Young G Works – Back II Works (Album Review)

Young G Works’ new album, Back II Works, available at all major distribution outlets.

Rising up in Ohio, Young G Works (@younggworks) brings a rare raw, unedited vocal style into the street trap game. In a genre loading up more and more with autotune and wavey adlibs, Young G Works cuts through with a direct-through-the-mic approach. And he does this with a highly energetic, money-getting focus track-after-track on his newly released album, Back II Works, produced by CoalCashBlac of TheCoalCashCollection.

The 16 tracks on Back II Works embrace the spirit of trap, vitalize its psyche and make it powerful and relatable. Natural is the word that best sums up Young G Works. There is nothing overdone, underdone or fake throughout the entire album, but a natural feel and a natural flow that sounds as if Young G Works calmly spit the album in one take.

Usually, I start getting into a track-by-track rundown of an album, but as I listen to Back II Works, it becomes a solid whole.

Nonetheless, the undeniable lead track for bouncing the party is “No Cap,” where Young G Works teams up with DameDot and Ace Cino flaunting the money/women/weed lifestyle atop a beat sampling Salt ‘n’ Pepa’s early 90s hit “Push It.”

Interestingly, on the production end, 808s aren’t loading up the bass zone, but rather kicks are given an extra “oomph” to cover the bass, which gives off a boom-bap scent among a clearly trap roll.

Young G Works consistently communicates confidence throughout. One look at his “No Cap” video makes you see his concealed, sunglass-wearing figure rapping in your ear the whole album though.

Confidence proves to be one of Young G Works’ greatest strengths. He quickly establishes a mood then rides it out till the end, which is part of what gives his vocal input that natural feel, as if he gets a feel and streams it out. Lyrically, Young G Works swivels around a panorama of life experiences. He has the power to set a scene quickly upon his lyrical entrance, but more than that, he builds a world focusing from his personal axle, examining, acting and reflecting, while throwing in a slew of similes and metaphors in his outpouring of often one-sentence statements that state his position clearly in relation to everything he describes.

Among the constant chest-bumping, head-nodding motion characteristic of Back II Works, Young G Works adds to his confident flavor by fully emboldering his Southern drawl, controlling his flows at a moderate pace, emphasizing his vowels, while sustaining a modern quasi-monotone in his rolling statement pieces, and then using his characteristic rising and falling of energy when delivering a string of other moods to his gunning rap attack style. In short, he creates such a natural sound and feel, it’s as if he’s talking to you the entire album, expressing exactly what he wants to, shifting the listener from sitting across from him in calmer times, to bumping the party at others.

In times when trap becomes more and more redefined and artificial, Young G Works makes you remember that trap arguably began in the South for a reason, that it remains most natural there. Keep an eye out for Young G Works.