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The Lowdown: YG is a Compton native with two excellent gangsta rap albums under his belt. The world may have changed around him, but for better and worse, YG has not. Though it doesn’t quite reach the heights of his first two, his new album, Stay Dangerous, is another solid project from one of the best on the West Coast.
The Good: “Suu Whoop” is a prime example of the chemistry between YG and producer Mustard. The beat is heavy 808 drums and a two-tone melody that sounds like a bell clanging underwater while YG turns a gang call into a boast. The best tracks are genuinely sexy, like Right Said Fred re-write “Too Cocky” or hazy Quavo collab “Slay”.
The Bad: However, there are some truly awful lyrics from YG here, like calling his enemies “poo butts” and making bad puns around Mustard’s name. The album never reaches the heights of My Krazy Life’s day-in-the-life narrative or Still Brazy’s justifiable paranoia.
The Verdict: Whether it’s the cancerous growth-over-everything logic of capitalism or the short attention span of rap fans raised on 10-second Instagram clips, it feels like rappers can’t just make good albums anymore. Anything less than an instant classic and they must have fallen off. But, if YG can keep dropping solid projects like this, the rest of us will stay streaming.
Essential Tracks: “Too Cocky”, “Slay”, “Big Bank”, and “Bomptown Finest”