Hi everyone, Godthony Whytano here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this new YG album, The Gentleman's Club.

Yes, here is the newest record from Compton rapper and songwriter YG, and honestly, it's one of my most anticipated rap records of the year, and for a few reasons. I mean, for one, I thought we were originally going to get this thing like back in 2025, but it kind of got pushed back to this year, and I figured if that was the case, it was because, you know, maybe YG was still kind of working out the kinks, making sure the record was really going to be good and worth the wait. And also, on top of that, some of the singles in the lead-up to this record I think have been a few of YG's best in a while. Like the track "2004," which was a harrowing but thoughtful recount of a time when YG was very young and he experienced sexual abuse and manipulation. It was a crazy track for him to drop, but also an impeccably written one, and a song that I feel like opens up a really necessary conversation for a lot of men.

Not to mention, the track was just a testament to YG's knack for storytelling, which I feel like has long been a kind of underrated aspect of his pen game. It's sometimes forgotten because, you know, it's been about 10 years since he came out with his debut album, My Krazy Life, which notably was an album that had a very kind of direct linear narrative to it. Not a perfect album in my mind by any means, but he was certainly coming out of the gate ambitious with with this one. But then he followed this project with Still Brazy a few years later, and the album not only received rave reviews, eventually went on to gold status, but blew me away too. I mean, sure, it wasn't as narrative or conceptual as its predecessor, but most of the tracks on this LP had a lot of lyrical focus to them and addressed a variety of topics, whether it be police brutality, LA gang culture, getting shot, and the paranoia of not knowing who did it. And also, who can forget the classic "FDT," which ages better and better, like fine wine every year.

But yeah, as, as great as Still Brazy was, for whatever reason YG quickly started dropping projects that by comparison felt much more basic, unfocused, lower effort. Not only did these albums not feature as much narrative focus as YG's debut, but also not much in the way of thoughtful verses or bars or topics either. He was also kind of pushing out albums faster and faster, doing throwaway collabs like one with Tyga back in 2023. It all reminds me of a recent conversation that YG had with DJ Hed, where he was talking about the progression of his career and essentially admitting to putting out records just to get out of his deal, and then having a conversation with Kendrick Lamar about that. And then Kendrick kind of encouraged him to kind of turn that attitude around and put his all into every album, regardless of how bad the label deal arrangement is.

Given that bit of news and that admission, that had me pretty excited to hear what YG was gonna offer on The Gentleman's Club, especially if we were gonna get more tracks that were as personal as "2004." Unfortunately though, that song actually didn't end up making the final cut of this album's tracklist. Maybe, I don't know, it was too revealing, or YG got some pushback on the content of it, or it was like left flapping in the wind for too long, because the record did come out a while after the original release of that single. There were at least some teasers that made it onto this on this record, though, like "Hollywood" featuring Shoreline Mafia, which is a really straightforward, fun West Coast party anthem with G-funk grooves, glossy synths, and just wall-to-wall debauchery going on in the verses. It's not a deep track by any means, but at least it doesn't feel thrown together, and there's some thrust to it, for sure.

Then there was "Insecure" featuring JID and Ab-Soul, which is literally about being insecure, to the point where, in some ways, this track is most likely gonna hit as kind of uncomfortable for some listeners, as YG literally goes into being afraid to have sex because he's afraid he'll cum too quick, taking dick pills, or wanting to leave the streets but being afraid of what people might say about him. It really is an unflinchingly honest analysis of his own personal insecurities. And as far as JID and Ab-Soul are concerned, they both do a really great job of digging further into this topic, especially Ab, who I think heard YG's verse and thought, "Oh, we're We're gonna make it awkward? I can make it awkward!"

And then there's the closing vocal snippet that finishes the song off, saying, "Uh, think of this club as a place men go when they're ready to talk about things you'd never expect us to," really kind of like laying down the idea of the gentlemen's club concept and album title, which, as an idea, I think is really cool. But when it comes to execution, I feel like the rest of this album, for the most part, falls very short of that bar, or crashes and burns miserably in its attempt to have these conversations. Because not only does this record have a pretty weak start with "OMG," which, sure, on some level does have a kind of fun, earworm chorus, but given how silly these hooks are, I thought the verses might actually provide a little substance, or might be kind of funny. But YG's flow and bars are honestly so low effort that even Pusha T feels completely at ease with basically phoning it the hell in during his appearance in the second half.

Then there's "Kudos," which in a lot of ways kind of sounds like a mediocre Eminem or 50 Cent song that Dr. Dre would have overseen in the mid-2000s. It has a terrible chorus, though lyrically I can appreciate this kind of retrospective point of view writing that YG is doing here, going over all of these formative experiences that made him who he is today, and some of the regrets that he's had with his former street life. Following this, "Hitman" is really the first real ambitious attempt at telling grandiose narrative here. We have dramatic strings, a heavy beat. I think we also could have used a guest on here who could have really sung the hook. The singing on this part does stink.

Lyrically, though, the song does present an interesting idea. There's someone out there who you hate so much you want to put a hit out on them. You pay a hitman to do it. YG is kind of fuming at how long it's taking to do this job and sort of throwing in all of these descriptions about the guy who he has to kill and why he hates this guy so much. We go for one verse, two verses, three verses, and then whoop, twist, turns out the guy YG wants dead is himself. But the reveal of this, at the moment it does come out, isn't really that thrilling, because not only are the descriptions of why this guy is so bad and why he needs to die not really all that compelling, but most of the progression of tension throughout the song is kind of building between YG getting increasingly pissed off at the hitman for just not doing the damn thing.

Again, this track is not perfect, but it's a step in the right direction, but sadly, the momentum this song builds up doesn't really carry on, because following this we have a kind of unearned sex jam, "Simon Says," which is one of those bedroom tracks that honestly is not going to sound good in the bedroom. I still do enjoy, though, "On the Low" after this, which in one breath could be read on the surface as, like, y'know, a Ying Yang Twins-esque gimmicky whisper rap song, but I feel like YG plays really effectively into this idea by rapping only about things that you would be doing secretively or sneakily, be it either cheating or hiding how much money you have by dressing a certain way.

There's also a pretty respectable Tyler, The Creator feature on this track, where he's not quite whispering but he's still bringing a low-key energy to match the concept of the track. Following this, we know "The Truth" isn't my favorite song on here, but lyrically it does feel like a callback to the Still Brazy era, in that it is, in a way, a story song that is all about being accused of committing a murder that you didn't do, and YG does a pretty compelling job of telling his side of the story, explaining why, logically, it wouldn't make sense for him to do this at all. I do think there's something to this track for sure, but the skeletal beat and bland chorus kind of prevent it from popping off musically.

We hit a few more tracks after this, but eventually YG does kind of go back into a conceptual direction with "Ready To Die", the "Hitman" response song, which is kind of like a little post-"Hitman" epilogue moment where the self-loathing inner voice that basically drives this bad or evil side of YG takes the mic. And even though I don't mind this song while it's on, I can't help but feel like a bit of lost potential when listening to it.

Either way, "Righting My Wrongs" is another track that, to me, managed to be a highlight. A song that, given the themes of the record in the lead-up, I had pretty high hopes for because we're dealing with all these themes of regret and self-loathing. So I kind of went into this anticipating hearing what exactly we are making amends for, what we have so much regret over in our life, to have, uh, this much kind of like inward negativity. And YG does deliver, in his defense, with one of the most revealing moments on this LP, talking about a friend whose passing he feels responsible for, the way drugs and the club kind of took over his mind early in his career, which prevented him from moving in the music industry in a way that would have been more ideal. And then finally, the ways in which cheating kind of ruined certain relationships for him that he's now upset over.

For sure, he does kinda move quickly through all of these things, almost like a laundry list, but it at least gives a bit of a sense of resolution after what has been a pretty messy album so far, and I also kind of appreciate what feels like a little bit of Tupac influence in some of this writing. In a lot of ways, this is kind of a peak moment in terms of what this record is building to, and a lot of the pent-up emotions it's expressing. Maybe it wouldn't have been right to end the album here, but the song does feel like we're getting a sense of finality in some way. But the record kind of just keeps going.

We have "Dinner Dates & Heart Breaks," which I wonder if the song is titled this because the production does feel almost like a worse version of something from Kanye's 808s era. But yeah, overall this track is like a very tedious relationship going to crap song, which is not a bad topic by any means, of course. But the flow and instrumental come together on this one to create something that feels more like a skit than a legitimate song. And speaking of something that is more like a skit than a song and should have been way shorter than the 7 minutes it actually lasts is the song "Tiffany." Actually, never mind. This song just should not exist at all. Again, YG really could have taken the best tracks on the back end of this record, put them before "Righting My Wrongs," ended the record with "Righting My Wrongs," but instead went on to drop one of the worst songs of his career here.

I'm not exactly sure how to go at this one, but here it goes. Basically, it's YG telling this story from the standpoint of some guy named Chris. He's out at the club with his friends. They're partying, drinking, having a good time. They cross paths with some women. Things are getting close, kind of flirty. Ends up connecting with this girl in the group. There's kind of a big argument and a fallout. Everybody's like super trashed, super drunk. And without really having much in the way of any direct conversation or plan that has been formally laid out with this girl Chris has ran into at the club, she ends up in his car, passed out, and he just, like, starts driving her home while in his head already having made plans to clap those cheeks.

Things continue, he makes it home, he wakes her up, and then before you know it, they're kissing and touching each other. But before things go too far, this woman tells Chris that she is trans and after this admission all hell breaks fucking loose. Chris starts chewing this woman out. He's attacking her physically, he's freaking out, crashing out, pulls out a gun. YG sort of stops and breaks the fourth wall for a moment to ask, "What would you do if you were like Chris in this situation?" Which, mind you, as far as a listening experience and the trauma and violence expressed in this track so far, it's pretty terrible. But given this question, I was holding out hope that in the third verse there would be some kind of reveal, especially since, broadly, the take social media has had on this song is that this track is YG confronting transphobia.

But then, to top things off, Chris is essentially continuing to point his gun at and threaten this trans woman who's all fucked up now and laying in the mud. And then from there she goes into a whole dialogue like apologizing to him, saying that she was selfish and desperate for love and attention and da da da da da, and in so many ways, like, pretty much validating everything Chris had done to her up until that point. So while the song doesn't end per se in a brutal murder, it is kind of left on a bit of a cliffhanger where the whole back and forth is kind of a wash. Like, you know, yeah, I may have pointed a gun at you and threatened you and beat you and came close to killing you here, but you also kind of tricked me so, you know, that was kind of deserved.

When again, if you hit rewind on the track and you go over the progression of the story, there was like not really an opportunity for this woman to tell Chris any of this at any time. But also, she literally did tell him before things got too physical to where, you know, clothes are being all fully removed and everything. So what did she trick him into? Having a boner? She literally told him before anything happened. Mind you, this was after she was passed out drunk, placed in his car while Chris was making plans as to what he was gonna do while she was asleep.

So, I'm sorry, how does Chris have absolutely no responsibility in this situation, or at least so little responsibility that he would be absolved of beating this poor woman, to a pulp and then coming close to shooting her as she is on the ground ready to die. This song is fucking crazy. Like, it is insane that he recorded this. Other people presumably heard it and were like, yeah, this is the one. This song is not confronting transphobia, it just literally is transphobia. Again, maybe there could have been something to the song if in the third verse Chris had some kind of, like, grandiose realization and came to grips with his bigotry and fear. But he doesn't do that. All that happens is he stops just short of murdering her in cold blood. And is that progress?

Again, following this, I do like the song "Insecure," but the real closing track to this record is this "Mid Life Crisis" track, which, honestly, the problem we're really having is a mid-album crisis, because, like, I really have no idea how I got from point A to point B on this record. Because not only was its supposed concept not really followed through on in any way, but it's just mind-blowing to me that somebody who wrote the song "2004," and in such a smart and emotional way dove into the darkest depths of his own sexual trauma, then turns around and writes a track "confronting transphobia" – because that is the prevailing narrative that a lot of people have gotten from it, and one that I'm sure that, you know, YG's PR would like people to read it as – just misses the mark so goddamn hard.

But yeah, I don't know what's going on with YG, man, honestly. Like, there are some real high points on this record, some of the best songs he's put out in a while. And again, I am happy to hear him once again getting a little bit more ambitious and narrative and conceptual. I think it's a talent that he has. I think it's a specialty that he has that I would love to see him lean into more. I feel like for years this is what his albums have been missing, in a way. But I don't know, given how "Tiffany" came out, maybe he shouldn't keep doing this. Or maybe, you know, he's a bit rusty at it because it's been so dang long.

Unfortunately, I'm not liking this album overall as much as I was anticipating, which is why I'm feeling like a a light 4 on this thing.

Anthony Fantano. YG. Forever.