After one of the most public and entertaining court trials in recent memory, Atlanta rapper Young Thug wasted no time announcing his next project, only 6 months after being released from prison. Thug has a reputation for being one of the biggest, most confident, and influential artists in the last decade challenging traditional norms in both music and fashion. When he announced his next studio album ‘Uy Scuti’, the name of the hottest star known to man, I was very excited, as his recent projects, even the one he made while in prison, were great. I believed being fresh out of jail would allow Thug to be more excited and creatively driven for this album.
That was not the case. On Sept. 26, Thug dropped ‘Uy Scuti’ on streaming platforms. And it was incredibly underwhelming. No, the album’s not bad at all, but its biggest issue is that it is insanely boring. Even Thug’s weaker albums that he dropped in the past were exciting to listen to, as he pushed the boundaries of vocal and instrumental performances. This album completely loses that feeling of creativity that listeners of Thug are so accustomed to. To start, the production on this album is incredibly boring, as no beat on the album stands out as unique or quality to me. Many of the instrumentals include heavy distorted bass, and either synths or chopped vocal samples. What makes it worse is the weak vocal performance that Thug gives. Thug’s usual high pitched and creative delivery is absent in this album, and it’s replaced by a more casual low pitched low effort delivery.
Like every Thug album, there are many features, and a lot of them fall short. Cardi B’s feature on the album seems very forced because of her recent album release. Sexyy Red follows a similar trend with a forced feature due to her popularity. However there are some high moments in this album. Lil Baby’s feature on ‘Pardon My Back’ provides the best verse on the album. Both songs with Thug’s girlfriend Mariah The Scientist are also good because of their chemistry. ‘I’m So Dope’ is also a great song where Thug demonstrates his elite ability to create flows and melodies.
Thugs album being boring is very disappointing, but it is the gateway to a much larger issue in the Trap subgenre of hip hop. All five of the biggest trap artists (Playboi Carti, Future, Lil Uzi Vert, Travis Scott, and Young Thug) have dropped an album in the last year. All of these albums have been very disappointing, and although some may have done decent streaming numbers in the first month, the longevity that old trap music used to have has been lost. It feels like new albums are not all about the music, but more about the rollout for the album, and the revisiting of artists’ old music. Playboi Carti and Young Thug are both guilty of this, as both of their latest album rollouts were well over six months long. It also seems that creativity has been lost in trap music. I was very excited to see a Young Thug album, because he is traps’ most fearless and creative artist, and he fell into the same cycle every other artist has as of late, boring music that is more about creating an image/character than good music.
‘Uy Scuti’ does not mark the end of trap music though, more is a massive warning. If trap artists continue these low effort albums that are more about image than music, then Trap music will vanish from the mainstream. Trap music needs a return to form of pushing the boundaries of music, something that was popular from 2015-2020, the peak of trap music. But for now, trap music is in a weak state, and ‘Uy Scuti’ did nothing but contribute to that.
