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Young Thug attends a celebration dinner for his album ‘Punk’
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Key Takeaways:
- The UY SCUTI cover shows Young Thug with a noticeably lighter complexion, sparking intense online discussion.
- The opening track, “Ninja,” features repeated use of the hard “-er,” igniting debate over intent and delivery.
- Fans have been nothing short of vocal about Thug’s creative decisions on social media.
Young Thug’s UY SCUTI dropped on Friday (Sept. 26), marking his first full-length release since being freed from prison last year. The 20-track album is noted for weaving courtroom audio, leaked jail calls, and pointed disses throughout. The LP also boasts a heavyweight feature lineup that includes Cardi B, Lil Baby, Future, Travis Scott, 21 Savage, and (to everyone’s surprise) YFN Lucci, an artist with whom Thugger has long had a volatile relationship.
Still, what had listeners online talking wasn’t just the collaborations, but two very specific choices: The album artwork and the opening track, “Ninja.”
The cover shows a close-up of Thug with his hands pressed over his ears, though the detail grabbing the most attention was his noticeably lightened complexion. Fans immediately voiced confusion, with one writing, “It’s already too much going on in America, and now, Young Thug is light-skinned.” Another joked, “Imagine being in a worst album covers contest and your opponents are Young Thug and Gucci Mane.” A third added, “Thug is out here living his Vybz Kartel circa 2009 fantasies with that album cover.” Peers like Jacquees, Stunna 4 Vegas, and Ty Dolla $ign shared jokes about the image in the YSL frontman’s Instagram comments.
The music itself didn’t escape scrutiny. “Ninja” begins with audio of a prosecutor from Thug’s RICO trial before switching into verses full of bravado. But it’s the closing lines that went viral. Thugger rapped: “I’m not fake, you n**ger, black diamonds today, I’m a n**ger, I’m callin’ my opps ‘n**ger.’” The repeated use of the hard “-er” left fans questioning whether it was a deliberate choice or an unusual enunciation.
Some quickly connected both controversies. One user asked, “[What the f**k] is Young Thug doing, bro. Is this a humiliation ritual? [This man is] dropping hard Rs on his album intro and has that weird cover.” Another put it more bluntly: “This n**ga Young Thug bleached his skin white for the album cover and dropped the hard ‘ER’ like 15 times on the intro.”
Check out some other reactions below.
