Professionally known as Young Thug, Jeffery Lamar Williams has succeeded as today’s mainstream rapper. In the past two years he has released 76 solo tracks. He makes at least $50,000 for a verse on another rapper’s song, and at least $50,000 for every appearance. On top of that sells out every concert. Coming from nothing in the ghettos of Atlanta, his tenacity to overcome the difficult transpired him as someone capable of the impossible.
He has received both praise and criticism for his eccentric and unique vocal style, and he is famous for his atypical lyric curation process. He never writes lyrics down; typically he’ll freestyle tracks live in the studio.
He claims he has no feelings. None at all. He wears women’s Uggs. And he casually carries AR-15s. He is a walking paradox. So why do we love him? Maybe it’s because he’s become a sort of status symbol, one who “gives no fucks”. Especially at a time when society is so sensitive. Listen to Young Thug on Spotify.
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Childhood
The great Young Thug came from nothing; he had that rough upbringing that we expect most great rappers to have. He was born Jeffrey Lamar Williams on August 16, 1991 in Sylvan Hills, Atlanta. He was the second youngest of 11 children, and his mother struggled significantly to raise them. Without any money, they were forced to reside in the notorious Jonesboro South projects in the city’s Zone 3. Other notable rappers from the neighborhood include Waka Flocka Flame, Ludacris, 2 Chainz and PeeWee Longway. When he was just a kid, he witnessed his elder brother get shot, and another one of his brothers is still serving time for murder. After breaking his teacher’s arm in sixth grade, Jeffrey was expelled and spent the next four years in a juvenile detention center. Shortly after, he discovered he loved taking risks, and he began gambling and experimenting with drugs. By the time he was seventeen, he became a father for the first time. It was at this point that he started recognizing his talent for music and rapping, and he decided that he wouldn’t live in poverty any longer.
Early Career With Gucci Mane
His career debuted in 2010 when he made a guest appearance on rapper TruRoyal‘s song “She Can Go”. Throughout 2011 and 2012, he released the first three installments of his mixtape series I Came from Nothing, and he caught the attention of Gucci Mane. Things changed for Young Thug when the fellow Atlanta-based rapper signed him to his label 1017 Brick Squad Records in 2013. He released his first project on the label, 1017 Thug. The mixtape received positive reviews from critics and was noted for its original style. It was included in numerous year-end lists for 2013, such as Complex‘s The 50 Best Albums of 2013 and an Albums of the Year: Honorable Mention from Pitchfork. The most notable song from the mixtape is “Picacho”. It was included in several year-end lists such as Rolling Stone‘s 100 Best Songs of 2013 and Spin‘s 50 Best Songs of 2013.
In July of 2013, Young Thug was included in Complex‘s list of 25 New Rappers to Watch Out For. Exceeding their expectations, he released his commercial debut single “Stoner” a few months later. The single was a hit, and it spawned numerous unofficial remixes by several artists, such as Wale, Jim Jones and Trick-Trick. Maybe they thought he would take it as a compliment, but his reaction was quite the opposite. His song “Danny Glover” also received a number of remixes by Waka Flocka Flame and Nicki Minaj.
“If you feel like my song isn’t tough enough to the point where you have to freestyle… Don’t think I’m happy that you’re doing it because of who you are. I’m ready for war.”
-Young Thug
Thug first worked with American audio engineer and DJ Alex Tumay when he began collaborating with Metro Boomin on his 19 & Boomin album. Since then Tumay has held an important role in the creation of Thug’s slate. The following December, he performed (for the first time?) in Miami at the Fool’s Gold Day Off show, along with Travis Scott and Trick Daddy.
Pitchfork included 1017 Thug at No. 96 on their list of best albums of the first half of the 2010s decade.
The Rise to Popularity
2014 was a very notable year in Thug’s career. He began recording songs with Kanye West, who praised him for his gift of making songs so fast. Thug is known for free styling tracks live and writing hit songs in under 10 minutes. He never writes lyrics, but sometimes he’ll plan lyrics by drawing signs and shapes.
“I’m in the studio so much, I’ll just try stuff. I just think and try, think and try. I don’t really know how to sing, but I’ve been trying for years.”
-Young Thug
Thug revealed that Kanye played an influential role in his development. Afterwards he announced upcoming mixtapes in collaboration with Rich Homie Quan, Chief Keef and Bloody Jay. Later that year he was featured on the March 2014 cover of The Fader.
On March 11, 2014, his debut single “Stoner”, was serviced to rhythmic contemporary radio in the United States by Asylum and Atlantic Records. Upon announcing his debut album, he planted a seed of resentment in American hip hop superstar Lil Wayne, who has been the one of the biggest influences in Young Thug’s music career. He stated that the album’s title would be ‘Carter 6’, referencing Lil Wayne’s The Carter album series. Maybe he thought he would take it as a compliment, but his reaction was quite the opposite. Déjà vu.
Two days later Thug announced his upcoming collaborative album called Metro Thuggin with American record producer Metro Boomin. The song “The BLanguage” uses elements from Canadian rapper Drake‘s “The Language”, which was released the same day…
The rest of 2014 was a whirlwind for Thug. In April he dropped a song with 808 Mafia titled “Eww”. It was a huge success and was named as one of the five best songs of the week by XXL. On June 17, he officially signed with 300 Entertainment label. On July 1, Thug’s 2013 song “Danny Glover” was released by Mass Appeal Records under a new name, “2 Bitches”. On the same day, Mass Appeal Records released the first single from their compilation album Mass Appeal Vol. 1 titled “Old English”. It features Young Thug alongside American rappers ASAP Ferg and Freddie Gibbs. A few months later, the first single from Cash Money Records Rich Gang 2 compilation was released. Titled “Take Kare”, it featured Thug alongside Rich Gang and Lil Wayne.
2014 did not go unnoticed…
“…most exciting new voice of hip hop.”
–Rolling Stone
Black Portland: The 4th Best Album of 2014
-music critic Robert Christgau
Barter 6 and Slime Season series
2015 started out different for Young Thug. Hundreds of his unreleased tracks had been leaked to the Internet from a series of data breaches. Following this incident, things didn’t get better. Remember when I mentioned that Thug’s upcoming debut album was titled ‘Carter 6’, in homage to Lil Wayne’s upcoming album, Tha Carter V. Well if you remember Lil Wayne was not too happy about it, and he even told an audience during a show in April to “top listening” to Young Thug. Thug claimed that he’d been threatened with lawsuits, and he changed the title to Barter 6, however it was now an mixtape rather than an album.
His new debut album was title Hy!£UN35. Apparently it translates to “HiTunes”. IDK. At this time there was much speculation as to what label Thug was signed with, but he cleared that up in May. He also announced an upcoming mixtape called Tha Carter V.
“I manage myself. I’m signed with Atlantic. I have a big, special deal with Atlantic, and it’s only Atlantic. Birdman is my homie.”
-Young Thug
Thug released the well-received compilation mixtapes Slime Season and Slime Season 2 in an effort to prevent another internet leakage scandal. He then teased us with a possible Kanye-Thug collaboration, saying that Kanye was impressed after previewing his unreleased music. Things were starting to look up again for Young Thug.
“I was letting him hear all the music. Then he said I was like Bob Marley and he wanted to do an album with me. I was like, ‘Let’s roll!'”
-Young Thug
On February 4 2016, Young Thug subsequently appeared on Kanye’s 2016 album The Life of Pablo. 300 Entertainment released a promotional single “Pacifier”, in support of his debut album, Hy!£UN35. A month later he released the final installment of the Slime Season series in Slime Season 3. This was going to be the end of leaked material fo Thug. He toured the United States on his May 2016 Hi-Tunes tour, which featured artists Dae Dae, TM88, and Rich The Kid.
Jeffery
In August of 2016 Young Thug changed his name to ‘Jeffery’ the week during the release of the Jeffery mixtape, which was a huge hit BTW. The album’s artwork featuring Thug dressed in an androgynous dress designed by Italian designer Alessandro Trincone went viral on social media.
In November 2016, he announced he was starting his own record label imprint called YSL records. He contributed vocals to numerous hit artists: Drake’s songs “Sacrifices” and “Ice Melts” on the album More Life; Calvin Harris‘ song “Heartstroke” along with Ariana Grande and Pharrell Williams, released in March 2017; Diplo‘s song “Bankroll” along with Justin Bieber and Rich the Kid, released in May 2017.
A month later he announced the commercial mixtape Beautiful Thugger Girls, which was originally titled ‘E.B.B.T.G.’ The project was executively-produced by Drake and was released on June 16, 2017. He also peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for collaboration with Camila Cabello in her single “Havana”. This was a big moment for Thug, as it was his very first No. 1 hit.
His joint EP with DJ Carnage titled Young Martha was released in September 2017, and he dropped another joint EP with future titled Super Slimey.
In April of 2018, he released an EP called Hear No Evil, as well as the single “Ride for Me”. In August 2018, he released another compilation album, Slime Language. He also released the single “This Is America” in collaboration with Childish Gambino. Last May it debuted at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Most recently in May 2019, he released the song “The London” in collaboration with J. Cole and Travis Scott. He also announced his forthcoming project, Gold Mouf Dog.
