There are a couple reasons that I can't believe that YoungBoy Never Broke Again (formerly NBA Youngboy) is 17. First, he burst onto the national scene last year with a near fully-formed sense of melody and songcraft, the vanguard of a Baton Rouge youth movement with seemingly limitless potential. The other is that his life has aged him far beyond his years. The Baton Rouge set like guns, and not just for show; a recent New York Times profile reiterated the message underlying every co-sign from YoungBoy's more-established peers: leave BR or perish. The comeback record after a prison stint is something of a rite of passage, and yet it's impossible not to wonder how many more lie in YoungBoy's future. If you're looking for real, this is it - a promising young star racing against pre-fame charges and a time bomb of an environment that, as all that he's known, is understandably difficult to abandon.

Highlights: Wat Chu Gone Do (ft. Peewee Longway), Untouchable, Dedicated