Young Thug just wants us all to be cool. Or at least that’s what the 28-year-old rap experimentalist, style icon, and #1 selling artist tells GQ during a conversation last Thursday night. It’s easy for him to say. Over the course of the roughly six years that the rapper has had the hip-hop consciousness lodged in the palm of his heavily-bejeweled hand, Thug has worn some of the coolest outfits, made some of the coolest music, and arguably provided an entirely new template for what the word “cool” even means.

But when Thug says cool, he’s not just talking about distressed Amiri skinny jeans and anaconda link diamond necklaces. He’s also talking about the type of cool that compels you to show appreciation for others and to do things that make people—people who aren’t you—happy.

So Much Fun, the project his label is calling his debut album (and, as of yesterday, the newly-christened No. 1 album in America), is Thug’s attempt to be the coolest dude in music. It’s everything we’ve come to want from the prolific iconoclast—oppressively good beat selection, scintillating melodies, and absurd lyrical hijinks like yelping “totally dude!” on a song called “Surf.”

GQ spoke to Thug about the new album, settling disputes with Gunna, and what he actually would like to say to Oprah.

GQ: This project is billed as your first “album.” I know that, with streaming, that doesn’t mean as much as it once did and it’s more of a label branding thing, but I’m curious if it being classified as an album changed your approach to the project at all or was it routine?

Young Thug: It was routine and it felt different because I was making music for myself. Not being selfish, but on a very humble scale, I was making music for myself—the way I like to hear myself sound and the way I want to dish my stuff out, but this time I really focused on putting out what people like. That's why it's so cool and people are merging to it and liking it. It's mainly because I honestly sat down and was like "Imma dedicate this album to the people. I'm gonna give the people what they wanna hear."

I love the album title: So Much Fun. Originally it was supposed to be called Gold Mouf Dog. What did Gold Mouf Dog mean to you and why did So Much Fun feel more appropriate for the project?

Gold Mouf Dog came from like, this album is a fun album, but it's also like the old me. It's also how I use to rap. It's also Barter 6. Not giving a fuck and just like being yourself and being you and being open and being a punk.

So with Gold Mouf Dog, I wanted people to look at me how they used to look at me like Young Thug. Like Gold Mouth Young Thug. Blonde Hair Young Thug. I wanted people to look at me like that, but I didn't want to go back to that image. I wanted to keep the grown, sleek look, but I wanted people to think of me that way, you know what I'm sayin?


So, I was coming up with the craziest names like Gold Mouf Dog. Like as soon as you hear the name you're like "Ah shit, he's back on that."

A couple months ago when you were still working on the project you would hop on Instagram Live or post videos of yourself listening to snippets of songs. Were there any tracks that you were particularly hype about while you were making them?


"Hot"—crazy! We was very, very excited. Gunna actually recorded it by himself. I fell asleep. We recorded like three of four songs, I fell asleep, and then he kept recording.

He recorded it while you were asleep?

Yeah, he played it when I woke up. I knew it was that type of song. He don't usually even remind me of songs because we got so much music. Sometimes he'll go in the other room and record all night, and I'll be in my room, recording all night.

So that's when I knew like it must be that type of song cause he aint never gon' be like, "Listen to what I did last night." That was one of the first times he did that. One time he did it with "Oh Ok" and that was tight. But he don't do it that much. He did it, and I was like "This must be one of the ones." And when they pulled the session up and played it. I was like, "Oh fuck, pull this up right now. Let's do it." I ended up laying the verse down. And then, he was like, "I wanna shoot a video and—" And I was like, "Holddddd on. Slow down. Nigga, this song mine!" He was like, "No." And I was like, "Yeah, nigga. I gave you "'Three Headed Snake'!” There I go.

Does that happen often?

Yeah we done had these run-ins a few times. Where [Gunna]’s like, "Yo, lemme use this! Man, I'm your artist, nigga! Goddamn, you already been a superstar! Lemme get this!" He always uses that.

But he couldn't use it for this. I was like, "I don't give a damn! This song is mine!"

J. Cole provided the opening verse to the album’s lead single “The London” and is credited as So Much Fun’s executive producer. Just a few years ago, you two working together would’ve seemed like an odd pairing. How did you guys connect?

We connected going on tour. The tour started the official connection. We always spoke and always been like, "Brah, I appreciate your music." He always told me whenever we ran across each other like "Man, I love the way you create.”

There’s that incredible photo of you and Lil Durk in the studio that became a meme where you're hunched over the studio console, staring at the computer concentrating. You look like you're a commander of a spaceship.


[Laughs.] Fuckin' crazy.

Do you remember what you were looking at?

Yeah, I was fixing one of his songs. When he's working on his albums, he might come to the studio and let me goddamn mix his album. He'll let me add whatever I want to add to his album.

You do a lot of mixing?

Yeah, me and Alex Tumay, we mixed my album. I record myself a lot of times, me and my engineer. Sometimes my engineer be tired, sometimes he fuck up. I just be like, "Move, let me do it." Yeah. I do a lot of recording.

I was just recording myself this morning, actually. My A&R just brought me the phone like, "Yo, GQ on the phone" while I was recording. Kinda dope. Wanna hear a piece of it? [Laughs.]

Yeah, of course!

WHEEZY OUTTA HERE. [A midtempo Thug ballad plays for about a minute]

[Music stops]

You like it?

Yeah, I love that! It's a very smooth, R&B Thug vibe!

Yeah. That's from my new album Punk.

What's that one called?

The name of the song?


"I Don't Believe"

In which ways is Punk gonna be a different direction from So Much Fun?

It's more like real. More real life stories. I want to tell them a few things I went through as a kid and comin’ up. You know, just lettin’ the fans in.

I named it Punk because when I think of the word "punk" I think of a person that don't give a fuck. A person living life never caring about what anyone thinks. You know, that's what I think about "punk." When I see punk rockers, I be like, "Damn, these niggas really don't give a fuck!"

Like, a real sense of freedom?

Yeah, free! Cause I always cared about what I wanted to know about me or what I wanted people to hear. And this album Punk, I'm just throwing it all away like I don't give a fuck. I'm just gon' explain stories.

You talk about "pureness" a lot. What does “pureness” mean to you? How would you define "pureness"?

It's people that is free, all out, loyal, very, very, very loyal. Loyal, loving. Honest love. Real love. Real loyalty. You know, that style of pureness. That's what I want. That's what I seek in this game. You were kind of raised and taught to be like "fuck a person" or be like "Whatever I gotta do to get to the top." You know?

Which is cool. It's cool for whoever feel like the need to be like that. I'm not cool with it though. I seek for love. I seek for honesty. I see for respect. I seek for loyalty. That’s what I seek in "pureness."

Is that something that you've come to learn over the years or do you think it's always been a part of your mindset?

It's always been a part, but I have come to learn a lot that has something to do with it. And it just made me push it even more, embrace it even more. I always been like that cause my mom got 11 kids, you know what I'm saying? My mom had 11 kids herself, so it's like, I've always been like this. I've always shared, always had to share. It's always been "us," never been a "me" or a "you". You know what I'm saying?

You’ve been known to do some wild and creative things with your voice on songs. Do you have any sort of routines for taking care of your voice?


Yeah, I do, but I don't care to... I don't wanna speak on ‘em. I want it to be, you know... [Laughs.] I want it to be hidden.

On “Just How It is” you have the line “had to wear the dress cause I had the stick” which is a reference to your now-iconic Alessandro Trincone look you wore on the cover of Jeffrey. You’ve had many memorable looks over the years, but have you ever bricked an outfit? Like fully left the crib and realized your fit looked kinda wack?

Uh, no.


Because I'm big on fashion. Only because I'm big on fashion. Once you have a fashion mindset, 100% fashion mindset, you learn that nothing is ugly.

So you think that style is something that's beyond the clothes?

Yes, of course. Beyond the clothes. Once you become stylish and once you become—in that field, you learn that... when you speak on the word "style" or the word "fashion," the clothes, the actual clothes are actually the smallest thing.

Your guy Uzi has “NO STYLIST” boldly stated in Instagram bio. We recently ran a story about how that has become every rappers favorite flex. How do you feel about every rapper claiming they don’t use a stylist? Do you believe them?

Yeah, it's because you gotta think. He's not literally saying, "I have no stylist" cause he got a stylist. But a stylist can be used in different terms. The stylist can be the person who bring the clothes. That don't mean they dress you. They just brought the clothes. They just brought clothes for you to pick through.

Do you style yourself?

Yes, I style myself. Sometimes I let people style me just so people can die being able to say, "I had the privilege to dress him before."

Wait, really?

Yeah once you get to a certain level, you start thinking about others. It's nothing about you. I don't think for myself anymore. Sometimes I be like, "Man, today Imma let the stylist style. Imma let the stylist put my clothes on." [To imaginary stylist] "What you want me to wear?"

‘Cause sometimes they really have ideas. You know what I'm saying? I’m one of those types of people. Sometimes I be like, "Man you can dress me. Lemme see what you got. Let's do it. No matter what you pick Imma wear it."

Do you think that impulse comes from being a natural collaborator?

Yes, it's just like opening up and letting people in. It's just like damn. People are like, "Damn, I really like Thug. He's a cool guy. I love Young Thug. Young Thug is this and Young Thug is that." You know what I'm sayin'? It's just like cool. It's cool to do that. That's one thing that artist got to start doing. Start being cool. Stop saying you don't got a stylist because everybody got a stylist. Everybody. Everybody.

Are there particular brands or designers that you’ve been into lately?

Yeah, Spider. I've been into mines. I don't like to speak on brands ‘cause they will sue you. They do a lot. I don't like to be talkin' about brands. I like every brand, though. Every brand you can think of, I like 'em.

What made you want to start your own brand?

I always wanted to do it my whole life. When I came into the rap game, I didn't want to be a rapper; I wanted to be a stylist. When I first came in, I wanted to play football and then I wanted to be a stylist. I always knew how to rap my whole life and I just ended up making it in rap. Now, I'm able to live out my dream and create clothes—menswear, womenswear, unisex. I'm being able to create what I wanted to do. This is what I always wanted to do my whole life.


Will Spider be putting out collections?

Yes, it's going to be full-blown clothing lines. I'm havin' collections. I'm havin summer ones- spring, fall, all of it. In maybe like two more years, it's gonna be out.

Are you collaborating with any designers?

Yeah, I'm working with a few designers. I ain't gon' say their names though. It's all rolled up in paperwork. Can't do nothin' to it.

One designer who I can say I'm gonna work with is Virgil. He don't do non-disclosures with me. He loves me. I'm gon’ work with Virgil. He'll probably be the first or second person that I ever work with. I think he's gonna be the first.

You’ve said that you don’t really write your songs down in a traditional way. You typically figure out a song by freestyling, so I imagine it must be kind of hard to remember your own lyrics sometimes. Do you ever hear lines in one of your own songs and laugh like “Wow, I really said that”?

Yeah, of course. I do that a lot. Especially with like old songs, songs that I haven't listened to in years. I listen to it and be like, "Damn, I'm crazy for that." [Laughs]

Do you remember any specific songs where that happened?

I did a song with Nipsey a few years ago that I forgot I did. That's the crazy part. We was out in L.A., out and about, and I heard that shit. And facts, all honest? I didn't even know it was me. I just heard it playing loud in the car. I think it was a van playin’ it that was ridin' past us. And I was like, "Who the hell is that?" And my artist Duke was like "Nigga, that's you and Nipsey" I'm like "What's the name of that one?”

You didn’t even know it was you?

I just heard the voice. That was my first time hearing my voice and thinking like what you guys think. Cause I always be like, "What the hell these people talkin’ about?" I can't hear it. This my first time understanding like, "Oh, damn." Cause I did the song so long ago, so I sounded so different. To the point where I didn't understand it. I just heard it and it sounded reggae* and it's like, "Damn what's the name of this song?"

We got back in the car and played it and I'm like, “What the fuck? This is crazy! We did this song like eight years ago!"

On “I’m Scared” you say, “Someone tell Oprah I want wifey (call me).” If Oprah’s reading this interview—which I know she is—what would you like to say to her?

It's just words. We was just havin’ fun. And I'm just speakin’ for men. I know as a man, honestly, I feel like that. Even men with relationships, it's just like... It's just like a woman, if I could be in a relationship with Bill Gates, I would be in a relationship with Bill Gates as a woman. So, it's just like that. It's no hard feelings. Like, I got a girl.

I have a friend who once said every song on Barter 6 is the best song she’s ever heard. Many of your fans talk about your work this way. What’s the wildest thing someone’s ever told you about your music?

Um...[Thug pauses for a few seconds] Um... Somebody... I got a song called "RiRi” from my Jeffrey album. One day a female had said a few years ago that the song made her have an orgasm.

Actually? Someone said that to you?

Yes, literally. I'm like, "Yo, what the fuck?"


*Likely his hook on “I Do This” from Nipsey Hussle’s Slauson Boy 2 (2016)

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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