And with Pi’erre Bourne by his side – a young talent who has recently become an industry darling following his work with Playboi Carti – Nudy’s subsequent mixtapes (last year’s Slimeball 2 and the critically-acclaimed Nudy Land ) garnered him an almost cult-like status amongst fans of the East Atlanta cannon. Minor hits like “Yeah Yeah” established him as a unique, forward-thinking voice in the game Nudy was intent on occupying his lane and his lane only, wielding an inimitable flow that often sputters to life with absolutely no warning. Once he followed up his modest debut mixtape, Paradise City, with the first of the Slimeball series, Nudy rocketed to regional fame. Young Nudy continues to force his name into the Atlanta rap conversation.When Young Nudy first appeared on 2015’s Slaughter King, one of his cousin’s formative mixtapes, he contrasted 21 Savage’s now-trademark menace with an air of nonchalance that was genuinely captivating in its own right. Nudy’s ability to land earworm hooks comes with great ease here, and, in retrospect, he was wise to lay off the big name collaborators in favor of a more personal and identifiable sound. While Nudy Land may edge out Slimeball 3 in terms of cohesion, the new mixtape is a significant leap forward in terms of songwriting skill when compared with the first two editions of the Slimeball series. Young Nudy’s ability to be a synthesis of his city’s scene is the greatest advantage he holds, and one that’s improved and sharpened over the course of his career.
“Do That” takes an otherworldly synth-floating delicately above the thick slap of the snare drum-highlighting the rhythm section while Nudy works the triplet-style flow pioneered by fellow ATLiens Migos. While Nudy never has much of an interest in existing outside of the money, fame, drugs paradigm, his voice imbues these songs with enough of an emotional impact that tones and quirks pack as much of a punch as words do.Īlbum highlight "InDaStreet" finds Nudy employing a yearning, almost desperate flow, an exasperation in his voice that lends a great assist to his rapid-fire, breathy lines dissecting the softness of today’s hustlers (“And I ain’t no fuckin’ wannabe/All you pussy niggas wanna be”). "Middle Fingers" is a swaggering ode to Nudy’s hood, a half-sung lull of a rap that woozily narcotizes the emcee’s sentiments towards his haters. The color palette on Slimeball 3 has shifted dramatically from the first two editions, with Nudy’s deadpan dialect giving way to a more confident drawl, one that recalls the Auto-Tune blues rap of Los Angeles hero 03 Greedo as much as it does any Atlanta stars. After a sluggish opening two songs, this feels like a grave miscalculation of skills, but by "Middle Fingers," he’s returned to his role as the sort of effortlessly engaging regional stylist he fully rounded out on Nudy Land.
He’s deeply feeling himself on the record, putting up zero features over the course of its 14 tracks. On Slimeball 3, Young Nudy’s expressly interested in anointing his voice as a definitive, weighty addition to Atlanta’s already-dense scene. Thinking about or listening to Nudy’s work outside of this context strips the artist of his place within rap’s current power structure, and over the course of two Slimeball mixtapes and one LP, Nudy’s hinted at being worthy of a seat at the next table over or, at least, on the waitlist in case of any cancellations. Comparing Nudy to a set of rappers from his hometown may seem reductive, but the similarities have more to do with the unrelenting influence of the Young Thug-Gucci Mane- Future triumvirate than any lack of originality on Nudy’s part.
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