By: Bradford Spurr, Photography Director
In a release that came relatively out of the blue, Atlanta rappers Future and Young Thug have created a collaborative effort that should squash all of the rumors of ‘beef’ and strife between the two. Both artists have put out projects this year, Future came out with two projects HNDRXX and FUTURE, Young Thug releasing a full length album Beautiful Thugger Girls and a joint release with producer Carnage, Young Martha.
A trademark of both rappers, regardless of their seemingly self-referential styles, is that they both have a pretty astounding rate of output. Both men are tirelessly working on several projects of their own while also being heavy hitters as features on others work. This point became the center of the alleged dispute between the two after one of the biggest producers in the game right now, Metro Boomin, said that his and Future’s sheer volume of work was greater than everyone else’s saying that, in a series of tweets, “All I’m saying is, I wish that everyone would put out more quality music over the quantity. It’s a marathon not a sprint.”
Now although Future has made the perpetual release of projects his “thing” that is hardly something that one can associate or give to an individual. There are plenty of other rappers that value quality over quantity. Long before Gucci Mane made his incredible reemergence into the mega-machine of Hip-Hop popular culture he was putting out several fair to middling efforts a year that featured an array of local producers and talent that helped to put the Atlanta trap rap scene on the map following in the tremendous footsteps left in the wake of rap super group Outkast. What Andre 3000 and Big Boi did for rap music alone, forget about Atlanta rap, could be the topic of an entire post alone, but their presence is always felt no matter where you go.
Nonetheless the native Atlanta duo have created a pretty cohesive project in SUPER SLIMEY. 13 songs, 40 minutes, one feature. Long gone are the days of epic albums, unraveling over hour plus run times. Maybe it’s the culture of instant gratification, but albums nowadays seem to be more easily digestible consumed in parts, while plugging and unplugging your phone from your car, constantly connected. So first things first, standouts from the album are definitely substantial enough to carry the project as a whole. “All da Smoke,” a Future heavy track stays steady with a simple beat and few breakdowns. The line from “All da Smoke” that plays best is Future’s “Pyrex, cook it up like Kyrie, trade you off (let’s go)/ Green and white like Celtics, don’t play with me, play with a fork (play with a woo).” Next, “Cruise Ship” sees a pretty natural sounding Thugger go sans significant auto tune to craft one of the best choruses on the entire project. The chorus starts with Young Thug quickly spitting “Dip and dab out the bag (dab out the bag)/ I got crips on Old Nat/You want problems for somethin’,” and then transitions into talking about the places he came from and how he’d still be alright if he didn’t get big from rapping, “If I wouldn’t have rapped, I’d still be rich (still rich)/ Three million dollar house, came from evictions (hood rich).” Directly following “Cruise Ship” is the album’s standout single, “Patek Water,” featuring the nimble Offset of Migos fame. Offset’s second half of his verse is incredible, he switches his flow in a matter of seconds between his line delivery, “Hop on the wave and drown, my mama been Cartier bracelet down (mama)/ Uh, face it down (hey), dirty my soda, I hate the brown (oo)/ Hold it down ‘cause the plug is illegal (plug)/ Ridin’ ‘round with a dub and a eagle (brrt)/ I heard the money get evil, prayin’ to God to keep me from demons (God).” “Drip on Me” is another highlight, a cut that shows the strengths of both artists and is a great example of how these two rappers work well when collaborating. My personal favorite track is a Young Thug heavy piece in “Killed Before.” He starts with “Everyone know I’ve been killed before/ I’ve been bent like a centerfold,” Thugger has been beaten and abused, he knows what it’s like to be down and out. But he persevered and found success. He has money now, he has his cars, and that’s enough to squash the haters and people trying to detract from his good fortune. Young Thug and future might not be in the same league as Big Boi and Andre three stacks but they work well together and they put out a new project practically every other month. So sometimes quantity can outshine quality, sometimes it helps if the music is great too but that’s just an added bonus.