Young Nudy “Gumbo” Album Review

Gumbo

Young Nudy

• Genre: Rap
• Date: 28 Feb, 2023
• Content: explicit
• Region: NGA
• Track(s): 13
• ℗ 2023 Young Nudy, LLC, under exclusive licence to RCA Records

The Atlanta rapper Young Nudy has spent the last four years developing a cult following despite never breaking out on a pop level. Nudy has a prolific music career and a superb sense for disjointed and off-kilter beats. He is the first well-known rapper to collaborate with Pi’erre Bourne as a producer. Also, Nudy chooses some hysterical cover art for each of his albums. You can hear all those talents in action in Nudy’s most recent album, “Gumbo.”

Album Art

The table is set; Rich meals are on offer, and there’s a spoil of choice and variety on display, but also there’s the creeping presence of a striking green snake at the table as well as the gripping sights of a “Glock” as well as a bowl of Bullets while the cutlery is on the other side. Wads of cash can also be seen to be served as young Nudy tries to depict the everyday hustle on the streets with this great analogy.

From the pictorial representation, It’s very resounding as Nudy warns about the possibilities of “snakes at the table.” The green model of the snake brings to mind the “green snake in the green grass” expression, as Nudy implies that your enemies are usually seated at the table with you but ready to take your crown at the slightest opportunity. This album is packed with warnings and insights from the street life and the promise of the Goodlife if one sticks to his “guns.”

Nudy advises the listener always to be on guard and ready to spot the snake coming for what’s Yours.

Tracks And Features

Only those two features are found on the fantastic 13-track playlist, and Nudy is once again heard rapping over his trademark bizarre beats. It’s even more astonishing that he got these tunes prepared so soon after someone leaked roughly 200 of his tracks, leading to a rare engagement for Nudy, which he threatened on social media. Every song on the album has a food motif, and many of them, like “Okra” and “Shrimp,” are named after components of the eponymous soup.

By hiring Coupe as a two-twin chef combo and providing a variety of the chef’s specials, the couple became known for their ability to bounce ideas off one another. Amazingly, Coupe showed Nudy the talent to transform his dialect and twang into a tune. Likewise, the staccato enunciation of the rap standard has not changed. The musical accompaniment, in comparison, is understated and features simple melodic loops and sliding basslines.

Threatening lines like “Don’t be a fool, your ass is finished” are firmly embedded in conversations with Nudy and are brilliantly exemplified in “Brussel Sprouts.” I’ma kill that mu***ka talkin’ s**, y’all know what I’m sayin’, as angst-ridden Nudy declares in M.R.E. For real”. With his violent lyrics and spooky admissions, Nudy has enchanted his audience. While hearing “I got G.I. Joes, big gun” may scare new listeners; for regulars, it’s just another day at the soup shop.

Regarding lessons to be learned, Nudy offers financial management advice on the album (“If a n***a want to touch a hundred thousand, get out the hood or never feel it”). Into the bargain, a fragment of Nudy on a wooing endeavor sounds like “Passion Fruit” and includes one-liners like “If I had a main, I wished it was you.” The initial track of the menu is sad, but after we get halfway through, our hunger for more is quenched. The meals make subtle allusions to spaghetti western scores and Game Boy instrumentals, but there is little ornamentation.

The Pi’erre Bourne and Key Glock piece on “Pot Roast” is a fan favorite. Pi’erre Bourne and Nudy make a good wine pairing for the album, and “Glock” adds a garnished earworm. Nudy’s albums have production credits worth celebrating, and “Gumbo” is no exception. Although it might not be the rapper from East Atlanta’s best work, “EA Monster” nonetheless has a strong successor in this song.

Tracklist

NO	TITLE	TIME
1	Brussel Sprout	3:39
2	Pancake	3:25
3	Portabella	3:36
4	Pot Roast (feat. Key Glock)	3:18
5	M.R.E.	3:18
6	McChicken	3:05
7	Okra	3:03
8	Peaches & Eggplants (feat. 21 Savage)	3:23
9	Shrimp	4:00
10	Duck Meat	2:52
11	Fish & Chips	2:53
12	Hot Grease	4:00
13	Passion Fruit	3:14

Album Summary

This is a revelatory album, and if you’re a staunch lover of Hip\Hop and Trap, you’ll be amazed by how much information Nudy has packed into this. No wonder it got Drake’s attention. It will be one to look out for on the charts soon. Of course, Nudy doesn’t feel he should preach consciousness in the same breath as violence, but he says it as it is -after all, the streets are violent already.

Stream