Beautiful Thugger Girls

Lore & Background

On April 26, 2017, Young Thug originally announced that the project would be titled E.B.B.T.G., an abbreviation for Easy Breezy Beautiful Thugger Girls, which was a play on "easy, breezy, beautiful CoverGirl" as the slogan for CoverGirl. After several delays, the release date was hinted a week before release and officially confirmed two days before release. Although it has been referred to as an album by Young Thug, 300 Entertainment have reported it as a commercial mixtape. The mixtape was met with widespread critical acclaim, scoring an 84 out of 100 on Metacritic based on eight reviews. Paul Thompson of Pitchfork called it Young Thug's "most compelling experiment in pop," comparing it to Lil Wayne's Rebirth. The A.V. Club's Renatio Pagnani noted that "few artists manage to balance wide-eyed eroticism with genuine warmth." The mixtape debuted at number eight on the US Billboard 200 with 37,000 album-equivalent units, of which 7,000 were pure album sales. On December 6, 2019, it was certified gold by the RIAA for over 500,000 units in the United States.

In Their Own Story

The track "Me or Us" contains a sample from "First Day of My Life" by Bright Eyes, while "Take Care" samples James Brown's "I Got You (I Feel Good)." The vinyl version of "Me or Us" features a guest appearance by Travis Scott. Production on the mixtape was handled by Billboard Hitmakers, Charlie Handsome, London, Rex Kudo, and Wheezy, among others. The mixtape was described by Young Thug as a "singing album" that includes crossovers to R&B, dancehall and country. Critics noted the range: Daniel Bromfield of Pretty Much Amazing observed that "Young Thug cycles through a lot of styles here: lovebird R&B, sensitive acoustic folk, even country." Exclaim!'s Anya Zoledziowski noted that the mixtape "pushes the boundaries of Atlanta hip-hop" and listed Drake as executive producer. Robert Christgau, while less impressed, highlighted "Take Care" and "Family Don't Matter" in his Vice column.

Reader's Guide

For fans tracking Young Thug's evolution, Beautiful Thugger Girls represents a deliberate pivot toward melody and genre fusion. The mixtape's title was a play on the CoverGirl slogan, and its sound deliberately mixed R&B crooning, dancehall rhythms, and country guitar work. Scott Glaysher of XXL said "Thug sounds the best he's ever sounded, despite some of the songs being fairly far removed from his proverbial comfort zone." The mixtape's commercial performance was solid: 37,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, with 7,000 pure sales, landing at number eight on the Billboard 200 and number four on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The RIAA gold certification came on December 6, 2019. Critics were divided on the execution: Tiny Mix Tapes's Corrigan B found it "remarkable because of its Thugger-ness" but noted that "his pure lyricism... has begun to detract from the project as a whole." Winston Cook-Wilson of Spin said the album "feels unprecedented within his catalog because it strikes a balance Thug has never quite pulled off on a single project."

Did You Know?

• The mixtape's original title was E.B.B.T.G., short for Easy Breezy Beautiful Thugger Girls, a play on the CoverGirl slogan.
• The vinyl version of "Me or Us" features a guest appearance by Travis Scott, which is not on the standard digital release.
• "Take Care" samples James Brown's classic "I Got You (I Feel Good)."
• The mixtape was certified gold by the RIAA on December 6, 2019, for over 500,000 units in the United States.
• Drake is listed as executive producer on the project, according to Exclaim!'s review.