It's Young Thug Week at Complex

The world has never seen an artist quite like Young Thug.

The Atlanta rapper has made a career out of breaking tradition and following his own instincts, no matter how strange or unconventional that might be.

A lot of the things you hear about him sound unbelievable at first. As the stories go, he records in a studio with exotic animals, survives on a diet of “no real food,” has the ability to make hit songs in under 10 minutes, bets hundreds of thousands of dollars as a high-stakes gambler, totes guns under his dresses (or so he says on “Just How It Is”), and isn’t afraid to change his name to something like “SEX” on a whim. The list goes on and on.

There are a lot of words you could use to describe Young Thug, but “boring” isn’t one of them. He’s a true original, and his music has a way of eliciting a strong reaction from anyone who hears it. Flying in the face of rap traditionalists, he’d rather squeal a half-intelligible verse than conform to restrictive conventions, as long as it means he’s staying true to his intuition and trying something new. As a result, he’s already inspired a whole generation of artists, including some of today’s biggest stars (Lil Baby, Roddy Ricch, Lil Uzi Vert, and more).

This Friday, the 30-year-old artist plans to release his long-anticipated album Punk. There’s a lot to say about the eccentric rapper as he enters a new decade of life, so instead of just covering the album rollout like normal, we decided to dive deep on everything happening in Young Thug’s world right now, exploring different aspects of his career each day of the week. We’re calling it Young Thug Week, and you can check back right here each day for new interviews, essays, reports, and lists.

Below is a day-by-day breakdown that will be updated as the week progresses. Happy Young Thug Week!

Monday

Why Young Thug Is an Icon: We’re kicking off the week with an essay about the importance of an artist like Young Thug, and how he’s already become an icon at the age of 30. “Young Thug has been rapping for just under a decade, and in that time he’s helped inspire a generation of chart-topping protégés, sold millions of units, won a Grammy, and affirmed just how left-field hip-hop can go,” writes Complex staff writer Andre Gee. Read the whole article here.

Inside the Wild Studio Life of Young Thug: Did you know Young Thug records in a studio with snakes, tarantulas, and even a Bengal cat? That’s only one of the many things that make his studio sessions so memorable. Complex staff writer Jessica McKinney speaks with some of Thug’s closest collaborators for a story about how he cultivated one of the most unique studio experiences in rap. Read the article here.

Tuesday

How Young Thug Brought His Own Family Into His Rap Empire: Rap is a family business for Young Thug. He’s signed his own brother and sisters to his label, and even put his eight-year-old daughter on Slime Language 2. Complex staff writer Jessica McKinney spoke with some of Young Thug’s siblings about what it was like growing up with him and how they joined his rap empire. Read the article here.

Young Thug’s Best Outfits of All Time: At this point, it’s undeniable: Young Thug is a style icon. From wearing a dress on the Jeffery album cover to starting his own clothing line, Thug has always turned heads with his outfits. The Complex Style team put together a list of his very best outfits. Check it out here.

Wednesday

Being Young Thug (Interview): We spent three days with Young Thug while he finished Punk, and got a rare look at what his life is really like right now. It turns out he’s making the most personal album of his career, thinking about going to space, reflecting on the time he called Kanye West and said they’d stop speaking if he didn’t end up on Donda, and a whole lot more. Read the wild interview here.

Thursday

Ranking All of Young Thug’s Projects: Young Thug’s discography is full of surprising twists and turns, which becomes evident when you try to rank every project he’s ever released. Still, we gave it a shot. And to make sure it’s a comprehensive list, we included all of his EPs and collaborative projects, in addition to his full-length solo releases. Here are all of his projects, ranked worst to best.

Young Thug by the Numbers: Our friends at Pigeons & Planes uncovered some interesting data behind Young Thug’s career. Did you know his streams have grown on average 1,077% each year since his first official release on Spotify? Well, you do now! For more stats, read the full piece here.

Friday

First Impressions of Young Thug’s New Album ‘Punk’: Now that Punk has finally arrived, members of the Complex Music team share their first impressions of the project. Read it here.