In its subtlety, Barter VI toyed with expectations: neither imperial pop nor an electrifying experiment, the tape was modest, composed. Some even suggested these were throwaways, spare records that would have been left to the cutting room floor in healthier times. Yet shortly after its release, more than a hundred songs leaked from—well, "vault" seems like the wrong word—and spilled onto the internet. Now it was obvious: Barter VI was deliberately carved from an especially prolific creative phase.

Among the post-Barter VI detritus, "Hey I" stands apart. Here, longtime Thug producer London on da Track's minimal soundscape is flush with color, his typically restrained tone direct, its enveloping warmth an addictive escape. This artfully detailed production is the song's most immediate tool: the soft focus keys, the subtle melodies hovering in the background, the springing percussion a bed of reassurance. Then, in the second half of the chorus, comet trail organs make a spiraling descent. This is rewind-before-it's-over music. Each listen is tinged with the poignancy of encroaching familiarity, like the fear of a cassette tape's warble after one listen too many.

Great artists are a step ahead of critics—lament or celebrate Young Thug's low-brow "turn-up music" only to face musical sophistication and emotional nuance; hail him as some sort of high art mastermind and meet seemingly tossed-off, inscrutable lyrics. (If you can make sense of his rather explicit Eddie Griffin simile, let us know.) He's an eccentric guy, no doubt—his oddball metaphors and occasional illegibility are a challenge to anyone attempting to wrestle with his art, which draws attention to his distance, his difference from the listener, and accentuates it. Yet this "weirdness" doesn't feel self-conscious, and it's not what his best records are about. In the year of "Trap Queen"'s emergence, "Hey I" is a similarly earnest love song, one which repurposes violent imagery in the service of tenderness and devotion. In its bluntness is its heart: linking lust and love through commitment, the effect is narcotic.