''Slime Season 3'' (stylized as ''SLIME S3ASON'') is the third commercial
mixtape by American rapper
Young Thug
Jeffery Lamar Williams (born August 16, 1991), known professionally as Young Thug, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is considered to be an influential figure of his generation, with his music impacting the modern sound of hip ...
. It was released on March 25, 2016, by
300 Entertainment and
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most ...
. The mixtape serves as the third installment to the ''Slime Season'' series. It consisted of eight tracks, which features
guest appearance
In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other ...
s from Yak Gotti, Lil Duke and
Peewee Roscoe, with the
production by several record producers that was handled by
Mike Will Made It,
London on da Track,
Allen Ritter, Isaac Flame and MariiBeatz, among others.
''Slime Season 3'' received generally positive reviews from critics and debuted at number seven on the US
''Billboard'' 200.
Background
Young Thug announced the release date of ''Slime Season 3'' through a
funeral procession at
SXSW
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...
in
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
. The coffin was covered in red graffiti scribblings that revealed the album's title and the release date. Written on the casket was "3.25.16" and "Slime Season".
Lyor Cohen teased the funeral on
Snapchat
Snapchat is an American multimedia instant messaging app and service developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of Snapchat is that pictures and messages are usually only available for a short time before th ...
, saying, "Today in Austin, we're gonna bury ''Slime Season 3''". Be El Be expanded on Twitter saying. "What Lyor meant was, dropping SS3 and getting past all the talk and this era of thug", he posted. "Moving forward to dropping albums and hits SS3 OTW".
Critical reception
''Slime Season 3'' was met with generally positive reviews. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a
normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the mixtape received an
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...
score of 76, based on 11 reviews.
Aggregator
AnyDecentMusic?
AnyDecentMusic? is a website that collates album reviews from magazines, websites, and newspapers. Primarily focused on popular music – covering rock, pop, electronic, dance, folk, country, roots, hip-hop, R&B, and rap – albums are ad ...
gave it 7.2 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.
James Wilt of ''
Exclaim!
''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...
'' said, "Every song justifies its spot: the Allen Ritter-produced "Drippin' serves as a standout, exhibiting a staccato delivery and manic yelling, both of which are new to his already vast sonic vocabulary".
Adam Kivel of ''
Consequence'' said, "This record feels a little too brief, especially trailing off at the end. But if the chief complaint about a Young Thug record is that he's too focused, it shows he's honing in on that perfect blend that will launch him into the stratosphere".
Narsimha Chintaluri of ''
HipHopDX
''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of hip hop music criticism and news. The website's current president and publisher is Sharath Cherian and the Head Of Content is Jerry L. Barrow. ''HipHopDX'' is the flagship publication of Cheri Media Group. ...
'' said, "Young Thug's extensive catalog is spotted with dynamic moments and this project seems to forgo such progressiveness. The range is still there, but sectioned into neatly packaged offerings".
Brian Duricy of ''
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, f ...
'' said, "His delivery is somehow still getting better, and ''Slime Season 3'' succeeds as an exercise in discovering just how elastic syllables are".
Brooklyn Russell of ''
Tiny Mix Tapes
''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, ...
'' said, "''Slime Season 3'' is as celebratory, emotionally rich, and life-affirming as a good funeral should be but never is. And this isn't the end; it's only the beginning of a brand new chapter".
Brian Tabb of ''Pretty Much Amazing'' said, "''Slime Season 3'', while still with its flaws, is the perfect introduction to those wondering just where the hell popular hip-hop has come, gone, and will soon go in the snowballing south".
Sheldon Pearce of ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...
'' said, "The tape plays like a final installment, going out with a bang and saving some of the series' best for last".
Brian Josephs of ''
Spin'' said, "Although Young Thug moves away from exploring emotional pain, ''SS3'' is still very much informed by introspection".
Tom Regel of ''
The Line of Best Fit
''The Line of Best Fit'' is an independent online magazine based in London, concentrating on new music.
It publishes independent music reviews, features, interview, and media. Founded by Richard Thane in February 2007 and currently edited by P ...
'' said, "This isn't one of the standout tapes in Thug's ever-expanding discography. But, as always, it signifies development, progression—most of it accessible on "Drippin'".
Lanre Bakare of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide ...
'' said, "Good as they are, there's nothing like Calling Your Name or Don't Know here, and its shorter tracklist means you're just getting teed up for the back nine when time is called. Having said that, it's free to download and another interesting release from hip-hop's most idiosyncratic talent".
Scott Glaysher of ''
XXL'' said, "Overall, ''Slime Season 3'' stacks up well against Thug's colorful catalog and is undoubtedly the most listenable mixtape in the series thus far".
Commercial performance
''Slime Season 3'' debuted at number seven on the US
''Billboard'' 200, moving 38,000 units: 22,000 in sales and an extra 16,000 in album equivalent units. It was the eighth highest-selling album of the week domestically.
Track listing
Credits adapted from
Tidal and
BMI.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
{{Authority control
Young Thug albums
Sequel albums
Albums produced by London on da Track
2016 mixtape albums
Albums produced by Allen Ritter