What made Barter 6 so surprising to longtime fans and newcomers alike was how precise and restrained it was.
Nevertheless, this is Thug’s clearest step forward since 2015’s Barter 6, and perhaps his most compelling experiment in pop.Īs far back as his formative I Came From Nothing mixtapes, Thug’s music has bent toward chaos, even formlessness. It came out the same day as 2 Chainz’s album, and Future’s HNDRXX, which is Thugger Girls’ closest recent analogue, has mostly vanished from the zeitgeist, unless a new summer single reveals itself. For all the breathless adulation, the last eighteen months of Thug’s career have been like Groundhog Day for people to whom Travis Scott owes royalties.īeautiful Thugger Girls, released with little ceremony last Friday, wouldn’t appear at first glance to be the blockbuster that can change all of this. His three records from 2016 all got kind, if muted, receptions and generally failed to move the chains much at all. His only entries into the Top 40 have been the Rich Gang single “ Lifestyle” and guest spots on Usher and Rae Sremmurd songs. But aside from “ Best Friend,” which yielded him a Platinum plaque, and “ Pick Up the Phone,” which might have been lifted out from under him anyway, Thug has yet to truly break through to the A-list. Since “ Stoner” hit in 2014, Thug has seemed like an ascendent star. Maybe Young Thug is supposed to be caught in a loop, arguing with Lyor Cohen over his recording habits and whether he has to sit politely next to Jimmy Fallon twice a year.