIME GREATEST RAP VOCALIST

I like popcaan's part more than thugs

That song is alright but I'm getting definite "shine blockers" vibes from ppl latching onto that of all thug records

I think thug is a pretty singular talent and it's a pretty iffy time for popular rap but god damn if folks aren't gonna work out a way to overrate him anyway

my all-time favorite; not all-time greatest, necessarily (i.e. exact reason i bothered to make the distinction you were keen on policing in the first place)

he def uses his voice in a more interesting, developed way than 1) anyone else doing the new-ish rap vocal stylist thing 2) your standard rapper who, great flow and vocal character and all, is mostly just concerned with getting the words out with some performative emotion. who else is even a contender? cannot think of any other rapper who's iterated their way to such an expressive use of melody, texture, adlibs etc all integrated into such a holistic and singular approach. precursors/peers like t-pain, future, 808s kanye, and thug's beloved '09 wayne all have done effective things in the same general field but none of them have ever been close to where thug's taken it.

aaaand "shine blockas" is a masterpiece :)

Examples from the past couple of years ? Gucci, Wayne, Chief keef, future, max b, jacka, Kevin gates, all do those things in different ways. No they haven't taken it where thug has, but he hasn't taken it where they have. He is not the sole rap innovator in this field, and these kinds of exceptionalism arguments are a cornerstone of corny fuxx rap criticism

And shine blockers isn't in the top 100 Gucci records

I'm sure there are other formal rap innovators I'm forgetting at the moment.

yes, and i have heard them. and i have heard thug. and i prefer him. (i would actually argue that his take on "those things" are pretty obviously the most developed of the lot, but hey: let's not.) this isn't rap criticism btw, this is a message board...

by "definite 'shine blockaz' vibes" i figured you meant big boi not guwop, but that song is def in the top 100 of most categories you could place it in

i do mean big boi but it was treated at the time as a guwop breakthrough record bc he rapped on a soul sample

i do not think thug is the best formal innovator of those artists; if anything, it feels like in some ways he's just recently found his footing; he definitely hasn't traveled *as far* as Wayne, say, even if he's built upon what he did. In terms of the emotional content of the records, I think future & keef are both several steps ahead of him; in terms of melodic acrobatics, i could see an argument for him being the most versatile with his new rap language in that group—but that's just one dimension, and in other realms those guys have him beat...

cannot think of any other rapper who's iterated their way to such an expressive use of melody, texture, adlibs etc all integrated into such a holistic and singular approach.

like literally every person i mentioned has done all of these things. which one doesn't expressively incorporate melody, texture, adlibs into a holistic and singular approach?

gucci was a lil late on melody, i suppose, which he of course made up for with insanely vivid writing

he definitely hasn't traveled *as far* as Wayne, say, even if he's built upon what he did.

so you're curving for effort? there's nothing i disagree w/ in this statement, as thug himself will admit he wouldn't exist w/o that dimension of wayne's influence...but someone taking the baton and running it to its logical conclusion is much preferable to leaving the baton where the last guy sputtered and fell. wayne may have taken it 70%, but thug is sounding pretty close to 100 at this point. (and i mean, we aren't even talking t-pain, but if you wanna talk effort and influence you could say the same thing t-pain:wayne that you're saying wayne:thug) curious to see if he can evolve it further but there is certainly nothing left in his approach that needs improvement.

like literally every person i mentioned has done all of these things. which one doesn't expressively incorporate melody, texture, adlibs into a holistic and singular approach?

are you even reading me tho? "to such an expressive use of." i'm not denying the other guys each do at least some of these things -- i mentioned a few of them before you did, even (though i find where keef goes w/ it to be really different, and ugly in an on-purpose way that nonetheless doesn't feel particularly developed or compelling to me) -- i'm simply saying thug does it by far the best of anyone so far, certainly in terms of fluid integration and expression. just listen to everything he's putting into something like "just might be" or the slow burn and build of "givenchy" (or my first real eureka moment with him, in the way he's basically doing exclamatory drum fills with his adlibs during the b-chorus of "about the money"), it's insane and if you have any specific examples of these others guys doing what they do in such a total and sophisticated way i'd happily check/revisit them. even if i agree on an individual song level once or twice i doubt there're any counterpoints that'd make me feel like some philistine for having said he's my favorite in the field :)

i do mean big boi but it was treated at the time as a guwop breakthrough record bc he rapped on a soul sample

cool. sounds great

gucci was a lil late on melody, i suppose, which he of course made up for with insanely vivid writing

yeah idk if you can even really say he qualifies for this convo as weird as he's been in other ways, though "insanely vivid writing" would go under the separate rap-vocalist-vs.-rap-rapper category that got you rankled about my thug opinion in the first place: lyrics

(to reiterate in advance: i still think thug is a great lyricist. thank you)

so you're curving for effort?

...? no effort has nothing to do w/ it. i'm talking about distance travelled. and lil wayne's use of melodies in rap is not rlly like t-pain the way thug is like wayne

yeah idk if you can even really say he qualifies for this convo as weird as he's been in other ways, though "insanely vivid writing" would go under the separate rap-vocalist-vs.-rap-rapper category that got you rankled about my thug opinion in the first place: lyrics

how about bc he invented the adlib game u seem to credit thug with

it's insane and if you have any specific examples of these others guys doing what they do in such a total and sophisticated way i'd happily check/revisit them.

the entire careers of every artist mentioned do this in a total & sophisticated way.

i dont understand why you're so invested in contending that he's so many leagues ahead of the rest of rap & then all the characteristics you use to differentiate him are as true of many other current artists. obv i dont care / cant argue with "but he's just my personal favorite' but then why are u invested in establishing how no one is doing it in as 'total and sophisticated' of a manner as he is?

im actually quite looking forward to the moment when he starts to really stretch out in terms of emotional breadth—feel like both keef&future have gone quite a bit further in that department than he has, 'od' and 'numbers' kind of hint at it but are still fairly detached.

jfc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUvy-n3c3Ro

http://imgur.com/a/3oMcc