This September, rapper Young Thug dropped a surprise extended play titled “On The Rvn.” The EP contains six tracks and features 6LACK on “Climax” and Jaden Smith on “Sin”. Thug made noise, however, with a surprise feature on this EP coming from none other than Elton John. The singer has been known to keep up with today’s music, so, to many, it isn’t entirely shocking that he showed up on Thug’s new project.
The duo was rumored to have a track in the works since 2016, and after its release in September, it is getting relatively positive reviews from fans. The song is titled “High.”
“I think it’s really good,” senior Mario Gaudino said. “I like how he brought the old feel of ‘Rocket Man’ into the new field of hip hop.”
Elton John has been known to be a fan of hip hop. In 2001, he sang the chorus of Eminem’s “Stan” live at the Grammys. Senior Anika Arif enjoys Thug’s music and especially his voice.
“He has a really cool, unique, wavy voice,” Arif said. “It’s just cool music.”
Arif has been a fan of Thug’s music for a few years now and was welcoming of the feature.
“The change is refreshing,” Arif said. “I like the fact that the older artists flow well with the younger ones. I think it’s cool if [older artists] are actually interested in hip hop, but if they’re just doing it for the money, that’s lame.”
Fans of hip-hop aren’t the only ones enjoying the new track however. Fans of Elton John have also taken the song positively, including physics teacher John Morrison.
“I like [the song],” Morrison said. “The beat was good, the song was good, the words were good, the music was good and I think the sample merged quite well.”
Elton John has been a fan of Thug’s music for a while, and Morrison has a theory as to why that may be.
“Back in the 70s, a lot of the albums had themes, like ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ was about growing, and ‘the road’ was the past and how you move forward,” Morrison said. “A lot of [Elton John’s] albums had themes, so I think the lyrics have always been important; and if [Young Thug] is known to be a lyricist, I think that would get somebody like Elton John’s attention.”