On Thursday night Young Thug took over YouTube’s New York office to premiere his new project, No, My Name is Jeffery, and the Atlanta rapper (real name Jeffery Lamar Williams) and 300 Entertainment CEO Lyor Cohen received a warm welcome from fans and industry tastemakers.
Wearing gaudy jewelry and Balmain, Thugger sat down with his boss and mentor Cohen, who interviewed his elusive signee about Thug’s eye-grabbing mixtape cover and changing his stage name to his given one for the live-streamed event.
Check out the highlights of the night below.
Thug’s Mixtape Cover
During his Q&A with Cohen, Thug unveiled his new album cover, which he said was completed “four days ago.” Squashing gender norms once again, Thug’s cover features him in a blue dress with an umbrella-like hat shielding his face.
Phoneless Thug
Cohen explained to the crowd how Thug told him two weeks ago that he wanted to release No, My Name is Jeffery. “You actually didn’t call me. You put it out on social media,” Cohen said with a smirk. “I had to chase him. He doesn’t have a mobile phone. I actually had to get on a plane to talk to him.” Thug defended not having a phone. “I feel like the phone was in my way,” he said. “So I got rid of the phone to focus.”
Young Thug Will Keep His Name Change for a Week Unless He Sells 100,000 Mixtapes
Fearless Thug
After working with many notable stars like Jay Z, DMX and more, Cohen crowned Thugger as his most brazen rapper. “You wake up every day without any fear,” he told the rapper. “I’ve dealt with so many rappers all through my life that wake up every day fearful. They’re scared to death and they try to imitate the most successful rapper at that moment. You don’t even listen to the radio.”
Wedding Bells
One fan asked Young Thug about his wedding plans to fiancé Jerrika Karlae. Thug looked back at his lady, as she sat a few feet behind him and reassured everyone that their lucky day was coming. “The wedding is supposed to be in October, but I gotta tour,” he said. “So we pushed it back to like two or three months so it might be December or January.”
Star-Studded Album
Thug name-dropped many of his influences on his new mixtape. Songs like “Guwop” (name after Gucci Mane), “Wyclef Jean,” “Floyd Mayweather,” “Webbie,” “Swizz Beatz,” and “Harambe” (referencing the gorilla killed earlier this year at the Cincinnati Zoo) all found the rapper paying homage to each prominent figure. “Future Swag” was drenched in remnants of Super Hendrix as Thug borrowed the ATLien’s signature flow and crushed it.
Bye Young Thug. Hello, Jeffery
Towards the end of the interview, Thug went into extensive detail about wanting to be called Jeffery instead of his old rap moniker. “The reason why I moved from Young Thug to Jeffery was because I felt like I did a wrong turn,” he said. “I had a long-term relationship with Young Thug and I’m kind of picky. So I felt like I ain’t wanna be in front of Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey. I ain’t want my kids to grow up and call me Thug.” He added, “I don’t want anybody to kind of look at me like that. So I’m gonna just use my real name.”
Listen to Young Thug’s No, My Name Is Jeffery below.