Young Thug - BUSINESS IS BUSINESS ALBUM REVIEW
This is the third Studio Album from Atlanta trap legend, Young Thug.
As everybody already knows, Young Thug is dropping this album from jail as him and his entire label, YSL, are under a RICO charge right now and it is not looking very good for them in all honesty. We got Gunna’s album last week and all of a sudden we get an announcement from Young Thug that his album is also set for release. We all expected some interesting topical focus on the whole situation, maybe stupidly as we don’t know many artists to have ever brought an entire studio in the jail. We all should’ve realised that these were some tracks recorded for his last album cycle before he went into jail (the one that he posted the cover for last year).
Of course there is no jail bars on here but we’re still getting 15 tracks that sound really finished and fleshed out, with multiple massive features from his contemporaries and loads of really well crafted instrumentals which were handled by the man who can do no wrong currently, Metro Boomin. We had no singles, we only got the tracklist a day before it dropped, so there were no expectations from the record on that front.
Parade on Cleveland is a really sleepy start in my opinion, you get this really slow, pretty sad instrumental and Drake is really trying his best to put you to sleep on the front end, to the point that when the Young Thug verse comes in it feels like the biggest relief in the world even though the verse itself is really not that good. This one kind of sounds like it was recorded from jail as well as the mix isn’t as clean as the rest of the record. The flow is pretty good from Thugger though. The following track Money On The Dresser is an absolute banger though, the beat is quirky and weird, with these Luigi’s Mansion type organ hits and crazy strings, but Young Thug does an incredible job over it with these weird vocal inflections, which makes it the most unique track on the record by a large margin. Gucci Grocery Bag is a track that was clearly made in the So Much Fun Cycle, the beat sounds like something directly off that record. The refrain of Gucci Grocery Bag is really catchy for some reason but it’s still a pretty half baked song in my eyes. Cars Bring Me Out however, is an unbelievably high energy banger with a great verse from Future but the absolute show stealer is Young Thug, the hook is like crack in a song and the authority he lays down in his verse is fantastic. Beat knocks as usual with a Wheezy beat and the exact same goes for Wit Da Racks which follows it, the 808s are just relentless on this track. They really don’t stop and neither does Young Thug on his verse, he barely even takes a breath in the first half of it and he’s really going for it on this one, you can really tell. 21 Savage and Travis Scott are also really solid additions to this track and even though I don’t care for the Yak Gotti verse on here, the rest is good enough for me for it to remain a highlight. Uncle M is another contender for weirdest song on the record, it has a bit of a grand feel to it with these weird vocals in the background that sound kind of godly and Thug does his thing over the beat. The beat even raises in tempo when the hook comes in and towards the end of the track you hear these Travis Scott harmonies and ad-libs which transitions really nicely into the next track, Abracadabra, which is he featured on. Unfortnuately I think this is by far his weakest contribution to the album and it’s probably Young Thug’s worst flow and hook on the record as well. The beat is decent but Travis is trying these weird inflections that just don’t sound right. Thug’s flow feels a bit boring and the hook is just one of those that doesn’t really connect unfortunately. Went Thru It doesn’t even feel like a trap beat, it has more of a dancey, poppy feel to it and Thug does kind of struggle to keep the flow tight, I do really like his singing on this cut though as it feels more fitting on the instrumental. Oh U Went is definitely a contender for catchiest hook on the record, Thugger’s voice sounds great on this luscious and summery beat and when Drake comes in he just elevates the track even further, so much better than that half arsed singing on the intro. His flow is great, the rhyme scheme is impressive and there’s some entertaining bars here and there too. Want Me Dead is also a really fun one which is mostly stolen by an amazing verse from 21 Savage, he really brings the dark vibe and menacing flow to this one and it’s a nice aesthetic switchup as a lot of this record is quite upbeat. Thug really does do his thing on the front end as well, his flow is really creative with him finding these pockets that are barely even there. It’s really impressive. Hellcat Kenny is a more synthetic cut produced by F1LTHY and it’s a really good beat in all fairness. Young Thug plays it a bit safe on the front end but he walks so that Lil Uzi Vert can run because WHAT a performance from Uzi here. Pink Tape is dropping tomorrow and I can not wait to hear it, obviously for many more reasons than this verse but this certainly doesn’t detract from my hype for that project. His flow is fast, snappy and really impressive. Mad Dog is for me Young Thug’s best performance on the mic , really gets quite eccentric and unorthodox with it all over this track and the hook is really catchy too. Jonesboro is far and away the best produced track on the record, of course handled by Metro, and it feels like a nostalgic local Atlanta anthem. It’s not even a trap beat and so I was so impressed by Thugger’s ability to slide over this beat so well, it shows a bit of artistic variety that I didn’t really know he had. I would only listen to this track for the instrumental if I could though, It’s just that good. Hoodie is just a straight to the point trap banger, it really doesn’t have much special about it but it’s a decent listen with a pretty good instrumental. It honestly feels like they had to make sure the YSL members got some verses in and so they tacked this track onto the record near the end. The exact same applies to the really disappointing outro as well, It’s got a really dramatic and “emotional” intro, but the track randomly just cuts to a regular Young Thug verse from the vault that sounds half baked as fuck and it makes it so clear that these were 2 seperate files just shoved together and released. Disappointing finish to a really fun project in my opinion.
Overall, I think Young Thug has done exactly what he does best on this album. He’s made an album with a lot of really fun and enjoyable, entertaining tracks that I’ll keep in rotation for a while. Really reminiscent of So Much Fun in that sense. There’s a few misses on here though, probably a couple more than it needed to be a true trap classic or anything like that. Like I said though, it’s still an enjoyable listen and if Young Thug still has more tracks of this quality in the vault then I’d be happy to hear more until he’s rightfully freed from jail. Free Thugger.
I’m feeling a Light 7.