YSL Records – “Slime Language” review

YSL Records is a record label that was founded in 2016 by Atlanta, Georgia trap superstar Young Thug & is distributed by 300 Entertainment. The label’s biggest signee as of right now is Gunna, who’s been featured all over the place this year. Thugger’s 27th birthday a day prior continues to be celebrated with a compilation showcasing the artists on YSL over a month after former GCW World Champion, GCW World Tag Team Champion, 3-time NWA World Tag Team Champion, PWG World Champion, the inaugural ROH World Champion & 5-time TNA X Division Champion Low-Ki became the new MLW World Heavyweight Champion.

The album begins with “Tsunami”, where Thugger gets sexual over some over a druggy trap beat from Wheezy referencing 2-time WWE Hall of Famer, former 16-time WWE world champion, WWE Intercontinental Champion, 6-time WWE United States Champion, 6-time WWE tag team champion & 9-time NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair . The next song with “U Ain’t Slime Enough” with Karlae & Lil Duke sees the 3 shit-talking over a cloudy beat while the track “Gain Clout” talks about how people will do anything for fame nowadays & his speedy flow on here was unexpected yet amazing. The song “Oh Yeah” by HiDoraah has an instrumental kin to Young Thug’s previous mixtape Beautiful Thugger Girls, but her lifeless delivery does absolutely nothing for me.

The song “Audemar” with Tracy T sees the 2 getting braggadocious over a nondescript instrumental, but things do pick up on “Chanel (Go Get It)” as Thugger links up with Gunna & Lil Baby talking about taking their women on a shopping spree over a mellow Wheezy instrumental. The song “Dirty Shoes” sees Thugger & Gunna talking the lavish life over prominent hi-hats & the track “It’s a Slime” with Lil Uzi Vert is a club banger, but it’s not as fun as when they collaborated on “Up” off of the Hear No Evil EP that Young Thug dropped back in April. The song “Scoliosis” with Gunna & Lil Duke is a hilariously raunchy sex tune with a gritty instrumental while I can appreciate the message on “Goin’ Up”, the Lil Keed verse is generic as Hell.

The song “January 1st” is about being flexed out over a decent beat, but the verse from Trap Boy Freddy ruins it. Primarily because he sounds like a pre-pubescent version of Young Thug himself. However, there was a line during the first verse where Thugger disses Russ & I just couldn’t contain myself from laughing. The song “Chains Choking Me” with Gunna pretty much speaks for itself over a druggy beat with an acoustic guitar buried in the mix while the song “STS” with Strick feels like a mediocre Beautiful Thugger Girls leftover. The penultimate track “Expensive” is a decent showcase of Young Thug’s sisters HiDoraah & Dolly White as the 2 talk about getting wild over an instrumental that sounds like it was rejected during the LUV is Rage 2 sessions while the closer “Slimed In” is mostly dominated by Nechie, whose nasal auto-tuned delivery is annoying.

As a whole, this is compilation is a mixed bag. Young Thug himself & the production are ok & I can appreciate the fact that Thugger wanted to showcase the talent that he signed to YSL, but a lot of them don’t even stick out. It’s definitely for the hardcore fans.

Score: 2.5/5

Famous Dex – “Dex Meets Dexter” review

Famous Dex is a 24 year old rapper from Chicago, Illinois & he is finally releasing his debut album after dropping 7 mixtapes over the past 3 years. The album starts off with “DMD”, where Dex gets braggadocious over an atmospheric beat from Pi’erre Bourne. The next song “Prove It” talks about a gold digger over a bass-heavy instrumental with a funky guitar during the hook while the track “Japan” talks about partying in the titular country over a synth-trap beat. The song “Deadpool” may have a spacey trap beat, but it sounds underwritten.

The track “Light” is a luscious romance tune with a beautiful hook, but Dex’s auto-tune is cliché to me. The song “Celine” has a nice bell/trap beat from Ronny J & the auto-tune delivery here is way better than “Light”. The track “Take Her” with Wiz Khalifa flexes about the lavish life over a cloudy beat while the song “Hemi” sounds like a short freestyle over a bass-heavy Ronny J instrumental.

The track “Pick It Up” with A$AP Rocky sees the 2 charismatically bragging about their current wealth while reminiscing about the old days & the instrumental from both FKi 1st & Sosa 808 is beautiful. Especially with the soul sample. The song “Them Days” reflects on his youth over a cloudy beat while the track “Said So” is about her new chick & dissing his ex over a moody d.a. got that dope beat. While he‘s repeating himself on song “XOXO”, it is a fun joint to me. The track “Chump” is about fake dudes over an airy beat & then the closer “Champion” is basically about going from being broke to being rich over an spacey beat from Diplo.

This is the big debut that I’ve been wanting from Dex. His production is better than his past mixtapes & while he’s far from a spiritual lyrical miracle, I’ve always loved his charisma & it definitely shines brighter here than ever before

Score: 3.5/5

Future & Young Thug – “SUPER SLIMEY” review

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If it wasn’t enough that Future dropped his self-titled album & HNDRXX earlier this year along with Young Thug dropping Beautiful Thugger Girls mixtape back in June, the 2 Atlanta, Georgia trap superstars are now coming together with a surprise collaborative mixtape. The opener “No Cap” sees Future & Thugger getting braggadocious over an eerie beat from 808 Mafia co-founder Southside & then on the next track “3”, they channel their inner pimp over a futuristic-ish (no pun intended) trap instrumental from DY. The song “All da Smoke” is a party anthem with a fitting cloudy trap instrumental & the track “200” is yet another braggadocious tune, but this time with more of an atmospheric trap instrumental from Tre Pounds & Wheezy. The track “Cruise Ship” is a Thugger solo cut & I love how insanely energetic he sounds over this dreamy trap instrumental.

The song “Patek Water” is basically Young Thug & Offset rapping about not wanting to go back to being broke & not only was I disappointed that Future only did the hook on here, but Offset’s line near the end about “her sucking on semen” made me cringe a little bit. However, Future makes up for it by having the track “Feed Me Dope” to himself as he raps over a sinister instrumental. The song “Drip on Me” sees Future & Thugger linking back up once more to get mafioso over a wavy instrumental & then the track “Real Love” is an spacey sex tune with Future sounding more slick to set the vibe in contrast to Thugger sounding hype. The track “4 da Gang” is another Future solo cut, but with him talking about how nothing’s changed & repping his Freebandz crew over another cloudy beat from Fuse.

The song “Killed Before” is another Thugger solo cut & despite the verses being decent, I really love how he got London on da Track to bring back that country rap vibe from Beautiful Thugger Girls. The penultimate track “Mink Flow” gets back to the braggadocio bars over a hard beat from Mike WiLL Made-It & with the closer “Group Home” venting about their break-ups, Future’s verse is more sad & Thugger’s is more fittingly hostile considering the fact that he broke off his engagement with his ex-fiancée Karlae recently.

Modern trap fans would dream of someone as unique as Future doing a collab project with someone as versatile as Young Thug & in the end, I think this is better than the Drake & Future collab mixtape What a Time to Be Alive that they did back in 2015. Sure it’s not super lyrical, but I see that Future has a more natural chemistry with Thugger then he did with Drake. On top of that, the production is almost as lively & the deliveries are just wild

Score: 3.5/5