Page 22 - Provoke Mag Vol6

Young Thug
Rap’s Rebel Prince
-Wess Nass
Songwriting is a long, difficult process. Everyone approaches it differently; some artists like to play and sample other songs first, to help establish a sound. Others have notebooks of lyrics lying around, and still others just walk into the studio and freestyle whatev- er comes to them. But as a Motown songwriting icon Lamont Dozier complained, “[nobody] knows what a hit is – until it’s a hit.” Enter Jeffery Lamar Williams, aka Young Thug, who calmly told Daze he can make a hit song in 10 minutes. How? His producer, Dun Deal, re- calls a studio session with Thug where the Atlanta MC walked in with just a paper. “He would draw, like, a pic- ture. Weird signs and shapes.” Out of that session came “Stoner,” Thug’s first hit single. It reached number 47 on the Billboard Top 100.
It’s genius at work, but it means something too. The shapes correspond to the mountains and valleys in melodies, the rising and falling of musical notes, but collaborators concede they really don’t know how Thug does it. London on Da Track marvels, “he always knows what he wants: Them chords, right there. That clap, right there. With other people, they are still writing in the studio, still figuring things out. With Thug, the melody’s just in him.” Blessed with an arsenal of differ- ently pitched voices, piercing exclamations, murmured hookes, deft references and wordplay, Thug loves ex- perimenting with new sounds.
While Thug might’ve been born with unique creative tastes, he certainly wasn’t born into it. Raised by a sin- 22 Provokeusmag.com
gle mother alongside 10 siblings, money and attention was tightly rationed in the Williams household. Perhaps an inevitability in Atlanta’s Jonesboro South Projects, Thug found his way into crime and drug use. One of his brothers was shot and killed, while another was tried for murder. Not all of Thug’s brothers and sisters come from his biological father.
Despite being a tough place to grow up, there were ben- efits to living on the streets of the projects. It was in this neighborhood that Waka Flocka Flame, Ludacris and 2 Chainz were also on the come up. The concentration of so much rap talent probably speaks to the incredible culture and music influences in the projects, as all 4 Atlanta MCs would go on to make charting hits despite having very different styles. None of them had formal music educa- tion, learning rhythms and chord theory. Thug himself was never taught to sing, yet his vocals are a huge com- ponent of his sound. Education in general wasn’t really his thing; in 6th grade, Thug was expelled for breaking a teacher’s arm. He never returned, and ended up serving 4 years in juvenile detention.
After Thug’s stint in jail, he recognized his talent for rapping and, tired of poverty, began to take his career se- riously.In2012-2013,hestartedreleasinginstallmentsof his mixtape, “I Came From Nothing.” After hearing the three released installments, fellow Atlantan Gucci Mane reached out and signed Thugger to his label, 1017 Brick Squad Records. Acclaimed collabs would follow with la- belmates and other rappers Thug met through the label, but what really announced his arrival was a debut label project, “1017 Thug.” The album had it all: unusual im- agery, warped vocals and a funky new sound. Awards poured in, including The Guardian’s
Top 5 Mixtapes of the Year and FACT’s Mixtape of the Year. One of the tracks, “Picacho,” made Rolling Stones’ Top 100 Songs of the Year.
A single, the aforementioned “Stoner” with Dun Deal, cemented Thug’s place as “hip-hop’s new crown prince,” as a 2014 edition of Rolling Stones put it. But it hasn’t quite turned out that way; Thugger continues to repel mainstream music’s efforts to assimilate him. After rap- pers like Wale and Jadakiss remixed “Stoner” with their own verses, Thugger came out to slam the efforts. “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.” A strange grievance to air publicly, especially since a remix is usually a compliment.
Of course, he isn’t the only prickly personality in rap, as Thug soon found out. In 2014 he announced his upcom-