Young Thug has delivered an unlikely promise: He will start rapping more clearly. One supremely dedicated fan heard his lyrics so wrong that they got a tattoo. One dedicated Thugger fan revealed a vast back tattoo inspired by the rapper's 2016 song "Digits." The ink? A dramatic mural of galloping horses speeding below the big lettered words:
"Once horses get in there, they just keep going."
Sounds epic, right?
There is only one problem. That's not how the lyric goes.
The actual bar Young Thug rapped on the song is:
"Hustlers don't stop, they continue."
The tattoo went viral, triggering responses ranging from online sympathy to lighthearted roasting. After all, you don't mix up hustlers and horses daily and immortalize that in permanent ink. Yet the fan's enthusiasm is impossible to dispute. They made it obvious they were trying to pay tribute to the grind, the never-stop ethos that Thug embodies in his music.
Thug, a notorious linguistic magician, and quasi-abstract wordsmith noticed the viral moment and responded in classic Thug fashion: by promising.
"He plans to rap more clearly going forward."
It's not one of those diss tracks; it's a moment of self-awareness. And frankly, it's a little sweet. Thug took what could have been a "laugh and move on" situation and used it as an example of his words mean something and his fans listening.
In an era where mumble rap receives a lot of negative attention, intended, it's nice to see an artist not only respond to the feedback but do so with grace and humor. At the very least, not every rapper would change their flow just because someone got the word "horses" instead of "hustlers" tatted across their back. But Young Thug is not every rapper.
And as for that tattooed fan out there, you may have misquoted the lyric, but you left an indelible imprint on the culture. And "Horses don't stop, they keep going" has a poetic quality that is strangely pleasing. Perhaps it's time for Thug to make that the hook of his next track.
At the very least, it's a reminder for us all: before getting your favorite lyrics tattooed, maybe pay a visit to the Genius page or, you know, wait for the artist to start rapping a little clearer.
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