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It’s frightening that an artist who has patterned his entire being around the life of Lil Wayne has managed to make it this far. And the worst thing about it is that he takes all of this for granted.

Rewind back to last summer when Young Thug covered Complex magazine. It was an interesting choice for the publication. Not necessarily because his catalog was relatively thin. It was clear that Complex was looking to catch the wave early and call dibs on breaking Young Thug and his story to the masses. That makes sense, right?

What didn’t make sense was Young Thug’s complete disregard of the opportunity and the fact that Complex allowed an unproven rapper to dictate how his presence would be handled. The story “Young & Restless” was less about learning about who Young Thug is and more about the preposterous chasing of their subject as he blatantly missed three photo shoots.

“Young Thug’s obsession with Lil Wayne may have drifted into Single Black Male territory where emulation may soon be transitioning into eradication.”

The writer, Jacob Moore, did a great job making a lot out of a little but had to rely heavily on bits and pieces from other outlets to mold his story. By the time Moore finally gets to the actual Q&A portion—after Thug’s sister/assistant screens the questions— the nonsense that takes place can be deemed disrespectful to both the writer’s time and the publication that granted the Atlanta rapper the opportunity to grace the cover of their prestigious magazine.

 

“When did you first hear Wayne?”

“I don’t remember.”

“What is it about him you like so much?”

“The ambition.”

“What’s your relationship with Gucci like now?”

“He’s my brother.”

“Are you trying to sign with Cash Money Records?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you really going to call your album Tha Carter VI?”

“Yeah.”

“What have you learned from Wayne?”

“A lot.”

Can you share anything specific?

“Um… no.”

 

That was pretty much of the gist of it. And as far as journalistic integrity is concerned, this had to be a tremendous pain in the ass. The publication already spent a bunch of money on numerous missed photo shoots but had to be miffed by Young Thug’s lack of décor. They were cornered and had to make a decision: run the story or cut their losses. They ran with the former but probably preferred to go with the latter if Thug wasn’t such a strangely hot commodity.

Nevertheless, all this has done was give Young Thug a further sense of entitlement. Not that he necessarily cares to be entitled but he has now been authorized to be a card carrying enemy of journalists everywhere. If he can’t take time out to make an interview and a cover shoot for one of the more significant publications, what makes you think he’ll give a damn about any other interview moving forward? Obviously, there are a lot of popular artists today who are notorious in the interview circuit, but they are usually several albums deep and have earned their spot. Not Young Thug. He just got here and now he owns the place.

To be able to miss out on photo shoots and give a lousy interview should be grounds to strip him of the cover. But Complex did no such thing. Instead, they salvaged a story that kept Young Thug on their cover and helped build a monster.

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