He took what Lil Wayne had done to new extremes/heights. Wayne was obviously more of a traditional rapper. He made a point of being a rapper. Young Thug sort of became untethered from a need to rap in the traditional sense...
Was Lil Wayne also the first major rapper to have such a semi infantile persona? A tiny little guy with a deliebrately "cute" sort of voice. Like a gremlin. Like a cartoon.
Lil Wayne was the druggiest rapper I can think of. That's part of what Thug extends, but as you say, Wayne is never druggy to the point he stops being s rapper, it gets deliberately close to the edge, but it never topples over.
His physique seems to have redefined what masculinity in rap meant. After him comes all these shirtless rappers with tattooes all over them and less meat on them than a chicken drumstick.
Yeah obviously masculinity is a huge part of it. That's tied in with opening up of a new range of affect which was previously inaccessible. Even for women!
Everybody knows I love stupid dumb machismo more than anyone but it's not good for people and it's a creative straitjacket. Going back would be destructive.
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