Flouting hip-hop conventions while defying gender and sexuality stereotypes,
Young Thug has been one of the most distinctive contemporary rap artists since attaining his chart debut with "Stoner" (2014). The eccentric rapper's first of many gold- and platinum-certified recordings arrived amid a barrage of mixtapes that led to the Top Ten entries
JEFFERY (2016) and
Beautiful Thugger Girls (2017), and eventually his chart-topping debut studio album,
So Much Fun (2019). A keen collaborator,
Thug has been featured on dozens of tracks, including pop hits such as
Camila Cabello's "Havana,"
Childish Gambino's Grammy-winning "This Is America," and
Post Malone's "Goodbyes," and he has hit the upper reaches of the charts with the co-headlining commercial mixtapes
Super Slimey (with
Future) and
Slime & B (with
Chris Brown), as well as the crew compilation
Slime Language 2. In 2021, he offered his second chart-topping studio album,
Punk.
An Atlanta native,
Young Thug (born Jeffery Lamar Williams) released three volumes of his mixtape series I Came from Nothing before joining
Gucci Mane's 1017 Brick Squad crew in late 2012. His mixtape 1017 Thug followed in early 2013, featuring the quirky street single "Picacho." Later in the year, his "Stoner" single appeared, but it didn't catch fire until 2014, when an authorized remix featuring
Wale opened the floodgates for a series of unauthorized remixes from artists like
Jim Jones,
Iamsu!, and
Trick Trick. The original track peaked that April and was eventually certified gold by the RIAA.
That same year,
Thug signed to 300 Entertainment, the Atlantic-distributed imprint co-founded by Lyor Cohen and
Kevin Liles, and continued recording mixtapes. His first release for the label, 2015's
Barter 6, climbed to number 22 on the Billboard 200 album chart. He began 2016 with
I'm Up, the first of many mixtapes that year, which debuted at the same position as
Barter. Months later, he dropped the Top Ten hit
Slime Season 3. Before his next release, he was awarded a platinum certification for his 2015 track "Best Friend." At the end of the summer, he unexpectedly issued his third tape, originally titled No, My Name Is Jeffery and changed a week later to simply
JEFFERY. With its provocative cover art and concept (each track was named after one of
Thug's idols),
JEFFERY featured reggae/dub flourishes and appearances by
Migos'
Offset and
Quavo,
Gucci Mane,
Travis Scott, and
Wyclef Jean.
Veering unexpectedly into new sonic territory,
Beautiful Thugger Girls arrived in June 2017. Though it flirted with country and pop, the set retained
Thug's trademark weirdness at the fore. In 2017, he issued a pair of collaborations, first with producer
Carnage on the
Young Martha EP, which saw release that September, and then with
Future on the October mixtape
Super Slimey, and he was also featured on
Camila Cabello's number one pop hit "Havana." The single "Ride on Me," featuring
A-Trak, arrived in early 2018 ahead of the release of the
Hear No Evil EP, which was issued that April. After he appeared on another number one hit,
Childish Gambino's "This Is America" (subsequently the Song of the Year winner at the 61st Grammy Awards), he issued the Young Stoner Life Records compilation
Slime Language, which featured
Lil Duke,
Gunna, and
Lil Uzi Vert. The next month,
Thug released his third EP,
On the Rvn. Debuting in the Top 20 of both the Billboard 200 and the R&B/hip-hop charts, the set featured guests
6LACK and
Jaden Smith, as well as
Elton John, who gave
Thug his seal of approval on the "Rocket Man"-sampling "High."
Thug's first output in 2019 arrived in the form of a collaboration with
J. Cole and
Travis Scott titled "The London." The single became his first Top 40 pop hit as a headliner -- it peaked at number 12 on the Hot 100 -- and was featured on his proper debut album,
So Much Fun, which followed in August and topped the Billboard 200. Before the album's second single, "Hot," reached number 11 on the Hot 100,
Thug was the featured artist on yet another hit,
Post Malone's Top Three "Goodbyes." "The London" was later nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Rap/Sung Performance.
Thug's work throughout 2020 included appearances on charting tracks by
Migos,
Gunna,
DaBaby, and
JackBoys, and a commercial mixtape collaboration with
Chris Brown,
Slime & B. He later reached the number one position for a second time with an appearance on
Travis Scott's single "Franchise."
Kicking off 2021,
Thug scored his first chart-topper of the year with the
Young Stoner Life compilation
Slime Language 2. The set featured
Travis Scott,
Drake,
Lil Uzi Vert,
Big Sean,
Skepta,
Future,
Kid Cudi, and over a dozen more famous friends. By the end of the year,
Thugger delivered his second studio LP,
Punk, a slight return to his more experimental side that featured guest spots from
Doja Cat,
Post Malone,
Gunna,
J. Cole, and many others. The album debuted at the number one spot on the Billboard 200 chart. ~ David Jeffries & Andy Kellman