NBA Youngboy has a propensity for flooding the market with promotional street singles prior to the release of a mixtape or album. Last cycle’s standouts, “Solar Eclipse” and “Outside Today” ended up on Youngboy’s debut album Until Death Call My Name, while the other promotional singles (“Through the Storm”; “Genie”; “Love Is Poison”) found themselves as bonus tracks on the re-release. While we’re not sure if his recent string of releases - “No Mentions”, “Can’t Be Saved” or “Dropout” - are meant for his forthcoming album Decided, we’ve decided to shift through and highlight previous tracks that have eluded any official tracklisting.
Ranked below are our five favorite NBA Youngboy loosies. Check back with us later tonight for the release of Decided.
5. "Shining Hard"
As many fans have noted, this leaked jingle borrows a lot from Chief Keef’s snarling flow. “I'm a dog with no chain on/Chicago, bitch, I'm home alone,” declares Youngboy as he ignores his PO, his haters, and his significant other.
4. "Ride"
Originally meant for the OST to Birdman’s Before Anythang documentary, “Ride” is a tender dedication from Youngboy to his newfound love. “Let you meet my family, baby/I’m 17 and I got four babies,” he admits, heartfelt in his honesty. Ultimately, it was another track entitled “Ride” (a reprise of Young Thug’s “Givenchy”) that was found on Birdman’s soundtrack, but it’s the original that proves to be a more relatable portrayal of love.
3. "Chosen One" (ft. Kodak Black)
Before Kodak Black was arrested earlier this year, him and Youngboy had been developing a kinship of sorts. Both are young, troubled men with difficult upbringings and a whole slew of legal issues. They are also both ostensibly striving to do better. “Chosen One” is the only official collaboration between the two, and it is a soaring, soulful anthem about perseverance.
2. "My Happiness Took Away For Life"
After being caught on camera assaulting his then-girlfriend, Jania, Youngboy released a series of increasingly worrisome tracks that culminated in “My Happiness Took Away For Life”, an emotional confessional that has since been deleted from his page. While the 18-year old has yet to take full accountability for his actions, often masking his guilt with disgustingly manipulative tirades, tracks like this one betray his tortured psyche; as made apparent by his opening words: “I hope everyone, everyone I have been in a relationship with, finds someone to make them more happy than I ever did."
1. "Nicki Minaj"
Before Until Death Call My Name got an official release date, Youngboy went on a leaking spree on his official YouTube page. The original caption for “Nicki Minaj” read: “tell the label drop my album or Im releasing what don't matter until then.” We’ll never understand why he believed “Nicki Minaj” was one of the tracks that didn’t “matter” - impassioned, defiant, and undeniably catchy, this is without a doubt one of Youngboy’s greatest melodic triumphs. It was around this time that Youngboy started to don Young Thug’s visage around his neck, and it was this track that made clear the influence the elder statesman was having on the artistic ambitions of his younger counterpart.