Matthew Raymond Hauri, better known as Yung Gravy, dropped his new album “Marvelous” on Friday, Oct. 28.
In the six years since his breakout single “Mr. Clean” went viral, I have frequently thought I’d run out of adjectives to describe Hauri. Yet here we are in 2022, finding new ways to describe a man that seems to have the Midas touch.
Yung Gravy is a 26-year-old rapper from Rochester, Minnesota, carving his own lane in the music industry. His songs are instantly recognizable, characterized by Gravy’s trademark sample-heavy oldies-trap sound, and dripping with charisma and humor. Over beats with glittering production, Gravy raps with conviction about the things he loves — primarily romancing moms and counting money.
If it wasn’t clear, Yung Gravy — aka Daddy Aoli, aka Mr. Buttersworth — is a living, breathing, platinum-certified meme. His punchlines are juvenile and absurd, yet they’ll have you humming along hours later.
His beats are typically structured around a flipped sample of a classic oldies hit, with added 808s, kick drums and hi-hats that make his songs infectious.
At face value, his production seems simple and endlessly repeatable. Yet Gravy is the only artist I can name with such consistently stellar beat selection and pure energy in his melodies.
Gravy’s first and second albums, “Sensational” and “Gasanova,” respectively, showcased his lyricism and hit-making ability. But not until now have we seen this level of maturity and versatility. Don’t get me wrong; we still get that classic Gravy sound on songs like “Betty (Get Money)” on which Gravy delivers punchline after punchline over a flipped sample of Rick Astley’s classic hit “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
However, we also get some new sounds from Gravy, such as his piano-trap ballad “where they at?” and the up-tempo house-fusion track “Sugar Mama (with IshDARR).” On top of all this, we get stellar guest spots from frequent collaborator bbno$ and the likes of T-Pain, Dillon Francis and Rich Brian.
Listening to this new album through a critical lens, you could take issue with Gravy’s language, explicit themes and repetition. But those aren’t my biggest problems with this album. My gripe with Gravy’s new LP is that no matter how hard I try, I can’t find speakers loud enough to do the music justice.
Listening as an old-school rap purist, you might think that Gravy is everything wrong with the music industry. His tunes are humorous and simple, and he never seems to take anything seriously. In this reviewer’s eyes, that’s part of the magic.
Gravy’s music is beyond satirical, making a complete mockery of the industry, but with exceedingly strong punchlines and the best beats in the business.
For 40 minutes straight, Gravy delivers bar after bar. Yung Gravy’s new album is packed to the brim with stellar double braggadocios, danceable to the nth degree and, simply put, marvelous.
August Brueggemann is a senior materials science and engineering major, as well as a lifelong music fan. He is the host of “Saturated Soul,” a ’70s soul show airing at 5:30-7:00 p.m. on Thursdays on WSBF.
