Young Thug - Beautiful Thugger Girls (Album Review)
Friday, 23 June 2017
Written by Jacob Brookman
There is a quote attributed to the novelist E.M. Forster concerning the distinction between coarseness and vulgarity: “...coarseness, reveal[s] something; vulgarity, conceal[s] something.” Perhaps this is the best way to appreciate the pure filth that comes out of Young Thug’s mouth.
From the strident lack of ceremony with which he ushers in ‘Beautiful Thugger Girls’ (“What up? Tryna put my dick inside your panties.”) to the album’s finale, which finds Thugger “masturbating to your nudes”, it’s clear that this Atlantan rapper is here to reveal as much as his idiosyncratic vocal style will permit.
Some of his bombast can probably be attributed to his growing influence in fashion and modelling versus his music. It probably takes the pressure off lyric writing and the need to be respected, or even understood.
Respect is so often demanded by rappers who appear to have very little respect to give, and this gives Thugger a potentially decisive take on things.The result is a wildly varied trap album that builds handsomely on the foundations of 2016’s ‘Jeffery’ mixtape.
Standout tracks include Do U Love Me, Family Don’t Matter and She Wanna Party, with the latter two featuring fine turns from London lyricist Millie Go Lightly. There's also the excellent Feel It, which opens with a joyous, wailed anacrusis: “I want that pussy in a Wraith!”
‘Beautiful Thugger Girls’ is Young Thug’s most melodic offering to date, with tracks like Me Or Us and Oh Yeah featuring the artist singing as much as rapping. As such it’s probably the most complete presentation of his hugely distinctive style to date. Me Or Us, in particular, borders on the sentimental and its strange whirring outro feels groundbreaking in a genre that is often hamstrung by a lack of musical invention.
There is vulgarity on this record, for sure, but for the most part, ‘Beautiful Thugger Girls’ is too strange and interesting to get bogged down by it. Don’t leave us for the catwalk just yet, YT.
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