When you enter a different world, you don’t expect to speak the same language. It’s unclear where he came from or where he’s going next, but none of the minor logistics matter. His singles “Stoner”, “Danny Glover”, and “Lifestyle” earned him airplay across the South, but this mixtape is when he announced his arrival. Since last February’s release of 1017 Thug, Thug has ascended to the throne as Atlanta’s next star. Or at the very least, Pokémon, as an evil Pikachu where he can level up, blind you with diamonds and use his lightning rod at will. He belongs in an animated world of mad hatters, sorcerers, witch’s curses, and carpet-bombing. It also sounds like he’s taking a trip to Alberia, a country from Howl’s Moving Castle, which actually makes more sense. That is, if he’s not in Jamaica or Siberia smoking weed from Nigeria. The condo is an aspirational ideal, a metaphor for highness, a place to store his imaginary Grammys, and to fuck nannies. He spells out “l-e-a-n-i-n-g” on “ 2 Cups Stuffed” like Styrofoam and codeine were presents under the Christmas tree. You might question the lifestyle decisions, but few make self-destruction sound so gleeful. His craggy voice sounds ancient and energetic at the same time.

The eccentricity makes him compelling, but it doesn’t make him great. But when he looks in the mirror, 22-year old Jeffrey Williams only sees a meal ticket and occasionally Princess Leia buns. But Thugga hails from one planet further out, an inhospitable and volcanic sphere of choppy rock where the strip clubs only accept hundreds. There’s the croaking syllable plasticity of Lil Wayne circa the lunar peaks of his Martian phase. It is possible to explain him in terms of conventional lineage. His bloodstream is equal parts Strawberry Jolly Ranchers, promethazine, tropical Fanta, marijuana, molly, and alien drugs beamed in from the plug on Betelgeuse. His vocabulary is a creole of Atlanta trap slang, Hopelandic, and the language of thought-the yeows, yelps, and coos used by babies to communicate. Neither toxicologist nor translator can interpret Young Thug.

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