Young Thug: Punk

The hypothesis that Young Thug's second (?) studio album was going to be his rock n' roll passion project seemed to be confirmed when Mr. Jeffrey himself appeared on NPR's famous Tiny Desk Concert alongside aspiring rap producer Travis Barker for a performance of unreleased tracks from Thugger's upcoming odyssey, Punk. The project's namesake I'm sure, induced some eye-rolls from the critic-sphere who probably felt Thug was succumbing to the apparent commodification of the so-called punk rock lifestyle, particularly in rap music. Could it be that the guy who discovered outer dimensions through contortionist vocal acrobatics and spearheaded the next generation of slime offspring (started by Noreaga of course) would rest on the ambitions (or lack thereof) of some of his contemporaries?

One had reason to maybe believe so after Thug's 2019 "debut" album So Much Fun, which found the perpetual innovator stalled within pop rap confines. Thugger's expected bizarreness arrived in spurts and the high-octane track list assuredly lived up to the album title's hype, but the idiosyncratic left turns and unhinged hooting and hollering was virtually nonexistent across the project, despite it being one of his most critically-acclaimed. Songs like the triumphant "Hot" and the infectiously hyper "Mannequin" showed that Thug can still make oddball proclamations and stretch his chords to extraterrestrial heights over exuberant production, even despite some static collaborations and surprising one dimensionality.

I was cautiously optimistic heading into Punk, especially since it appeared that Thug was entering a new chapter of his life that included a mixed-bag curation of his Young Stoner Life collaboration album Slime Language 2 released earlier this spring and a head-scratching full length collaboration project with industry douchebag Chris Brown that seemingly confirmed Thug's transition to radio-friendly tropes. It did not seem like the modern slime boss would be imitating an Italian accent or geometrically annihilating sections of a beat anymore. For reference, it got to the point where even my brother-who I wholeheartedly love and respect-thought that I was playing a "worse Young Thug" one day on the aux, when in reality, I was playing the underrated pluggnb classic "Sing to Her."

All bullshit aside, Punk may not be the return to the aerodynamic Thug of years past, but it does introduce listeners to a more reflective side of the cultural icon. Right off the bat, we're subjected to the predominant sonic direction of the album's first half...the acoustic guitar. "I'm just seeking for God's soul cause I know something's missing," Thug croons on the skeletal opener "Die Slow" after a pretty jarring family anecdote involving his parents. With the exception of Beautiful Thugger Girls, Williams has never sounded more straightforward.

Speaking of which, the guitar-laden experiments on Beautiful Thugger Girls draw an easy correlation between Thug's 2017 experiment and Punk. From a production-standpoint, I can see the case, but whereas Tugger Girls portrays a playfully opportunistic Thug, Punk oftentimes illustrates a bluesier and mature side of the percussive spectrum. A song like "Peeping Out the Window,"-which by the way is probably Thug and Future's greatest collaboration ever-offers some familiar hyperbole, but also some soulful catharsis and warranted celebration atop colossal piano and guitar notes courtesy of Baby Plugg, Ayo Deni and Don. When the two auteurs walk it out, they mimic seasoned mafiosos who are ecstatic about the generational wealth they've accumulated but weary of their own opposition. Thug's nephew and YSL signee BSlime ties the song together nicely with his own personal perseverance.

"Recognize Real" and "Contagious" represent other instances of Thug taking a more reserved, borderline tranquil approach to his songwriting. Spiritually, both tracks follow the same "keeping it real" thread, but the folksy ruminations of each are intriguing left turns, especially for Gunna-who drops a sobering bar about millennials being the last dying breed (it may be cynical, but shit, he might be spot on).

Thug projects are usually always unpredictable in nature, especially when it comes to his cadences or ability to find unearthed pockets of a beat. Even if Punk isn't the most cutting edge thing in the world, there are moments that still gleam with admirable authenticity. Although it is kind of sappy in nature, the Nate Reuss collaboration "Love You More" is flamboyant and colorful enough to make you smile, and is right up there with Thug's Elton John collaboration as an out-of-the-box pop/R&B/rap hybrid experiment, even if "Love You More" doesn't sound as immaculate as the recent stoner anthem. "Stupid/Asking," meanwhile, finds Thug candidly singing about the dumb shit people have done in anecdotal fashion-"You went and fucked my friend, is you stupid." I'm happy he took this somewhat meditative guitar riff and made something different with it, again showcasing the genuine nature of his craft.

There are so many inklings of a truly fantastic album within Punk, which is why its laborious track list and mixed bag of features becomes frustrating at times. "Bubbly" essentially follows the same undulating tempo as "Ski" with diminishing results, mainly because Drake ruins the momentum of the track with empty luxury-based bars and a couple awkward flows. The Doja Cat track "Icy Hot" similarly loses some of its muster thanks to its rudimentary, and ultimately unexciting chorus sung by both Thug and Doja. And the Post Malone and A$AP Rocky track "Livin It Up" just sounds like disposable campfire fodder capped off by Rocky's horrendous attempt at auto-tune. Fans of Rocky should just revisit his phenomenal debut mixtape that just hit streaming services, or listen to his feature on Maxo Kream's new album, a song that is sonically more fitting for the Harlem rapper.

But for every mundane attempt at a conventional radio hit, Thug hits listeners with numerous excellent collaborations. J Cole puts a rasp on his voice for "Stressed" in an attempt to match Thug's unhinged energy, and does so very well. In fact, I think Cole's verse is one of his best from a feature perspective-"Nowadays, a million dollars barely worth a n***a time." I typically enjoy when guys like him and Kendrick let their high-strung guard down for a second to hop on someone else's project for something low stakes. Juice WRLD attacks the blown-out 808s on "Rich N***a Shit" with dynamic flows, and the Mac Miller-assisted finale "Day Before" meanders effortlessly as he and Thug hopscotch across a warm guitar pluck and nomadic animal (?) sound effects in strange but wonderful fashion.

When Thug introduced his own version of slime language to the world in the early 2010s, it felt and sounded like someone redefining what rappers could do with their vocals. As the mid-2010s hit, more and more people caught up to Thug's unabashed mannerisms. Now, he's a boss level veteran commanding a new generation of warbling mavericks (yes, you too SahBabii). Although Punk doesn't reinvent Thug's own wheel, it does allow room for him to rightfully make music in a restrained, but no less intriguing, manner. He oftentimes sounds like the OG on a porch kicking tales with an acoustic in hand and a Cartier skeleton gracing his wrist. Considering the influential journey he took many of us during adolescence, and the many lives he changed, maybe that's exactly how it should sound.