Young Thug Releases Deluxe Album Featuring Nicki Minaj and Juice WRLD

Young Thug is hungry for that No. 1 spot. On Tuesday (June 27), while still in jail awaiting trial, Thug released the deluxe version of Business is Business, his new studio album that he put out last week (June 23). The deluxe, dubbed Business is Business (Metro’s Version), rearranges the track list of the album to suit Metro Boomin’s liking, who is the executive producer of the LP. Additionally, Metro’s Version includes two new songs in “Sake Of My Kids” and “Money” featuring Nicki Minaj and Juice WRLD.

“THIS IS THE TRACKLIST AND SEQUENCE I ORIGINALLY ENVISIONED FOR THIS ALBUM,” Metro wrote on Twitter about the deluxe.

“Money” has been a song in Young Thug’s unreleased vault for a while. It officially marks his sixth collaboration with Juice WLRD, as they had connected for prior songs like “Mannequin Challenge” (2019), “ON GOD” (2019), and “Red Bentley” with Future (2018). The morning after the release of Metro’s Version, Thug’s record label Young Stoner Life posted a video to Instagram of Juice WLRD listening to the song before his tragic death in late 2019.

Similarly to Juice, “Money” is also Thug’s sixth song with Minaj, as they had worked together previously on “Throw Sum Mo” with Rae Sremmurd (2015) and “Anybody” (2018). Much like they did with Juice, Young Stoner Life posted a video Tuesday of Minaj speaking about “Money” with the song playing in the background, where she emphasizes Thug’s impact on music.

“I think a lot of people don’t realize how important Young Thug is to the culture of rap,” Minaj says. “We really need him home. And if you are a lover of music and hip-hop, please support this album. This is a very important album.”

So far, it seems like Minaj’s message has gotten through. Just hours before Metro’s Version dropped, HitsDailyDouble reported that Business is Business is expected to sell around 95,000-110,000 units in its first week.

Seeing how Morgan Wallen’s March album One Thing At A Time, which has held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 for much of this year, sold 110,000 units last week, it could be a photo finish for the top spot this week. And, now with songs like “Money” and “Sake Of My Kids” surely boosting sales even more, Thug has a fairly decent chance of earning hip-hop’s first No. 1 album of 2023.

Photo by Amy E. Price/Getty Images for SXSW