Trouble – Thug Luv

Atlanta trap royalty Trouble, who tore up the hip-hop charts with his first pair of Def Jam singles + videos, “She A Winner” featuring City Girls, and “Ain’t My Fault” featuring Boosie Badazz, now sets his sights on THUG LUV, his long-awaited second album, arriving at all DSPs on April 24th via Def Jam Recordings.

“She A Winner” (released June 2019) has capped over 24 million global RTD streams, with the video netting over 7 million views. “Ain’t My Fault” (November), bulleted inside the Top 20 last week, with over 18 million global RTD streams, and over 6 million video views. The track has vaulted to #85 on the Shazam 200 chart, after posting Top 10 numbers in tastemaker markets Atlanta, Chicago, Memphis, Charlotte, and Charleston. The weekly New York Times Playlist hailed the “highly comic, exceedingly randy remake of Silkk the Shocker’s 1998 hit. Trouble raps with a swallowed drawl and an arched eyebrow. Midsong, just like Mystikal on the original, Boosie Badazz arrives for some loose-hinged pyrotechnic boasting.”

The high profile run-up to THUG LUV’s release is spotlighted by the roll-out of three new advance tracks (with music videos, lyric videos, and extended music videos), starting with the brand new “Popped” featuring Quavo, which dropped last week. Coming up is “Lend Your Heart,” followed by “Medusa” featuring fellow Atlantan and Def Jam superstar Jeezy.

THUG LUV is the eagerly anticipated follow-up to Edgewood (2018, Ear Drummer/Interscope), Trouble’s landmark debut album after at least nine mixtape releases. The LP paid homage to East Atlanta’s notorious Edgewood projects where Trouble grew up, as detailed in the record’s graphic skits. Produced almost entirely by Mike Will Made-IT, Edgewood boasted features by the Weeknd, Drake, Quavo, and others. The critically acclaimed album spun off the 37-minute Edgewood film (October 2018), directed by Derek Schklar. The film received unanimous tastemaker raves across the board, and has picked up over 650,000 YouTube views alone to-date.

“The Atlanta rapper offers an unsparing chronicle of his come-up on this smoky, sinister major-label debut… Edgewood documents its Atlanta underworld with immersive, almost suffocating realism… a reminder of what a compelling narrator he remains.” – Pitchfork 7.8

“Atlanta rapper Trouble made one of the year’s standout rap projects with Edgewood…The new narrative film follows the re-release of his great mixtape Edgewood.” – Fader