The collaboration between some of rap’s most prominent artists from Atlanta, Future and Young Thug, was extremely unexpected for me. Their mixtape, Super Slimey, came completely out of the blue on Oct. 20 on Apple Music.

I don’t normally listen to either rapper and have not listened to a full album by either of them, however I have heard some of their solo songs before. I have also never heard them collaborate before, so I was curious to check out how an album they made together would sound.   

The production in this mixtape is consistent and each song sounds similar to one another. This was something I wasn’t really surprised by though, because a lot of trap music I’ve heard consists of heavy bass, rattling hi-hats, hard-hitting drums and catchy synths in the background.

The only names of producers I recognized on this project are Mike Will Made It, who produced track 12: “Mink Flow” (I know him from producing Kendrick Lamar’s hit song “Humble”). Also, I know of London On Da Track just from his adlib tag he puts on every beat he makes: “We got London on the track.”  

The only beat that steps away from the stereotypical trap production is in track 11: “Killed Before,” produced by London On Da Track himself. This beat has some refreshing guitar chords before more hard-hitting drums come in, and this song is more chill and less of a hype track.

Lyric-wise, I don’t hold either artist to a high standard, as the genre of trap doesn’t  usually consist of lyrical gems being dropped. The subject matter in this mixtape generally consists of Future talking about his money, cars, and clothes, and Young Thug using colorful similes such as “I’ma chase it like Usain” on the song “200” and “I was cool as a cat” on “Cruise Ship.”

Objectively, this isn’t a bad thing because they are catchy lines, but a listener who is looking for more substance in their music may be disappointed when hearing the lyrics.

People who love to dance and party to music similar to this won’t mind the lack of meaning in these songs. You definitely don’t need an extremely high level of intelligence to really connect with them. In fact, they’ll probably love the beats and the catchy lines.

Young Thug interested me more on this mixtape than Future because on most tracks, Future sounds exactly the same with his monotone, auto-tuned and crooning voice. Young Thug, on the other hand, is more creative with his auto-tune, and uses different-sounding voices on almost every song that at times sound beautifully melodic, like at the end of “Mink Flow.”

Don’t even ask me for the concept behind the mixtape. I’ve already tried to find one and wasn’t successful. It is exactly what a mixtape is–a loose collection of songs put together to make a body of work.

Overall, comparing this mixtape to other music in the genre of trap-rap, it is decent. Thug and Future definitely had some good chemistry, but there was something left to be desired in that there wasn’t a whole lot of variety throughout the songs. But Super Slimey certainly doesn’t sound absolutely unlistenable and doesn’t make me angry with how bad it sounds, which I guess is a plus. So I don’t hate it, it’s just mediocre at best.

Rating: 5.7/10