Young Thug announced the release date of Slime Season 3 through a funeral procession at SXSW in Austin, Texas. The coffin was covered in red graffiti scribblings that revealed the album's title and the release date. Written on the casket was "3.25.16" and "Slime Season". Lyor Cohen teased the funeral on Snapchat, saying, "Today in Austin, we're gonna bury Slime Season 3." Be El Be expanded on Twitter saying. "What Lyor meant was, dropping SS3 and getting past all the talk and this era of thug," he posted. "Moving forward to dropping albums and hits SS3 OTW ".
Critical reception
Slime Season 3 was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the mixtape received an average score of 76, based on 11 reviews. Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 7.2 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus. Album of the Year assessed the critical consensus as 72 out of 100, based on 13 reviews. James Wilt of Exclaim! said, "Every song justifies its spot: the Allen Ritter-produced "Drippin'" serves as a standout, exhibiting a staccato delivery and manic yelling, both of which are new to his already vast sonic vocabulary." Adam Kivel of Consequence of Sound said, "This record feels a little too brief, especially trailing off at the end. But if the chief complaint about a Young Thug record is that he's too focused, it shows he's honing in on that perfect blend that will launch him into the stratosphere." Narsimha Chintaluri of HipHopDX said, "Young Thug's extensive catalog is spotted with dynamic moments and this project seems to forgo such progressiveness. The range is still there, but sectioned into neatly packaged offerings." Brian Duricy of PopMatters said, "His delivery is somehow still getting better, and Slime Season 3 succeeds as an exercise in discovering just how elastic syllables are." Brooklyn Russell of Tiny Mix Tapes said, "Slime Season 3 is as celebratory, emotionally rich, and life-affirming as a good funeral should be but never is. And this isn't the end; it's only the beginning of a brand new chapter." Brian Tabb of Pretty Much Amazing said, "Slime Season 3, while still with its flaws, is the perfect introduction to those wondering just where the hell popular hip-hop has come, gone, and will soon go in the snowballing south." Sheldon Pearce of Pitchfork said, "The tape plays like a final installment, going out with a bang and saving some of the series' best for last." Brian Josephs of Spin said, "Although Young Thug moves away from exploring emotional pain, SS3 is still very much informed by introspection." Tom Regel of The Line of Best Fit said, "This isn't one of the standout tapes in Thug's ever-expanding discography. But, as always, it signifies development, progression—most of it accessible on "Drippin'"." Lanre Bakare of The Guardian said, "Good as they are, there's nothing like Calling Your Name or Don't Know here, and its shorter tracklist means you're just getting teed up for the back nine when time is called. Having said that, it's free to download and another interesting release from hip-hop's most idiosyncratic talent." Scott Glaysher of XXL said, "Overall, Slime Season 3 stacks up well against Thug's colorful catalog and is undoubtedly the most listenable mixtape in the series thus far."
Commercial performance
Slime Season 3 debuted at number seven on the US Billboard 200, moving 38,000 units: 22,000 in sales and an extra 16,000 in album equivalent units. It was the eighth highest-selling album of the week domestically.
