Movement: Trap
Lane: Playboi Carti, Pi’erre Bourne, Blueface
The best thing that ever happened to Young Nudy was realizing he didn’t need to be menacing. Trap is a natural vehicle for that energy and Nudy’s early mixtapes fed into it. When Young Nudy teamed up with Pi’erre Bourne in 2019 dropping their collab album, Sli’merre, that malice melted away and revealed a relaxed street veteran. In his latest mixtape, Anyways, Young Nudy keeps that same energy – calm, cool, collected and consistent.
The key to Anyways is Young Nudy’s carefree self-awareness. When he says “I told you, I only make stoner music, gangster music, killer music, f*ck your ho music, take your ho music” over tweeting synths on ‘Blue Cheese Salad’ it liberates him. Young Nudy wants to rap about those things and those things only. He sets the stakes, and Anyways radiates with that freedom, especially through its production.
Pi’erre Bourne, Young Nudy’s long time producer, is missing from Anyways but his influence still runs through its framework. Instead of shrouding Nudy in his Slimeball, horrorcore beats, COUPE and 20 Rocket envelope him in Sli’merre-style sunshine. Anyways is still a trap mixtape but over those skittering high hats and pounding 808’s are chirping synths and twinkling keys.
With all the empty space on each track Young Nudy fills it completely by himself. Anyways is Young Nudy’s world, featuring nobody. He’s in absolute control to the point of spitting “I came from the bottom, this how I had to do it” three times in a row, progressively slurring each line, tuning his listeners to the frequency of ‘Influencer’.
Young Nudy has honed his slack-jawed delivery to perfection with mastery of multiple flows. Nudy floods tracks like ‘Deeper than Rap’ with a relentless delivery by filling every space with multiple syllables while curving and shaving words until traffic, having, laughing and habit, all rhyme.
At close reading, most of Young Nudy’s lyrics shouldn’t work but his unconventional approach melds his words. Anyways drips of lyrical freedom allowing Young Nudy’s bars to overrun the beat a la Blueface, hit rhymes thrice in a single bar or rhyme sound effects with words. Malleable and unpredictable Young Nudy’s bars are entrancing from top to bottom.
Very few people sound like Young Nudy and even fewer have the same ear for production. Through 16 solo songs Young Nudy found a way to make trap lighthearted and fun in an era where everyone is hellbent on flexing. Anyways is a step away from the rap game today and Young Nudy is quite comfortable chilling in the distance.
Rating: 8.3/10
Fire: GTA Lyfestyle, Understand, Blue Cheese Salad, Deeper Than Rap
Ice: No Go, Marathon
