It’s been four years since YGTUT dropped his breakout album, Preacher’s Son. On it, the Tennessee emcee details the practical and moral predicaments he encounters as a criminal, rapper, and son of the town preacher. The local popularity of his drug-filled anthems puts his father’s reputation at risk, so he tries to find common ground between the wisdom of the Bible and the wisdom of the streets. TUT’s social observations are the engine of the album, but ever since Preacher’s Son, he’s been rapping about, well, rapping.
TUT’s bars and meta-bars are plenty to chew on, but for those enamored by the colorful tales and rich production on Preacher’s Son, the past few years may have felt dull. In 2017, TUT experimented with trappier sounds and blunt brags on FOUR TWO THREE EP, a group release from the collective he co-founded, The House. In 2018, TUT flexed his charisma and wordplay on the 11-track mixtape Save It.
YGTUT will release his first full-length album since Preacher’s Son on Friday, January 18, 2019. The album’s called I.O.U., and based on the latest single, “Mind Ya Business,” TUT appears to have returned to storytelling with a heightened sense for hook-writing and wordplay. He describes the pettiness around him and requests to be left out of it. He raps, “[I] shine too hard to throw shade.” Over the glossy two-chord synth beat, Tut is a one-man cypher with countless internal rhymes and flow switches.
All of YGTUT’s most lovable qualities show up on “Mind Ya Business,” and presumably on I.O.U. too. We’ll find out on the 18th. For now, check out “Mind Ya Business” and watch the left-field video for “Get It.”