Young Thug stays within the key of the song, almost never landing on non-harmonic tones (accidentals). And within this diatonic context, one can map out how each note (scale degree) functions, consistent across all Young Thug songs.
We begin by acknowledging that in most songs: the tonic (usually minor) chord is the strongest and most frequently sounded harmony. Since each pitch in Thug's melody is measured against the same tonic note, patterns begin to emerge in terms of what feeling notes convey, individually and as a group.
And if we assume that Thug hadn't written out the lyrics before he recorded the song, we can also assume that the pitch choice is in some way connected to the feelings behind phrases and entire sections of songs.
For now, we shall think of pitches as scale degrees, to find some generality between songs. Each note in all of Young Thug's melodic content corresponds to one of these notes!
Scale degree numbers map to notes of the scale. For example, in G minor:
G = 1
A = 2
Bb = 3
C = 4
D = 5
Eb = 6
F = 7
G = 8
Note: Thug never uses #7, Leading Tone of the harmonic minor scale and 3rd of the Major V chord. This creates a smooth, natural minor scale, with a fifth between 3-7. This stems from the fact that Young Thug avoids the minor 2nd (halfstep/semitone).
The following audio clip plays each scale degree in order (ascending), as well as the tonic pitch for comparison. It is worth giving this a couple listens, to get the scale in your ear before continuing.
Click to expand...
Now, we map these scale degrees to qualitative terms that I believe convey the feeling as best as I can.
1 - Comfortable, at home
2 - Not quite home, soft dissonance
3 - Hug tone
4 - Question, Unresolved, Piquant
5 - Ambiguous: open 5th sound; usually comfortable, but can be recontextualized
6 - Extended, but stable if approached stepwise
7 - Smooth
8 - Top of range, tension
The following videos are transcriptions of two Thug songs, with notes colour coded to demonstrate the proposed "Qualities of Scale degrees".
Melodic Transcription and Analysis of "Draw Down"
Qualities of Scale degrees
Key: G minor
G - Comfortable, at home
A - Not quite home, soft dissonance
Bb - Hug tone
C - Question, Unresolved, Piquant
D - Comfortable
Eb - Extended, but stable if approached stepwise
F - Smooth
G - Top of range, tension
