Young Thug Confirms Mary J. Blige-Inspired R&B Album for 2026, Says Drake Collabs Are on the Way

Tuesday, October 6, 2026 — Young Thug is going full R&B. In a new interview on The Crew Has It podcast, published Tuesday on the show’s YouTube channel, the Atlanta rapper was asked about his upcoming album — and he didn’t hedge. “I’m going R&B,” he declared. “It’s Mary J.… I’m going real R&B.” The project, he said, is targeted for release before the end of the year, and it won’t be arriving alone: he and Drake already have several songs in the can.

It’s the firmest timeline Thug has put on an idea he first floated casually in June, when he posted an Instagram Story from the gym, looked into the mirror and said, “R&B album coming soon… I gotta get this sh*t all the way together.” Four months later, the idea has a shape, a window and a muse.

“Real R&B,” Mary J. Blige-style

Thug was specific about the lane. The album will lean into classic R&B in the vein of Mary J. Blige — emotionally direct, melody-first — with most of the songs built around fun times. He allowed that two or three heartbreak records will make the cut, but the emphasis is on celebration. “But it’s R&B, though,” he insisted, as if to preempt anyone who hears the bounce and mistakes it for something else.

There’s a reason the heartbreak count is low. Thug said he’s currently “super in love” with his fiancée, R&B singer Mariah The Scientist, whom he got engaged to in December 2025 during his “Hometown Hero” show at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena. “I ain’t making that many heartbreak songs in an R&B album because we just having fun right now,” he explained. The record, in other words, is a portrait of where his life actually is — and right now, he says, life is good.

The Drake records are already done

The other headline from the interview is the Drake material. “We got a few songs… We finna drop, finna do what we gotta do,” Thug said of the collaborations, which he described as finished and waiting on timing. For two artists with one of the most productive partnerships in modern rap — “Way 2 Sexy,” “Oh U Went,” “Bubbly,” “Solid,” and cuts stretching back to Drake’s More Life era — new joint records are always an event. Their most recent work together came on Thug’s 2023 project Business Is Business, where Drake appeared on the intro “Parade on Cleveland” and “Oh U Went” — and later showed up in the “Oh U Went” video while Thug was in jail awaiting his RICO trial.

The timing adds another layer. Drake was expected to appear on Thug’s UY SCUTI album, which arrived September 26, but the feature didn’t materialize — Thug later explained Drake’s touring schedule made it impossible, while reassuring fans the two had more music in store. That promise now has a shape: finished songs, waiting for a release plan. For the latest on Drake’s own recent output, see our report on the four FOMO film tracks he added to HABIBTI.

Why an R&B album makes sense now

This isn’t Thug’s first time singing. His 2017 project Beautiful Thugger Girls was a melodic, acoustic-soul experiment he openly called a “singing album,” and his 2020 collaborative mixtape with Chris Brown, Slime & B, fused trap and R&B into a hit-making formula. What’s new is the commitment: a full solo project dedicated to the sound, arriving after a 2026 defined by a blistering feature run — 6lack’s “Ashin the Blunt,” Trippie Redd’s “Paperbag Boy,” Nav’s “Trimski” and Fred Again…’s “Scared” — that reminded everyone how naturally melody sits in his voice.

Then there’s the songwriter credential. In April, The New York Times named Young Thug one of the greatest living songwriters, alongside Jay-Z, OutKast, Kendrick Lamar and Missy Elliott. For an artist whose reputation was built on unpredictable flows and melodic invention, the recognition reframes what a “Thug album” can be. An R&B record isn’t a detour from that legacy — it’s the most direct expression of it.

The road here

The announcement lands as Thug continues one of the most remarkable second acts in recent rap history. Arrested in May 2022 as part of the sprawling YSL RICO case — the longest trial in Georgia history — he spent more than two years in custody before accepting a plea deal and walking free in late October 2024. Since then he’s been rebuilding in public: the “Hometown Hero” homecoming show, the engagement, a relentless run of guest verses, and a headlining tour that closed its U.S. leg this month in Inglewood — as we reported, his first headlining run in seven years.

What’s still unknown: there’s no official title, no tracklist and no firm release date beyond “this year.” But the artist himself has now said the project is real, the Drake songs are finished, and the direction is set. For a rapper who has spent more than a decade rewriting the rules of how a rapper can sound, going full R&B feels less like a departure than the next logical step. More from the Atlanta scene and beyond at Previously’s music hub.