The Weekly Coos

A week after Gunna released a Gift & a Curse, Young Thug released his follow-up to Punk, Business is Business. Leading to the album, YSL labelmates, friends, and associated acts and producers posted a QR code that led to a countdown indicating a new release by the currently incarcerated rapper. Unfortunately, Business is Business isn’t entirely compiled of new material since the tightness of Thug’s incarceration limits him a lot, but that isn’t a negative. The album was constructed using past unreleased material and previously leaked tracks fully polished, noted by Metro Boomin’, the executive producer. Looking at the title and the cover art, Business is Business paints the picture of a rapper hungry to feed fans with tracks filled to the brim with great lyricism and rhyme schemes, and it’s just that, for the most part. Some featured artist muddle puddles as he rides waves powerfully; the waves ascend and descend with the strength of the production, which here, stays consistent, even when it’s a far cry from a perfect album. It’s not as tight or fluid as Punk, despite having focus, but some features aren’t as pronounced, and some tracks continue to feel like random loosies.

Opening with a Drake-driven intro – “Parade On Cleveland” – you get hit with what the album wants to deliver. Young Thug focuses on sharp lyricism and hard-hitting flows revolving around flexing, success, and perseverance. As it continues progresses from there, we get more percussion-heavy beats that have the construct for rappers to bring their all instead of weaving creative transitions and shifting song structures to showcase an immersive artistic side. Business is Business isn’t absent of that, however, as Thug takes you through creative avenues, like with the closer, “Global Access,” a wonderfully sobering somber song that gives Thug’s flex rap a different dimension as the apropos becomes lost within the purview of many. Nate Ruess, like his featured performance on the album Punk, brings a lovely and modest performance that focuses on establishing the divide between artistic freedom and those who use it loosely – think how people react to murder ballads in Country music to Hip-Hop; it’s about the predominant race within the genre – this retroactively adds more dimensions to the verses Thug raps about.

Much of what Young Thug raps about on the album is consistent; he raps about cars, drug use, money, and women, even when the song’s title may have you thinking otherwise. That isn’t to say Business is Business is just music built around verses that focus on flexing and fun; Thug breaks down barriers as we get to hear a sensitive side, additional to hard-hitting tracks like “Hellcat Kenny,” “Mad Dog,” and “Cars Bring Me Out.” That sensitive side is layered significantly, considering the real-life implications surrounding him and his incarceration – it breaks the barriers rappers have had where they can’t flex or get fictional for character purposes without being seen as if it’s a truth. It’s like when Ice Cube in the film Straight Outta Compton retorted to the police harassing them; it’s reality rap, not gangsta-rap, as institutional and systematic racism has made these painted pictures feel like an everyday hardened reality. So when Thug gives us a view into his mind with tracks like “Went Thru It” and “Hoodie,” which sees him facing death and an unknown future. It levels the playing field so the music doesn’t stay redundant from start to finish.

Unfortunately, the album sometimes loses itself due to weak features from Travis Scott, 21 Savage, and Yak Gotti, which makes you feel why some of them may have been unreleased. With Travis Scott, he has one featured moment that shifts from just being a nothing burger to a disappointment. “Abracadabra” features one of Young Thug’s best hooks as he drives up the melodies, bringing sheer catchiness with the rhymes and performative potency, which gets boasted by these fun tweaks in the autotune. The beat gets clever with the claps in conjunction with the percussion, allowing the vocals to create that magic with a swag-filled atmospheric vibe. It fools you into thinking that Travis Scott would deliver something great, but Scott is forgettable, offering a weak verse that will leave most disappointed. It makes the indelible features shine brighter, like the two tracks with Drake – “Parade On Cleveland” and “Oh U Went” – each having quality verses and performances from Drake, and the latter does what “Abracadabra” does with the chorus. Thug makes redundancy catchy and effective, giving life to a more gangsta rap-like track by bringing some gripping melodies. Similarly, “Hellcat Keny” has Lil Uzi Vert at their best, grabbing you and making you feel that intense energy.

There’s plenty of solid production from Young Thug’s frequent collaborators, like Wheezy, Southside, and Metro Boomin, alongside other producers who’ve given us some great beats over the years. Some aren’t as great as others as they don’t do much beyond a base percussion, opting for more typical flair – I’m speaking specifically about “Uncle M,” “Wit Da Racks,” and “Want Me Dead.” The last two meander and leave you with nothing of value to return to, just like with some features that make songs pivot downward in quality, unlike the former, which at least has a good verse from Thug. There are a lot of great beats that play around with tempo and pitches, like “Mad Dog,” “Cars Bring Me Out,” “Money On The Dresser,” and, much to my chagrin, “Went Thru It.” The producers are finding new ways to keep the momentum shifting so that Thug can deliver these multi-faceted flows like with “Cars Bring Me Out,” where Thug is more enigmatic, or “Went Thru It,” where Thug adds some poppy undertones to the flow so it can embrace different emotional beats.

It’s hard to quantify how fantastic much of the album is considering Young Thug’s artistic detachment from styles heard on previous records. I was left vibing hard and gravitating further toward Thug’s writing, especially the cadence in which he delivers it, and I know fans will too. Even the curious will find a lot to enjoy about this album, specifically Thug who keeps it 100 while making sure his voice is never absent from the zeitgeist. Though that isn’t something that he should worry about, the music is nonetheless overly welcomed! Give it a Spin. You have my guarantee you will hear some great bangers.