ARTS
6
Thursday, July 25, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
It’s undeniable: Young Thug
is the current rap generation’s
most prominent influence.
Before Thug, it was Lil Wayne.
Wayne inspired an entire gener-
ation of rappers, including Ken-
drick Lamar and Young Thug
himself.
Interestingly,
Kend-
rick’s mixtape C4 showcased
him as nothing more than a Lil
Wayne clone. When I say “clone,”
I mean that Kendrick and others
were attempting to build a career
based on what made Lil Wayne
famous. The same goes for Thug;
at the beginning, he, too, was a
Wayne clone. Just listen to “Take
Kare” featuring Lil Wayne. The
resemblance is uncanny.
Today, Kendrick Lamar and
Young Thug are two rappers
that will always turn heads with
any of their new material. Few
have attempted to be a Kendrick
clone, but many, many rappers in
the new generation are attempt-
ing to channel their inner Thug.
Thug’s career has been a tour
de force and has given his army
of understudies plenty of mate-
rial to expand upon. Throughout
his career, Thug has sputtered
out countless different flows,
vocal inflections and non sequi-
turs. It’s too much for one indi-
vidual to even attempt to imitate.
Because of this, each Thugger
clone sounds distinct. It’s as if
Young Thug reproduces asexu-
ally via fragmen-
tation, like a sea
sponge, with each
clone
latching
onto a certain part
of Thug’s persona
and building an
entire career out
of it.
Interesting-
ly,
Young
Thug
has
embraced
his
clones
and
has even signed
a few of them to
his
label,
YSL
Records, as if to
raise them. Plen-
ty of rappers are
affiliated
with
YSL
Records,
including
super-
stars like Drake, Lil Baby and
Lil Uzi Vert, but few are actually
signed, demonstrating the effort
it takes to make it as a Thugger
clone.
THE CLONES
Lil Duke
The first of Thug’s clones is
none other than Lil Duke, also
known as YSL Duke. Duke is per-
haps the most straight-laced of
Thug’s protégés, and he is also
the longest tenured. In fact, he’s
been signed to YSL Records since
2015.
While he doesn’t share any of
Thug’s
sarto-
rial tendencies,
Duke was born
from
Thug’s
slick-talking,
greasy
street
raps. He twists
tales
of
sip-
ping lean and
hustling with a
spitfire, gravel-
ly flow, just like
Thug. However,
he varies in his
delivery
and
beat
selection,
often
sticking
to a low vocal
register and the
typical Atlanta
trap-type beats.
He is essentially
Young Thug if Young Thug were
purely a street rapper, and it’s
glorious.
Required
listening:
“Good
Luck” featuring Young Thug and
“Run It Up.”
Gunna
Gunna is the most famous of
all Thug’s clones. In fact, he’s
probably even more popular than
his forebear. He is essentially the
Reader’s Digest version of Young
Thug. He doesn’t rap about much
more than his drip, but he uses
autotune as impeccably as Thug
does. Gunna takes Thug at his
most melodic and processes it to
make it even more accessible. He
has evolved into a more indepen-
dent artist at this point, but early
in his career, the Thug influence
could not be shirked. And, as an
added bonus, he shares Young
Thug’s
left-of-center
fashion
choices.
Required
listening:
“Pedes-
trian” and “Mayors” featuring
Hoodrich Pablo Juan.
Strick
Strick,
simi-
lar to Duke, is a
much more sub-
dued
version
of Young Thug.
Take Young Thug
at his vibiest and
turn the anima-
tion and fanfair
down
to
zero,
and that’s Strick.
He also takes on
Thug’s more cal-
culated and lyri-
cal side, as he is
a multi-platinum
songwriter
who
has written for
the likes of Tra-
vis Scott (“Coor-
dinate”)
and
Juicy
J
(“Bal-
lin”). He is the
most up-and-coming of Thug’s
signees, so keep an eye out for his
new releases.
Required listening: “Wishing
on a Star,” “Vevo” and “STS” fea-
turing Young Thug.
Lil Keed
Imagine the craziest of Young
Thug’s flows and vocal inflec-
tion, and make a rapper out of
it. That’s Lil Keed. In fact, Thug
frequently refers to him as his
son, which speaks volumes to the
figurative passing of the torch
from Thug to Keed. At one point,
Thug even gifted him “Proud of
Me,” an old, very sought after
demo. Keed is the latest YSL
signee to make a splash, espe-
cially with his recent tape Long
Live Mexico. His only downfall
is that he often leans too hard on
his voice’s high pitch, a problem
that Thug does not share, thanks
to his use of modulation.
The
student
is
quickly
approaching the skill of the mas-
ter, so it’ll be interesting to see
how Keed’s career develops.
Required listening: “Proud of
Me” featuring Young Thug and
“Zoned Out.”
Lil Gotit
While Lil Gotit isn’t signed
to YSL Records (he’s signed to
Alamo, home of Lil Durk, anoth-
er YSL affiliate), he is more heav-
ily affiliated than it seems. He’s
actually the younger brother of
Lil Keed, who is no doubt a big
influence on his sound. Gotit is
like Thug at his most energetic.
He’s bouncy, he’s having fun and
he’s sure to leave his mark on
listeners. He also has the same
penchant for off-kilter beats as
Thug does.
He’s not trying
to be convention-
al by any means,
just like Young
Thug.
Required
lis-
tening:
“Surf,”
“Da
Real
HoodBabies”and
“Drop the Top”
featuring
Lil
Keed.
Dolly White and
HiDoraah
Even
Young
Thug’s
own
sisters
are
his
clones. These two
embody the side
of
Thug
that’s
dedicated
to
flexing and shit
talking. They’re
really good at it,
probably better than Thug is.
HiDoraah has a full voice and on
top of rapping, is good at singing
too. Dolly White is little more
gravel-voiced but is a better rap-
per. They complement each other
well. They’ve got flows for days,
but they can get a little stale.
However, they just started rap-
ping seriously and don’t have
many songs yet, so it’ll take time
for them to develop their sound.
That said, they are a great duo
and are bound to be noticed in
today’s rap climate.
Required
listening:
“Expen-
sive” and “Lay Down.”
Anyone can try to croon and
chirp like Thug does, but it takes
effort to do it and stand out from
the clone crowd. Though the rap-
pers on the list started off purely as
clones of Young Thug, they all show
signs of breaking this mold, which
speaks volumes to how influential
Young Thug has been. Without
Wayne, we wouldn’t have Kendrick
or Thug; without Thug, we won’t
have rap’s next superstar.
Young Thug and his many
clones: A story of creation
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
WIREIMAGE
JIM WILSON
Daily Arts Writer
Interestingly,
Young Thug
has embraced
his clones,
and has even
signed a few
of them to
his label, YSL
Records
The student
is quickly
approaching
the skill of the
master, so it’ll
be intersting
to see how
Keed’s career
develops.