YoungBoy Never Broke Again The Last Slimeto Review: An Unruly, Exhilarating Opus

In keeping with its title, the prolific Louisiana rapper's fourth album plays like the end of an era.

YoungBoy Never Broke Again, The Last Slimeto
Photo: Khris James

YoungBoy Never Broke Again’s music has always been highly theatrical. On the one-hour-and-20-minute The Last Slimeto, his final album for Atlantic Records, the prolific Louisiana rapper reprises the styles and themes of his past work—namely melodrama marked by fatalistic romanticism and a flirtation with the specter of death—while also trying out a handful of new moves. In keeping with its title, the album plays like the end of an era.

With its plaintive guitar and eerie absence of drums, the opening track, “I Know,” drips with melancholy, as YoungBoy begs a lover not to leave, knowing fully that she’s already gone. On “7 Days,” computerized string plucks complement an affecting chorus about succumbing to addiction that’s delivered with an appropriately maniacal fiendishness, while the standout “Vette Motors” finds YoungBoy savoring the syllables of every one of his words in a manner that recalls Playboi Carti’s just-short-of-possessed vocalizations.

Like Carti, YoungBoy is a descendent of Southern-trap forbearers like Future and Young Thug, who each receive multiple subtle shout-outs on The Last Slimeto. More so than perhaps all three of those artists (except maybe Thug), YoungBoy is most distinguished for his bravura and tightly wound verses. The emo-trap star demonstrates some of his most athletic rapping to date on “Free Dem 5’s,” “Ghost,” and “Kamikaze,” weaving his way through dense thickets of wordy confessionals with an impressive combination of forcefulness and grace.

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YoungBoy’s intricate verses come to a head on album closer “I Hate YoungBoy,” much of which consists of one, distended, nearly 1,000-word screed. A clapback to Lil Durk’s diss track “AHHH HA,” which took YoungBoy to task for his association with figures involved in the slaying of King Von, “I Hate YoungBoy” is troubling but nonetheless show-stopping, a breathless repudiation that sees our host defending himself from seemingly every angle.

The Last Slimeto’s beats are consistent with YoungBoy’s past work, but he and producer Jason “Cheese” Goldberg also find new pockets to explore. The cymbal hits, low piano notes, and wah-pedal guitar tones of “Kamikaze” are in line with YoungBoy’s Southern-fried gothic outings, but the ragga stylings of “Top Sound” and light, breezy guitar and hand-drumming on “Wagwan” showcase the rapper’s newfound affinity for Caribbean sounds.

Despite YoungBoy’s agile vocals and ear for beats, the 30-track Last Slimeto does start to cave under its unruly duration. This isn’t helped by the fact that the rap balladeer’s narratives, while compelling and jam-packed, can be meandering and unfocused. Rather than follow a traceable narrative or thematic through line, the album merely conjures a series of—albeit passionately relayed—images of love, lust, and violence. Fortunately, these snapshots cohere just enough, driven by unceasing and often exhilarating geysers of emotion.

Score: 
 Label: Atlantic  Release Date: August 5, 2022  Buy: Amazon

Charles Lyons-Burt

Charles Lyons-Burt covers the government contracting industry by day and culture by night. His writing has also appeared in Spectrum Culture, In Review Online, and Battleship Pretension.

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