You may disagree with his tactics but Young Thug knows how to build publicity. Everything he has done has been for this moment. His debut album was already going to have eyes on it but when Lil Wayne fell out with Cash Money over Tha Carter V and then Thug announced he was doing The Carter 6 the hip hop world collectively stopped for a second like, “Huh”? Well it may not been called the The Carter 6 after all but The Barter 6 does what it needed to do.
“Constantly Hating” features Birdman and is the first song on the album. It is a slower beat and flow from Thug that we have come to expect but it works. There really is a certain chemistry Birdman and Young Thug have, save any jokes for the end, but knowing that Lil Wayne is his biggest influence that is not very surprising. But, for as much as he loves and idolizes Wayne on ‘Can’t Tell’ featuring T.I. and Boosie BadAzz he sounds like he disses Wayne with the line, “Pussy boy I’ll leave you dead and call it Dedication”. The song is pretty good and shows why Young Thug has a lane in rap, and that is what seems effortless in how he can create a bridge and hook. ‘Check’ follows immediately and has been released as one of the singles off The Barter 6 and easy to see why. London on Da Trak and Young Thug really are like the Stockton and Malone of this “New Atlanta” movement. “Halftime” is another good cut and it is upsetting because you will like it not knowing what the hell is he saying. This skippity-beep-bop style can be just as annoying as it is great.
The Barter 6 has 13 songs on it, and while only four were mentioned as notable that does not mean the rest of the album is complete trash. It is not trash by any means, however, it really is nothing more than okay. Yet, that is exactly what The Barter 6 needed to do. Young Thug is not known for his lyrical abilities or story telling. He just needed to make an album that people could listen to and not hate on and it is pretty fair to say he did that with The Barter 6.Of course people are going to hate it but they are not being entirely fair, you have to judge it for what it is. When your music is predominately dictated by singing hooks, ad libs and dope beats there is a glass ceiling to how successful you are going to be.
Now admittedly, the bar may have been set so low in public opinion that it would be impossible for The Barter 6 to not exceed those expectations. Ultimately this is an album that you will not be playing that much if at all in a year time, but when Thug drops his second project you may just want to hear it. This was also was about The Barter 6 possibly being better than Tha Carter V. While we do not know how Wayne’s album sounds the one thing we all thought is that it will without doubt be better than Young Thug’s album. That is still a safe assumption but The Barter 6 is just good enough that you could end up debating the two in the future. Nothing is going to stand out as the next club smash but this by no means a career killing move. It is a decent outing that shows some promise and can be built off for a better sophomore LP.
5.8 out of 10
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