No Sugar, No Cream: Young Thug invented music

There are many things we should wake up and thank Young Thug for first thing in the morning. Right after thanking God for another day each morning, I thank Young Thug for the first 17 seconds of his song “Check.” (Consider adding this to your daily routine.) Young Thug is a godly entity beyond the understanding of us mere mortals. He is an icon and an innovator in every genre that he creates and introduces the world to. Genre would not exist without Young Thug. Before him, there were sounds that hoped to one day be coherent and enjoyable for audiences. He has nearly transcended genre, living within its confines only to please the earthly audience that is ourselves.

It’s an understatement to say that Thugger is a rapper. Those with little knowledge of any aspects of the world like to say he “isn’t a good artist,” his “music is bad” or that “you can’t even hear what he’s saying.” That’s not the point of his music — he is music. His words melt together, creating far more beautiful sounds than anyone before him. He creates new words and sings in a magical fashion incomprehensible to the ear. It is the soul that you should listen to Thugger with. He is not here to cater to our English perceptions of language. He is expanding linguistics by not using words. Words aren’t necessary. The point of Young Thug’s music is to feel what he’s saying, not to hear what he’s saying. Once you understand and accept that for what it is, you can experience his music to the best of your ability.

Before Young Thug existed, no one could convince me that music was real. We had been listening to series of sounds under superficial classifications. He gave us R&B in 2014 when he released “Stoner,” flawlessly crafting rhythm and blues all at once on the hook of the track. He made it impossible to top any R&B he’d crafted when he sang the chorus of “Lifestyle” in 2014, while giving a preview of the mumble rap he was to invent later. (He should really apologize to Camila Cabello for washing her on “Havana” last year.) He gave us hip-hop in 2015 when he dropped “Barter 6,” giving us hits from “Halftime” to “Check.” The first 17 seconds of “Check” are arguably the greatest seconds of music. No person with a respectable opinion would argue against that those seconds are the best music has to offer us. He gave us rap in 2016 when he created “With Them.” He even gave us mumble rap — he is truly altruistic.

His latest addition to genres has been country music. We’ve been destroying our eardrums trying to tolerate songs by Garth Brooks, Tim McGraw, Johnny Cash and even Carrie Underwood, when we should’ve just waited for 2017 to roll around so Young Thug could grace us with his album “Beautiful Thugger Girls.” The album is not entirely country, but it gives a taste of what the genre could be once expanded upon. He begins the new genre with his song, “Family Don’t Matter.” At the 25-second mark, Young Thug ad-libs “yee-haw,” thus giving birth to this country. Where there might be acoustic guitar in basic “country” songs preceding this, there is a synthy electric guitar playing in the background. He improved upon the boring four-chord songs that was country music before him.

Young Thug may surprise us with something new in the coming months. He is constantly changing and throwing his spirit into his projects. Everything he does is profound and unlike other rappers that simpletons consider to be his peers, it really does take a certain level of intelligence to listen to Young Thug.