I'm Up

After a busy 2015 that included albums (*Barter 6*), mixtapes (*Slime Season 2*), a slew of memorable guest spots, and a highly entertaining Instagram feed, the colorful and casually radical Atlanta rapper returns with *I’m Up*. Opening with a tribute to embattled underground hero Boosie (“F Cancer”), the mixtape showcases Thug’s ever-evolving eclecticism, sliding between hard-bitten street rap (“Hercules,” “Bread Winners”) and strange, atmospheric funk (“For My People”) without a flinch. As always, the anchor is Thug’s choppy cadence and soulful, seductive squawk—a stamp of authenticity that nobody else seems able to replicate.

I’m Up doesn’t muster up the highs of the Slime Season series—the infectiousness of “Best Friend,” the sublime structuring of “Draw Down,” or the woozy euphoria of “Raw”—but Thug manages to compile many of his best attributes into a tightly-wound 38 minutes.

Titled Slime Season 3 until the last minute, I'm Up is Young Thug's Billboard-charting 2016 mixtape, and it's a lean one, running a mere nine tracks long.

At this point it's nearly impossible to avoid comparing Young Thug and Future: the two Atlanta-based masters of melodic trap each dropped a...