Young Thug’s YSL Records collective finally came through with their long-awaited Slime Language 2 compilation last week. It boasted a number of contributions from some of music’s biggest names like Drake, Travis Scott, Future, Kid Cudi and Meek Mill while seeing some of the YSL acts like Lil Keed, Gunna, Unfoonk shine as well. One of the most popular tracks from the album is “Solid,” a song that features Drake, Gunna, and Young Thug.
In a recent sit-down with Billboardthat debuted hours after The Call Of Duty: Warzone season three trailer premiered, which Gunna and Thug appear in, the former explained how the Slime Language 2 collaboration came together and shared his thoughts on the Ski Challenge.
“Drake had originally sent me the song for his album and I did it and we was vibing with it for a minute,” Gunna said in the interview about “Solid.” “But then his album didn’t come out and I was still vibing with it, and I’m like ‘Sh*t bro, I wanna put it on Slime Language 2. Let’s put slime (Thug) on it.’ And he was like extra with it and we did, and that’s how that came together.”
As for the Ski Challenge, which sees celebrities and fans alike make skiing motions as Thug and Gunna’s “Ski” collaboration plays in the background, Gunna sees the song reaching great heights because of the challenge. “I feel like [‘Ski’] is like an everybody song so I feel like it’s going to reach everybody,” he said. “You know how many people in the world? I feel like it’s going to keep getting bigger over the years.”
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
No video game took over in 2020 more than Call of Duty: Warzone, as the free-to-play battle royale became massively popular as it dropped right at the start of pandemic restrictions hitting in March and people finding themselves having to find ways to pass the time at home. A year later and Warzone is still plugging along and entering Season 3, which will see updated maps, weapons, and gear hit after they nuked Verdansk Island to end Season 2.
To celebrate the start of Season 3, the game brought together a number of their biggest celebrity players from the world of sports, music, and entertainment for a ridiculous two-minute trailer that was released on Thursday morning — along with a call to drop in to Verdansk84. The trailer, which you can watch in its absurd entirety above, opens with Young Thug leaping out of a building and grabbing onto a helicopter piloted by Gunna, who then blows up the building that Thug presumably rigged with charges. Jack Harlow, Saweetie, Swae Lee, and others from the music world are featured, along with Dennis Schröder, Jack Grealish, and Mookie Betts from the sports world — with Betts hitting a grenade out of the air with his rifle like a baseball.
In case there were any wonder if Call of Duty was still raking in cash thanks to Warzone, this trailer and all the celebrity cameos should provide the answer, but if it gets people to drop back in, that’s all they care about.
It’s obvious that Young Thug is the star of YSL Records’ new compilation Slime Language 2. Throughout the album’s 23 songs, Young Thug — and a squadron of high-profile guest stars — does the majority of the heavy lifting with his charisma and quick twists of wit.
That doesn’t mean that his artists get overshadowed by the star power present. Rather, the star power is Young Thug’s way of casting some halo effect on his expanded roster (four new rappers have joined since the group’s last Slime Language compilation in 2018).
A handful of them do rise to the occasion; YSL veteran Gunna, Lil Keed, and new addition Unfoonk (Thug’s own brother) acquit themselves admirably on the tracks where they’re left to their own devices.
On “Came Out,” Keed does his best to out-Thug Thug, bending and stretching his voice as much as he can, clearly inspired by his label boss’s own vocal contortions. Alongside Thug on “Real,” Unfoonk turns his sandpaper singing voice into a heart-tugging ballad.
And Gunna makes the most of his established chemistry with mega-star Drake on “Solid” and Young Thug on “Ski,” the album’s two most obvious standouts. “Ski” revisits the loopy energy of “Surf” from Thug’s 2019 album So Much Fun, while “Solid” is a murky excursion in the vein of Drake’s own cameo on Future’s 2020 hit “Life Is Good.”
Elsewhere, Slime Language 2 highlights Thug’s transparently generous efforts to put his people on as much as it does his skills as a talent scout. Sorry if that reads kind of negative, but the loyalty is on full display on lackadaisical cuts like “Slatty,” where Yak Gotti and Lil Duke — two of Thug’s longest-tenured signings — turn in forgettable verses to start the project.
The Lil Uzi Vert-featuring “Proud Of You,” another clear standout, also wears out its welcome by the time Young Kayo’s verse comes in, and Kayo does very little to save it. On “I Like” with Coi Leray, Karlae — Thug’s longtime girlfriend — swings between lightweight crooning and upbeat rapping but gets washed out by her guest star and undermined by generic rhymes (at one point, she quotes Muhammad Ali out of context, making me wince at the Citizen Kane of it all).
T-Shyne shows off multiple flows on “Warrior,” as well as some Young Thug-ish ad-libs, impressing by virtue of his flow’s polish, if not his bars (guest rapper Big Sean steals the show). Strick’s laid-back verse alongside Kid Cudi on “Moon Man” is a slow-burner, with a creeping, “grows on you” quality. These are two of the label’s vets, so it makes sense they have the most technical skill and experience, if not very much to say.
HiDoraah and Dolly White, Thug’s sisters, put forth dry efforts on their respective solo tracks, underscoring the gift and the curse of the YSL co-sign. Thug seems to be a great person, creating opportunities for his friends and families by leveraging his status as one of hip-hop’s biggest draws after years of uncertain footing and controversial reception.
It means a lot that he’d put his reputation — something he fought for and earned over the course of a decade of old-head snipes about his clothes, flow, and rumored sexuality — on the line for his folks. But we’ve likely heard the best from the label in projects like Wunna and Trapped On Cleveland 3 — there’s a reason Keed and Gunna have received the most commercial success to date.
By calling in so many famous friends for support, Thug does put his artists in a position to receive a lot of attention, but perhaps they’d have been better off keeping things more self-contained, giving YSL’s roster more space to showcase their standalone work. The contrast the guests unintentionally create between truly creative, self-sufficient artists and the still-developing talents of Thug’s musical mafia casts the latter in a less favorable light than they should want at the moment.
But there are bright spots and there’s always room for improvement, even among the less original members of the collective. And at least they can be assured they’ve got the support of their head honcho, which is a lot more than many, many rappers signed to other rappers can say — a blessing that may pan out as they work to forge their own paths beyond Young Thug’s footprints in the sand.
Slime Language 2 is out now Young Stoner Life Records / 300 Entertainment. Get it here.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
After pump-faking on its initial release date of August 2020, Young Thug finally released Slime Language 2, the sequel to the compilation album he and his YSL record label released back in 2018. Less than 24 hours after the project’s arrival, he dropped the music video for “Ski,” his collaboration with Gunna. It finds the two rappers throwing a lavish pool party filled with plenty of women and lots of energy.
The video sports appearances from Swae Lee, Nav, Seattle Seahawks’ wide-receiver DK Metcalf, and fellow YSL members T-Shyne, Strick and Lil Duke. A number of TikTok stars can also be found, like the Corvette dance creator Dorien B. Scott and the Up dance creators Mya Nicole Johnson and Christopher Zion Cotter.
Slime Language 2 presents 23 tracks in a star-studded affair, including contributions from Drake, Travis Scott, Big Sean, Meek Mill, Rowdy Rebel, Coi Leray, Lil Baby, Lil Uzi Vert, Future, and more. The compilation album also arrived on the six-year anniversary of Thug’s Barter 6 mixtape, which helped push the Atlanta rapper into the spotlight.
You can watch the “Ski” video above.
Slime Language 2 is out now via YSL Records/300 Entertainment. Get it here.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Atlanta rapper Young Thug is keeping everyone in a Slime Language 2 state of mind. The hip-hop superstar has come through with the visual treatment to his new “Ski” music video. Young Thug Battles Ice Cold Temps Thugger pulls through ahead of his weekend goals with the must-see clip. Clocking in at under 3 minutes, […]
Despite being two of today’s most popular artists in the hip-hop world, collaborations between Young Thug and Drake have come far and few over the years. Prior to today, their list of songs together stood at just three official songs, which the most recent being “D4L” from Drake’s 2020 project, Dark Lane Demo Tapes. Thankfully for fans of both artists, Drake and Young Thug have provided a new track to that list with help from Gunna thanks to “Solid.”
The track is a chilled-out, melodic effort that kicks off with Drake discussing his vacation preferences and his questionable interactions with a woman in his life. Gunna then arrives takes the torch to express his own romantic qualms, which prove to fall in line with Drake’s, before a seamless transition occurs and Young Thug steps forward to take the mic and close out the song.
Slime Language 2 arrives after months of anticipation and patience from fans. The 23-track effort is a star-studded affair with contributions from Travis Scott, Lil Baby, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Keed, Rowdy Rebel, Nav, Future, Kid Cudi, Meek Mill, and many more. Young Thug originally initially said the project would arrive in August 2020, but he quickly changed his mind and took back the initial release date.
Listen to “Solid” in the video above.
Slime Language 2 is out now via Young Stoner Life Records/300 Entertainment. Get it here.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Atlanta rapper Young Thug wants to see if Gunna can dance. The hip-hop superstar has social media’s full attention after challenging his protégé to show off his one-two step. Young Thug Challenges Gunna Thugger went to his Instagram page with the must-see clip. While previewing fire tunes in the background, Thug shows off his signature […]
