Review: Young Thug’s ‘Jeffery’ May Be Rapper’s Strongest in Years

The records of Young Thug, a.k.a. Jeffery Williams, continue to command the rap zeitgeist, in part because there's so many of them. (Jeffery is his third full-length release this year.) But the real secret to Thug's success is musical: the wild, mush-mouthed flow pours out in songs like "Webbie," a typically skewed sex-and-drugs boast, and the stormy "Harambe," which puts this usually strict amoralist at the center of a soul-tussle between God, the devil and Godzilla. Jeffery may be Thugger's strongest collection since 2014, in part because of the production, which in several songs adds a reggae bounce to booming trap beats. But as usual it's Thug's own sound that predominates: the heroic howls, rasps, mumbles and wheezes of a man who is as captivating a vocalist as any in pop.