Late Monday evening, gangsta rap fans (and, perhaps, a few allies) gathered in their black-tie Sunday attire at the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood for YG, one of the West’s most reliable hitmakers and mouthpieces of the past 10-plus years. The dress code was unusual, but it came at the request of YG himself. As he took the stage with a DJ and several others and split the difference between heavies and backup dancers, all suited up, mirroring his same style in front of the audience, YG declared it the beginning of a new era – and asked the audience to come along for the ride.
YG teased me after the show, saying, “I’ve never done shit like this.” “This is how an album performed from top to bottom.” His performance has been consistent, but YG will now be the first to admit that the last few years have been a bit of a shakeup for him. On stage, he felt as if he was not getting his due credit, before the confidants around him forced him to realize that the buck stopped with him first; He was mailing it. The end result of facing that truth is gentlemen’s clubAn album that took two years to make — the longest time ever on a project, he says — that finds YG dealing with his image, demons, self-worth and insecurities, while also making room for some honest-to-goodness bangers. In short, this is their best album since their debut my crazy life Took the reins in 2014.
YG is at his best when he combines gangland ferocity with narrative, which is one of the things created my crazy life So its storytelling was instantly captivating, from maximalist themes about aging to deliciously nuanced details like a step-by-step guide to a successful B&E operation. gentlemen’s club It succeeds by returning to the scope and writing style where previous YG albums first faltered. Things wrap up around track four, “Hitman”, which ends with the reveal that the person Young Gangsta put the “hit” on is actually himself. From there the album turns into a deep, sometimes wounding character study in which the Compton rapper interrogates his own shortcomings, thoughts of depression, and suicide. It all builds towards an ending that is somehow bleak but also hopeful, depending on your point of view – a death that promises rebirth.
To most people, the idea of literalizing the desire to kill a part of yourself may seem cliché, but on songs like “Ready to Die,” “Insecure” and “Mid-Life Crisis,” YG more successfully walks the tightrope thanks to his writing and delivery. That guy loves a hard kicker (“You should have hit Me“) And he raps with such conviction that even if you see the reveal coming, it still comes off. And the closing track is so raw (“Playing Russian roulette with the leash, rolling the dice/Wait, my kids are coming, hurry up and hide it, I’m nervous”) that it obliterates any sense of conventionality. It’s a narrative, sure, but you feel like these were the real experiences YG was going through in the past. He struggled with the times over the years – and has emerged from it with a sense of reinvention, which explains his pivot towards classic, clean uniforms like black tie until the change is complete.
Amidst the introspection, there is also intrigue. “We Know the Truth,” basically a lengthy rebuttal to the widespread rumor that YG had a hand in the murder of LA rapper Drakeo The Ruler, is just one of a long list of examples where music fans should stay away from street business they’re not prepared to opine on.
