Very rarely are artists simultaneously experimental, influential, and commercially successful, but
Young Thug's combination of risk-taking creativity and infectious personality kept him consistently falling into all three categories at once. Second studio album
Punk holds glimpses of some of the affable weirdness that made the rapper's early mixtapes so engaging, and folds those moments of strangeness and meandering into more straightforward production geared for the clubs and destined for multi-million streaming numbers. As with most of his projects,
Thugger invites a massive guest list of accomplished collaborators to lend their talents to
Punk. Along with contributions from
Future,
J. Cole,
Doja Cat,
Kanye West,
Post Malone, and many others, trap-pop banger "Bubbly" features verses from
Drake and
Travis Scott, and gentle closer "Day Before" contains a posthumous feature from
Mac Miller. The tonality of punk is dynamic, moving from contemporary rap production styles to the old-school atmosphere of "Peepin' Out the Window" to light, futuristic R&B balladry on "Icy Hot," occasionally dipping into more experimental ideas as with the somber acoustic guitar sounds. The haunted background vocals and conspicuous absence of any drums on the eerie
Gunna-featuring track "Recognize Real" is one of several moments when the album focuses on nuanced moods and atmosphere instead of intensity.
Punk is relatively odd for an album that debuted at number one on the charts, sneaking some of
Young Thug's inherent eccentricity in among its more commercially viable moments. ~ Fred Thomas