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Young Thug has officially returned with his highly anticipated comeback album, UY Scuti—his first full-length project since his release from jail and the headline-grabbing YSL trial. But while the rollout was initially set up for a victory lap, the reception has been anything but unanimous.
Online reactions have been split, leaning negative in many corners. A major flashpoint? The album’s provocative cover art, which depicts the Atlanta rapper as a white man. In a viral clip posted by host Big Loon on X (formerly Twitter), Young Thug explained the concept behind the artwork and the album’s eyebrow-raising opening track “Ninja,” which uses the N-word with a hard R.
“I think it was just, like, some funny s—t,” Thugger said in the interview. “But it’s still serious to the point where I went with it. […] We always joked and played in my hood. ‘N—a, you want to be the biggest, go white.’ […] We just talking s—t… It’s just a narrative that the world paint. […] Michael Jackson went white for this—we know that ain’t true. We just go with the motions. […] They always let the white people be the biggest. I love white people, too… We got big a— artists too that’s Black. I was just pushing the envelope a little bit.”
Thug doubled down on the theme on Instagram the night before the album dropped, posting:
“IF YOU WANNA BE THE BIGGEST… GO WHITE!! UY SCUTI midnight.”
The following day, he shared a carousel of photos reimagining his guests—T.I., Sexyy Red, Lil Baby, and Quavo—in the same style as the controversial cover. “My new friends,” he wrote in the caption.
But the controversy hasn’t stopped with the visuals. Speaking on the backlash, Thugger compared his approach to Eminem’s rise.
“You want to be the biggest n—a in this mother—ing world, you got to be Eminem,” he said. “I just put the white album cover out, just talking s—t. It’s just all fun s—t, though. I ain’t with none of that political s—t. We having fun, it’s music, and you shouldn’t take it so serious. […] You got to choose to be happy and put in the world what you want and the legacy you want to create for yourself.”
By Saturday night (Sept. 27), the tension appeared to be wearing on him. Young Thug posted a series of tweets hinting at mental strain brought on by the mixed reception and ongoing drama surrounding his name. “If I didn’t have kids I wouldn’t care to live,” one tweet read.
“I did a lot of taking up for people all over this world, and so far I’ve yet to see someone take up for me,” he wrote in another. “I feel like I’m not winning with the people I’m supposed to be winning with,” said a third.
Even with the controversy, UY Scuti is one of the most talked-about albums of Thug’s career, cementing his return as a topic of discussion in the culture—for better or worse.
