Music Review

Young Thug

With 21 Savage, Divine Council

At Lowell Memorial Auditorium, Nov. 11

A jubilant screech rose from the capacity crowd of over 2,400 as the house lights dimmed Friday night in the Lowell Memorial Auditorium. Then the lights suddenly went up, and the cheer turned to a groan. The pattern repeated several times over the next 10 minutes, while fans packing the open floor — perhaps three-quarters of them white youth in their teens to early-20s — started looking at each other as if the show might not go on. In underground rap’s makeshift world, where Jeffery Lamar Williams rose up as Young Thug five years ago, stuff happens, euphemistically speaking.

Finally, a video of Young Thug started playing on a portable screen, after which the 25-year-old rapper appeared sporting a military-style, blood-red jacket like Michael Jackson might have worn. The lithe Atlanta rapper laid into the reggae lilt of “Wyclef Jean,’’ the opening track on “JEFFERY,’’ the latest of his three major-label mixtapes this year. Though each has landed in the upper reaches of the Billboard 200, “JEFFERY’’ marks an artistic breakthrough, its playfulness and bounteous hooks reminiscent of prime Wyclef Jean himself, with Young Thug’s vocal effects as rhythmic as James Brown’s grunts and distinctive as Lil’ Wayne’s grumbles.

The vocal quirks flattened out onstage, but Young Thug still commanded the grand old room, hardly needing the support of his attendant hype man. For the next 75 minutes, the rapper touched on some 30 tracks, dropping some after a chorus and completing others, while also managing two costume changes and a DJ break. Musically, the display was far more wide-ranging than the straightforward pitter-patter of four-man openers Divine Council or the blunted drone of charismatic tour partner 21 Savage. Even so, the fans seemed to prefer straightforward doomy songs like “With That’’ to multi-textured numbers like “Kanye West,’’ with a few drifting out after 21 Savage’s 20-minute set.

Young Thug seemed to hesitate to push too far with his young fans. Despite often violently sexual lyrics, his most explicit direct comment was asking, “Where the cute girls at?’’ At show’s end, after a rousing rendition of “Best Friend,’’ Young Thug left the stage, leaving his hype man to close by saying, “Stay safe on your way home.’’

Young Thug

With 21 Savage, Divine Council

At Lowell Memorial Auditorium, Nov. 11

Franklin Soults can be reached at fsoults@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @fsoults.