It’s kind of wild that Punk is only the second album from Young Thug, considering his prolific output of 19 mixtapes. The rapper had expressed a desire to embrace a significant shift in tone on the follow-up to 2019’s So Much Fun. He sought to embody what he referred to as “real rap” by tapping into his more introspective and conscious side. He touches on themes of trauma, wealth, anxiety and family throughout the album.

Punk has a noticeably stripped-down sound, with most instrumentals delivering a calm ambient quality as a single instrument—usually guitar or piano—lightly guides listeners from track to track. Broken up with the occasional bass-heavy banger, the production reflects the mindset of Young Thug quite well, amidst the wavering and crooning singing and rapping.

The album opens with light electric guitar strumming on “Die Slow.” Young Thug raps about the violence and trauma he witnessed firsthand growing up, and how it has made him so protective of his family. It’s followed by the equally somber “Stressed,” with a light acoustic guitar paired with piano. J. Cole and T-Shyne take the lead, with the former rapping about performing as a necessity to support those he loves and the latter diving similarly into expressing his fears of not providing enough.

“Recognize Real,” featuring Gunna, embraces washed-out crooning backing vocals that melt into the ears. Young Thug raps about how living through dire straights can often push people into taking big risks to reach success. It brings to mind the old saying, “Once you hit bottom, there’s nowhere left to go but up.” “Contagious” similarly embraces ambient backing vocals, overlaying a piano melody as Young Thug wishes, “Keepin’ it real was contagious.”

“Peeping Out The Window” heaps on the cynicism. The song deals with the way people perceive Young Thug, Future and BSlime, with contempt and desire to see them fail amid their success. It’s a biting bit of criticism at the culture of spite that many who follow them for the purpose of hating on them engage. Post Malone delivers a solid chorus on “Livin It Up,” with a guitar melody punctuated with snaps and flourishes of harp strums. The song tackles the emptiness of wealth as a measure of happiness, which seems to be a prominent theme among artists as of late.

“Insure My Wrist” stands out on Punk, particularly considering it has an interesting flip on the typical flex track. Young Thug emphasizes the significance of his wealth as a way to improve the lives of his loved ones and those around him. That said, it also highlights a prominent issue on the album: There are a lot of these flex tracks on the album. It front-loads the top half of the album with quality, and the bottom half leaves some to be desired. Punk delivers an artistic shakeup that listeners both new and old should enjoy, with enough of the classic stylings that have made Young Thug a trap staple.

Follow editor Tim Hoffman at Twitter.com/hipsterp0tamus.