In September 2015, he followed up Barter 6 with Slime Season, comprised in part of those leaks.
But where Barter 6 was sly and restrained, those first three songs were expansive, evocative – big, sweeping melodies, “In a house full of grown folks, baby, I love you,” “If you got AIDS I want it.” They gestured at something bigger.Īt first, Thug and his camp scrambled to organize the litany of leaks – more than 100 songs spilled out online in the weeks following that April email – into a digestible format. Not only does HiTunes not have a release date yet, it doesn’t even have a single “Pick Up the Phone” is a major hit, but it was pilfered by Travis Scott. The other writer hadn’t been similarly solicited, but had the same reaction as me: “Holy shit, is HiTunes gonna be like his Pluto?” Future’s rambling debut album from a few years prior had melded genres and was anchored by earnest songs about love and loss – and turned him into a major star. One said that someone had approached her on Twitter, DMing her a link to “Flaws” and offering to sell other tracks for $80 apiece. The sender, whoever they were, had written, simply, “i think there’s more coming.”īy that evening, a Twitter search turned up a handful of confused references to the songs I’d received, but the only Soundcloud links I could find had already been vaporized (presumably by Atlantic). The files were then-unreleased Young Thug songs: “ Guarantee,” “ Flaws” and “Love Me.” I replied, but never heard anything in return it looked to be a dummy Gmail address anyway. Last April, someone I’d never spoken to before sent me an email that was one line long and came with three attachments. As he and those invested in him try to navigate the next phase of his career, how much do these questions of semantics matter? Do we read albums differently from mixtapes? (Should we?) What does it mean if a very visible, yet reserved artist drops his purposefully vague moniker for his government name? And just how famous is Jeffery Williams going to be? Young Thug seems to be on the precipice of true commercial stardom, mulling the best move forward.
That point was driven home by an affecting promo video released earlier this week, in which Thug is interrogated by a series of white police officers who refuse to call him by his given name. (The press release for Barter 6, which came out in April of 2015, set a release date for August of that year.) Lately, Thug’s been publicly toying with the idea of dropping his stage name in favor of Jeffery, or the full phrase No, My Name is Jeffery. Speaking of which, there’s the vague notion that after a series of false starts, Young Thug might finally land a release date for Hy!£UN35 (pronounced HiTunes), the “debut album” he and his labels, 300 Entertainment and Atlantic Records, have been teasing for almost a year and a half. “Future Swag” sounds like you’ve made it to the final level of a video game where Young Thug gets to fight his A&R. On “RiRi,” he breaks format, slurring through passages like: “I know I’m a Blood, I’m a gangbanger / I know where the bitch, but I’m still singing / Motherfuck the rest if they ain’t really banging / I got the real hitters with me and they dangerous,” where the last few words of each phrase unravel as soon as they hit oxygen.
There are thrilling moments littered throughout JEFFERY.
That song, which cracked the Billboard Hot 100, has Quavo from the Migos coin the word “discriminize” and Thug rap, “Mama told me ‘Don’t hate on the law’ / ‘Because everybody got a job’ / ‘Because everybody wanna be a star,’” which just might be the most succinct summary of law enforcement in this country. It’s tucked near the end, behind the absurdly triumphant “Webbie” and ahead of “Pick Up the Phone,” the latter song irresistible in the sense that its beat sounds sourced from The Little Mermaid. That Wyclef collab sounds like a Danny English song soaked in lye for a decade and a half. One point of certainty: JEFFERY is the best of the Atlantan’s three efforts so far in 2016.
The lead single, a beautiful cut that features Wyclef Jean, is named “Pop Man” on Apple Music, though Thug’s Instagram calls it “Kanye West.” When it was released in advance of JEFFERY, it was alternately called “John,” “Elton” and “Elton John.” It’s not to be confused with the song “Wyclef Jean,” which kicks off JEFFERY and does not, in fact, feature Wyclef Jean. His Wikipedia page calls it a “commercial mixtape,” same as Barter 6, I’m Up or Slime Season 3 (but unlike Slime Season, Slime Season 2 or 1017 Thug, which are merely mixtapes, not available on subscription streaming services). A little after 11 PM last night, Young Thug dropped a new record called No, My Name is JEFFERY.