Young Thug releases the final installment of his Slime Season trilogy

Young+Thug%2C+also+known+as+Jeffrey+Lamar+Williams%2C+drops+new+music+with+Slime+Season+three.+

Courtesy of allhiphop.com

Young Thug, also known as Jeffrey Lamar Williams, drops new music with Slime Season three.

Jeffrey Lamar Williams, best-known by his stage name Young Thug, released the final installment of his Slime Season trilogy on March 25, 2016. Thug was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, and began gaining notoriety in 2013 when he was included in Complex Magazine’s list of 25 New Rappers to Watch Out For. Although it may not be the official Young Thug debut that hip-hop and rap fans have been waiting for, Slime Season 3 is an impressive work that showcases Thug’s creative wordplay and surprisingly decent singing voice.

By far, the best song is the album’s second song, titled “Memo.” Thug raps about how the fame and money he is accumulating is affecting him and those whom he surrounds himself with. “Stack them racks, they know the memo / [Man] stop playin’ you know the memo / Yeah look at what she sayin’, she know the memo,” Young Thug says in the chorus in a cheerful, semi-AutoTuned voice that effectively complements his rapping. Throughout the entire song, Thug shows his listeners that he is different from other popular rappers of the current time; he is able to rap cutting verses, but he can complement these sharp lines with a surprisingly decent singing voice. And, of course, what would a Young Thug song be without a little braggadocio? “When I die I want a hundred bands inside my casket” he chirps over a melodic beat (produced by his longtime friend and song-collaborator, London On Da Track).

However, one song that just feels out of place is the album’s third song, titled “Drippin.’” This is the only track on which Thug seems to be wandering aimlessly, and rapping without any clear purpose. His voice doesn’t flow well with the background beat at all, and he doesn’t use that decent singing voice at any point in the song. Instead, Thug yells and hollers, basically about nothingness, over a beat that I probably could have produced on my computer. Just to give you a glimpse of some of the lyricism on this track: “He geeked on beat / 2 freaks I just geeked SK Kel-Tech XPD / OG off codeine, need more lean.” I’m not a huge fan of rappers resorting to weapon and drug talk to fill their verses, but I can tolerate it if they use creative phrases and wordplay and have some other meaning hidden in the song. However, Thug does not fit this criteria on “Drippin.’” I respect the guy for branching out and trying a new style on the song (I guess he’s going for that rough, choppy feel?), but he should probably stick to just rapping like he normally raps.

Thug’s best song saleswise is definitely the first track on Slime Season 3, titled “With Them.” Thug premiered the song at Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo listening session at Madison Square Garden. He gets some help from renowned hip-hop producer Mike WiLL Made It, who produces a catchy beat that almost any artist could turn into a mega-hit. Thug’s voice on this track is clear and crisp, and resembles a cross between the lively voice of a pop singer and the harsh voice of a rapper. The creative wordplay Young Thug is capable of using is evident here; he sings, “You can’t take jack, fall into this mouse trap / Riding through the bity, got a AK on my lap / I’m not talking [crap], but I’m ready to shoot some craps / If he think he wanna see me, I’ma send a hundred straps.” Instead of simply warning his enemies not to test him, Thug uses the metaphor of a mouse trap; although he may look innocent on the surface, getting too close could result in his enemy getting hurt or “trapped” like a mouse would in a mouse trap. Thug also isn’t afraid to rap about his roots as he flaunts his affiliation with the Bloods, a Los Angeles street gang. He does it subtly but creatively, replacing the “c” in “city” with a “b” to show that he identifies with the Bloods and not the Crips, who are rival street gangs.

While some of Thug’s language on Slime Season 3 is violent and profane, this is the reality for people who grow up in the streets of Atlanta. Thug raps about what he lives with, and he put together a smooth, nicely-flowing body of work in Slime Season 3.