Young Thug's Best Pop Culture References On "Slime Season 2"

When Young Thug's on the mic, any topic's fair game. He'll reference kids movies and famous gangs side-by-side, name-drop close friends who are unknown to the rest of the world, and arrive at conclusions in the most roundabout ways possible (who else orders "boneless chicken like an egg"?). This approach infuriates some and dazzles others, but regardless of your personal opinion, you've gotta admit it-- he's got an entirely unique approach to lyrics. Words seem to float around Young Thug's head like an endless connect-the-dots game come to life, with certain ones (slime, baby, wet, bool, and oddly enough on his new tape, mullet) popping up more often than others. 

Slime Season 2, Thugger's latest project, packs a ton of seemingly unrelated lyrics into songs, making for a listening experience that often feels like watching sketch comedy. In addition to his usual animal references (a defining feature of both Barter 6 and SS1), he also manages to mention a plethora of pop culture mainstays from Ice T to Yoko Ono in nearly every track, allowing them to stand in as metaphors, puns or double entendres as he sees fit. Unlike another rapper who loves to name-drop, The Game, Thug doesn't seem to spend a lot of time setting up these cultural allusions, instead letting them speed past, liable to be missed on the first listen. Now that you've had a few days to sit with SS2, let's see how many of these you've caught on your own. 

- "Big Racks"

The first half of this a great double entendre that's easy to break down ("tea" being lean, and CoCo being Ice T's wife), but "performing the Yoko" is something of a mystery. Yoko Ono is frequently accused of being responsible for The Beatles' breakup, so does Thug break up with women right after having sex with them? Or is he saying that his performance is so good that he makes the woman break up with her current boyfriend

- "Thief In the Night"

References to boxer/martial artist Kimbo Slice are a dime a dozen in hip hop-- everyone from Tech N9ne to Hoodie Allen's mentioned him-- put Thugger follows it up with a rare reference to a "Paid In Full" characte.

"She gotta love him, Peter Griffin / Nut on the front of her head like i’m Eddie Griffin"

- "Hey I"

Yet another line that's clear enough to begin with before it veers off into impenetrability. Peter Griffin is the main character of "Family Guy," and so yes, it makes sense why a woman would have to love him, but when has comedian Eddie Griffin ever nutted on the front of someone's head? Not even Thug's engineer can explain this one. Any Eddie Griffin fanboys wanna explain this one to us?

"This a Crime Mob lifestyle nigga knuck if you buck / Just cause I'm in New York with a Puck / Don't mean you won't get stuck up"

- "Hey I"

Here we have a reference to one of the greatest Southern rap songs of all time sitting alongside a name-drop of one of the country's most celebrated chefs. Welcome to Thug's world. 

"I pour out the paint like Mutumbo / I'm a fucking lion like Simba / And, yeah my girl ballin' like Kendra"

- "Hey I"

Former NBA all-star Dikembe Mutumbo, "The Lion King"'s protagonist and former Playboy Playmate and "Girls Next Door" star Kendra Wilkinson-- what do all of these people have in common? They all popped into Thugger's mind in the booth... and that's about it. 

- "Twerk It"

Throughout SS2, Thug lets us know how desired his dick is ("She want every drop that come out my penis," "My dick like crack so yeah, I'm dealing," etc.), but this line that references Usher's past relationship with TLC's Chili is the wittiest. 

- "Phoenix"

Another "Lion King" reference? Thug must be spending a lot of time with his kids. Side note: $20 to the first person to put "Mufasa genius" on their resumé. 

- "Go Crazy"

Diddy owns enough diamonds to literally shine, but Thug's more likely making a play on former Bad Boy Shyne.

"Young Thug not pickin' her up, you can quicker picker up"

- "Up"

Possibly the most random of all, this line seems to quote an old slogan for Bounty paper towels ("the quicker picker upper").

- "Up"

Unfortunately, Thug wasn't one of the rappers whose lyrics were emblazoned on Sprite cans earlier this year. Instead, he's referencing Coca Cola's weird campaign that puts random names on every bottle. Share a Coke with Jeffrey Williams. 

- "Flaws"

This is the second reference to Nichols, an Georgian who killed four people while escaping a rape trial, on SS2 (the first coming on "Mind Right"). No idea why a dude who's been in jail since 2008 in on Thug's mind so much

"She won't T.I. on me, she don't care 'bout no money"

- "Never Made Love"

"If it ain't about the money, don't be blowin' me up, stop wastin' my time," T.I. and Thug rapped on their 2014 collaboration "About The Money." How meta is this reference

"I like my bitches brown like James, no Worthy"

- "My Baby"

Brown, like James, the R&B/funk star, not like James Worthy, the basketball player. Got it?