Listed: Young Nudy's "Anyways"

Packs Shipment No. 14

List season is just around the bend, and major publications are going to start naming their album of the year candidates and releasing their rankings of the best albums of the year. Some amazing projects are going to get left of these prestigious lists and it’ll be a tragedy. So for the next few weeks, I’m focusing on a few albums that need to be Listed on these end-of-the-year lists and why they deserve to be there.

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In the society of high-class Atlanta rap, Young Nudy is a necessity. Atlanta elites like Young Thug, Future, 21 Savage aren’t promised to consistently deliver their infectious trap rap spray-painted in colorful melodies and beats throughout the year. That task has been handed down to their understudies like Gunna, Lil Baby, and Young Nudy.

In a bloated Atlanta rap scene, Nudy has been able to distinguish himself. His raspy vocals are instantly recognizable and his flow is soaked with confidence and style. With the help of producer Pierre Bourne on the 2019 mixtape “Sli’merre,” Nudy solidified himself as a versatile artist teetering on the edge of elite status. Later that year, J. Cole and the rest of Dreamville couldn't help but put Nudy as the first voice you hear on their thunderous single “Down Bad” from the critically acclaimed, highly anticipated, and vigorously documented “Revenge of the Dreamers III” album.

“Anyways,” Nudy’s debut studio album that released in February of this year, was the next natural step for a budding Atlanta talent. Its an almagamation of everything that makes Nudy one of Atlanta’s underrated favorite.

On the standout “Blue Cheese Salad,” Nudy vocally styles the COUPE produced beat like an A$AP Rocky fit. The beat’s quivering synths and thumping bass are simply accessories to Nudy’s diverse murder flows and one-liners that gorilla glue themselves to your brain as soon as they pass your ear drums, that’s if you can decipher them. His thick Atlanta accent can be hard to understand, especially when he speeds up his flow.

Stylistically, you never know what to expect from Nudy. On “Marathon,” he switches his flow and cadence at will. The beat is beautiful despite sounding like dying bag pipes, and Nudy shows how he can elevate a song with creative flows and his signature voice. The lyrics aren’t ground-breaking or extremely thought-provoking, but they don’t need to be. They just need to be fun, and that’s exactly what they are.

“Anyways” is filled with beats that are more unconventional in the traditional Atlanta trap scene. The beats can be spacey, or uplifting, or menacing, but it’s only normal to Nudy. Young Nudy himself describes his beat selections as “weird.” His creative process is just as weird as his beat selection, preferring dirty motels and 5-minute song turnarounds instead of glitzy LA studios and over-thought tracks. If the Motel 6 inspires Nudy to keep cranking out elite-level Atlanta trap with the perfect amount of weird, then that’s where he should stay.

Half way through the year, “Anyways” was a constant presence in “Best Rap Albums of the Year…So Far” lists. Unless you’re cut from the same clout cloth as Drake and Kendrick, it’s tough for albums that drop so early in the year to hold steam and crack their way into year-end lists. Nudy deserves his spot in Atlanta’s elite with “Anyways,” and he absolutely made on of the best albums of the year.

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Welp, hope y’all enjoyed this edition of Packs. We back next Friday with a new delivery.

Between Packs, follow me on all the socials: @Tribecalledni on damn-near everything.

Until next time, be cool.