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Final verdict: 7/10 ★★★⋆˙⟡☆
Another week, another up-and-coming artist showcase. This time around we got Greek-Canadian rapper YUNG MAS, a quite peculiar presence in the online hip hop scene. The two songs I’m going to be speaking of here are none other than “loaded” (off the 2024 album “#glm”) and “CASHOUT” (off the artist’s 2024 debut “GALLERIA1”).
Let’s unravel this in linear order, starting off with what is far and beyond my favorite of the two songs – “loaded”. YUNG MAS himself claims that his lyrics feature heavy, unfiltered storytelling and sparse poetic elements, but honestly? In this song specifically the vocals are so all over the place in the mix that it’s difficult to make out even a singular word. The sonic effect this produces is mind-blowingly cool, with the song sounding like one big dizzying rollercoaster. Whether or not this was the artist’s intention, I cannot attest. And yet there’s another element making this piece all the more bonkers – and that is that it is incredibly choppy. The audio cuts out at random points (in a way that is obviously artistically inspired), there are gunshot sound effects roaming around every street corner, and the outro is a whole beast of its own – it’s almost as if the listener has been knocked out, drifting into unconsciousness while this plays in the distant background. Maybe that’s what the title of the song refers to? A “loaded” gun that takes the listener out. I am merely hypothesizing here, but hey, that is my interpretation, and it makes the song interesting for me. Let me have my fun!
Now, as for “CASHOUT”. This song is a lot gentler in its ways (though it’s by no measure “gentle” in itself), which I suppose is welcome, but to be frank, if the studio pyrotechnics that “loaded” had to showcase are to be considered, this song definitely pales in comparison. Which only makes sense! “loaded” landed a whopping 8 months later than “CASHOUT”, which might sound trivial, but let me tell you – in the musical world, it absolutely is not. 8 months is a timeframe that may be critical in an artist’s improvement of their craft. That cleared, I regret to admit that “CASHOUT” – while by no means a bad song – lacks the punch and nuance of its chronological successor.
With all that considered, I think it’s only fair that I rate “loaded” a whopping 8/10. It did tickle my fancy, indeed, and it is a well constructed track in more ways than one. “CASHOUT” falls into “just alright” territory, and nothing about it really lit that spark in me. I think a 5/10 rating for it is only fair. And like so, the combined rating for these two songs should be 6.5/10 if I did my math right – but for the sake of maintaining my regular rating scale, let’s go right ahead and bump the score up to a 7/10. Feelin’ generous today!
Keep an eye out for YUNG MAS, everybody! This guy most assuredly does have a couple of musical tricks up his sleeve.
Silia 
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