Young Thug’s Brevity Works in His Favor on ‘I’m Up’

Young Thug has been at risk of overexposure since last fall. He followed up his brilliant retail mixtape (that was considered album) Barter 6 with two collections of loose tracks he recorded that never found a home on a full project: Slime Season and Slime Season 2. The mixtapes were released a month apart and were longer than his actual album. Forty tracks in about 40 days is a little much even if the tapes contained some of his best songs. It's almost good that his Hy!£UN35 album was delayed indefinitely; it would almost certainly be too much too soon for even his biggest fans.

This was also a fear leading up to the release of his latest project, I'm Up. Originally Thug teased the release on Feb. 5 with the title Slime Season 3 (which is apparently still in the works) before updating and changing the release to I'm Up. Unlike his last few releases, Thug keeps it quick and simple with only nine tracks that last 38 minutes. It's a much more digestible piece of work, which gives it an edge over the mixtapes even if it doesn't always reach the individual heights of those works. Even somebody as unique as Thug can grow stale if heard enough, and this shorter tape allows him to stay fresh.

The theme of I'm Up is undoubtedly about Thug's relationships with his friends and family, and it can be seen just by a simple review of the tracklist. "My Boys," "For My People" and "Family" are about just that. Even in his ascent to rap stardom, he's not forgetting the ones who have supported him through everything. He even gives his sisters Dolly and Dora some mic time on "Family." Family members on rappers' projects are often nice thoughts that lack execution, but Dolly and Doris surprisingly keep up with their brother.

These relationships come up often on the project. "My Boys" has Thug, Lil Durk, Trouble and Ralo talking about their dedication to their friendships. Ralo, who has beefed with Young Thug in the past and even admitted to shooting at him, talks about how he and Thug are tight now, even saying, "I swear to God I'll murk 'em if Thugger say the word." "King TROUP" is dedicated to Keith Troup, a rapper and friend of Thug who was shot and killed in December. On "Ridin," he and Durk ask if others will ride for them through anything.

Young Thug can get distracted a bit from these topics at times. The first track "F Cancer (Boosie)" might be the biggest example. Initially it seems to be a tribute specifically to collaborator Boosie Badazz, who has been dealing with health issues for the past few months. Yet the only time either cancer or Boosie is mentioned is the first line of the songs. Eventually he goes into detail about how he does it for his crew and his family, and just as quickly goes off to talk about women and cars. Thugger has always had a tendency to jump from topic to topic at the drop of the hat, even on his slower songs.

While Thug showing his more personal side is great, the highlight of I'm Up is probably the least personal song on the entire tape. The Metro Boomin-produced "Hercules" sounds like classic Young Thug, with plenty of opportunities to pepper in his ad-libs, play with his versatile voice and flow, and drop ridiculousness like "Bitch I'm speedin' to that guap-anese/Old Chevy mounted up, I can't forget the 'T.'"

Thug's tendency to drop mixtapes of one-off tracks that last an hour-and-change in length has the potential to be his Achilles heel down the line. Luckily, on I'm Up his brevity keeps him sounding like a breath of fresh air for the time being. He might want to switch up his approach to releasing music to be more like this going down the line. It's what worked for his rival Future so much recently. Staying in the conversation by releasing a steady stream of new material can be good, but it works best when there's more cohesion and less filler.

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