Most NBA YoungBoy releases suffer from a fundamental flaw that prevents them from being truly great products: they’re too long. There’s too much filler and too many meandering tracks that double down on old styles and rehabilitate outdated flows. No matter the length, though, YoungBoy’s loyal fans will flock to the live stream, sending him to the top of the charts and adding more cash to his bank account.
From a financial perspective, it makes sense for YoungBoy to keep these projects going as long as possible. If his fans weren’t complaining—indeed, they seemed to enjoy these marathons—it would be financially irresponsible to shorten the product. From an artistic perspective, however, he has yet to reach the highs of 2022’s glorious 13-track 3800 Degreez, despite dropping many projects since.
His new YoungBoy Never Broke Again Presents compilation Compliments of Grave Digger Mountain is his most complete work since that album, but it comes as YoungBoy cedes the spotlight to lesser known and less talented rappers Singer, he was constantly frustrated.
The new project features YoungBoy sounding as committed as he has been in recent memory, with some stellar beat selections and a truly varied amount of interesting flows. What’s frustrating here isn’t the length. Among the 13 tracks, some songs could use editing, but the quality control is much better than before.
The main problem with “Hymn of Gravedigger Mountain” is that every time the Baton Rouge MC gets some momentum to string two strong songs together, there’s always something that inevitably gets in the way and distracts from the task force.
Opener “4Shit” finds YoungBoy kicking things off with an intro, recalling his alluring “OJ Story” flow. This is YoungBoy at his best, but he immediately gives way to BBG Baby Joe, a rapper who shows off some decent chops but is essentially less popular than interesting as the main character. Many of the tracks here find YoungBoy completely absent. It’s no coincidence that the best moment of the project is when he…actually shows up.
“How We Get” is the emotional core of the album, and while it has a bunch of MCs, it’s truly NBA YoungBoy’s show. In the chorus, he sings, “I see murder, I see killing.” The pain in his voice is real and deep. It’s a portrait of a broken man piecing his life back together with the help of a loving family and a more thoughtful approach to life. It showcases YoungBoy at his best, but unfortunately, like many of his past projects, it’s the outlier on Gravedigger Hill rather than the norm.
Release date: March 8, 2024
Record Label: Never Broke Again/Motown Records
Listen to the praises of Gravedigger Mountain below:
