“They say Migos better than The Beatles // Paul McCartney I would like to meet him”
When I hear that line, I can’t help but think about those hilarious Twitter lists of why Migos are better than The Beatles ever were. If you pay any attention to the internet or pop culture, you know that the generation that supports Migos is a hilariously complicated one. They’re the ones who have escalated the Drake/Meek Mill beef into unseen heights. They’re the ones who started the conspiracy theory that Lil’ Wayne is ending his relationship with Cash Money because Young Thug has become Birdman’s new boyfriend. They’re the ones that have been making all the pictures of Bill Cosby’s head photoshopped onto a basketball player dunking a date rape drug into a martini glass. In other words, they’re the generation with no chill.
And that’s probably why they enjoy Migos so much, because Migos have no chill themselves. Whether they’re getting arrested for (insert reason here) or having their tour bus shot up on an interstate highway, you can count on Migos to pop up back on your timeline every two weeks or so for any given reason. To me, my favorite part about Migos is how they’ve accomplished so much without signing a major label deal, something unheard of by a single-driven rap group. However, they have never been the most consistent group out and that shines through on Yung Rich Nation.
What Yung Rich Nation lacks that albums like Future’s DS2 have is progression. While fellow Atlanta artists like Future and Young Thug seem to play with their style with every release, Migos seem to stick to what they know too often. In 2015, I don’t hear that same imperfect charm that their early records had. Instead, I hear songs that seem to have the same lyrics as songs off their debut mixtape. Now, many would argue that most rappers recycle lines in uncreative ways, but with Migos at the forefront of a triplet based rapping revolution, I was hoping they would try and take their oh so popular sound a bit further than the ones who have adapted it as their own.
That isn’t to discredit Yung Rich Nation as an album completely. Songs like “Street Nigga Sacrifice”, “Gangsta Rap” and “Cocaina” featuring Young Thug save the album for me. It’s just too far and easy to tell which songs are good and which songs fall short on this album. I like when songs can grow on you, or when you can tell a song is good before you actually start to like it yourself. To me, it was way too easy to tell which songs would pop off and which songs would be forgotten after the first listen, showing how cut and dry the albums framework is.
With the release of DS2 still hot on peoples mind, as well as Keef’s Bang 3 now out, Yung Rich Nation seemed to drop at an unideal time that left most people unaware of its release at all. Though I think we’ve yet to hear Migos’ best work, I send an open call to Quavo, Takeoff and Offset to go brazier. Do things that change the way other rappers rap like you did with Y.R.N.. Keep being the trap weirdo’s that made us all fall in love with you.
Often times, when artists come out with music I don’t enjoy, I begin to discredit them. However, I find Migos too interesting to do that so soon. Though Yung Rich Nation falls short as an album in my eyes, I have no doubt Migos will be around for years to come and that they’ve yet to release the biggest hit they’ll ever have.
