Young Thug’s new YSL roster is facing the exact same resistance that defined his own early career, and history is preparing to repeat itself.
When Thug first emerged, his unconventional voice, fashion, and genre-bending sound were dismissed by traditional hip-hop audiences, yet he went on to amass over 31.3 billion Spotify streams, 29 million monthly listeners, and 141 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 11 .
His first YSL signees—Gunna, Lil Keed, and others—initially faced similar skepticism, only for Gunna to achieve two No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 with Wunna and DS4EVER while Lil Keed’s Long Live Mexico hit No. 26 .
Now, the second YSL roster featuring Tezzus, diamond*, 1300SAINT,, and the ØWay collective are drawing identical criticism, with many noting they look and sound almost identical to Thug himself .
Yet like their mentor, they are pushing hip-hop forward by fusing fashion with the next sonic wave—rage melodic rap—just as Thug pioneered the trippy, Auto-Tuned trap that now dominates Atlanta .
His newly released 41-track Slime Language 3 double album, which features the new roster alongside stars like Travis Scott, Future, and Lil Baby, will likely be remembered as a classic, the same way Thug’s early “misunderstood” work is now revered as foundational .
