Previewed earlier in the year by
The Last Slimeto Sampler
,
YoungBoy Never Broke Again
's fourth official studio album is a 30-track, 80-minute monster recorded over the course of a year. (All of the songs on the sampler appear, in order, as the album's final 11 tracks.) Even more so than his previous solo release, the early 2022 mixtape
Colors
The Last Slimeto
demonstrates
YoungBoy
's range, sometimes drastically switching moods from track to track. He dabbles in ragga (the brief "Top Sound"), Afrobeats ("Wagwan"), and atmospheric R&B ("My Go To," with
Kehlani
), and exposes his vulnerable side on softer songs like the opener "I Know" and "Holy." On tracks like "Lost Soul Survivor" and "Vette Motors," he switches between harder rapping and melodic crooning so frequently that one could easily mistake the songs for duets between different artists. There's also plenty of room for the more unhinged, aggressive
, as heard on ragers like "Kamikaze," the more West Coast-sounding "4KT Baby," and the
Lil Durk
diss "I Hate YoungBoy." Sitting through the entirety of
is bound to be an exhausting experience to anyone but
's many devout fans, but even if it seems to function more as a playlist than an album, it's definitely not monotonous, and the rapper's dedication to the game is unquestioned.
narrowly missed out on debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 (
Bad Bunny
's
Un Verano Sin Ti
reportedly shifted only 400 more units), but it became
's seventh release to top the publication's R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart. ~ Paul Simpson