Everyone should know by now that Young Thug is quite the character. Calling Young Thug unique would be an understatement: from his fashion sense to his demeanour, he definitely puts in an effort to be distinct as a personality in the hip hop industry, much of which is derived from his inspiration, Lil Wayne.
Young Thug’s musical talent lies in his clever manipulation of both the rhythm in his verses by using offbeats and syncopation to his advantage, as well as the vocals, by experimenting with different timbres in his voice. Thugger’s latest mixtape did not disappoint: Slime Season 3 highlights his voice and the clever manipulation of it in ways his releases never have before.
SS3 is, without a doubt, the most curious and experimental Young Thug has been with his music thus far. Kanye West even takes to Twitter to call Thugger an artist who is “super inspiring” to him because of his skill. Furthermore, it was Kanye who first sparked attention and discussion around SS3 by allowing Thug to debut the opening track on the mixtape “With Them” at The Life of Pablo listening party at Madison Square Garden.
Similarly to Kanye, Thug creates pieces that are incredibly explicit in nature. Alongside his typically euphemistic way of presenting colourful, explicit lyrics, the rapper plays around with different sounds and rhythms even further on the new mixtape.
“Dripping” is the most evident of this, adding to the various whines, yips, screams, slurs, squawks that listeners have come to expect with Thug’s style. The album goes on to prove that no matter how quirky he may seem at present, Thug will never cease to surprise his fans. His already extensive vocabulary of sounds continues to expand with every release.
Thugga also takes the time with “Dripping” to showcase his ability to tinker with the rhythmic patterns of his verses successfully. His syncopation on this mixtape, and on this track specifically, is beyond what his listeners have experienced so far. He also switches between his usual adlibbing and scatting to patois on the track, allowing himself to further connect with his fans on a more personal level by engaging with them through dialogue in abstraction from his typical demeanour.
Young Thug continues to uphold his unpredictable style as a rapper with every new release, with SS3 being the most musically mature of his work thus far. However, the entire mixtape does not consist of tracks that are equally captivating. The two final tracks on SS3, “Tattoos” and “Problem,” are more sincere to Thug’s classic style and the quirks his fans are most familiar with. As a result, this takes away from the immense experimental momentum of the tape.
Nonetheless, this goes to say with most of his music: whether a die-hard fan or a not-as-enthusiastic fan, it is clear that different aspects of Thug’s music appeal to different people. Since his experimentation with sounds and rhythms vary from song to song, especially in SS3, fans of the rapper tend to lean towards one song over others as individuals. Personally, I have a clear attachment to “With Them,” “Digits,” and most of all “Dripping,” because of the extents to which Young Thug took risks to perfect these tracks.
There are hardly any collective favourites when it comes to his music. In my opinion, SS3 is definitely the best mixtape in the Slime Season trilogy and is a strong preview for what’s yet to come in his official debut later on this year, HY!£UN35.
