The lead promotional single, "Handgun" featuring ASAP Rocky, was released on July 26, 2018, alongside its music video.
Critical reception
Stay Dangerous was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 71, based on 16 reviews. Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 6.5 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus. Album of the Year assessed the critical consensus as 66 out of 100, based on 17 reviews. Isaac Feldberg of Entertainment Weekly praised the album saying, "YG's objectives across Stay Dangerous are more narrow and natural. Reuniting with long-time producer DJ Mustard for around half the album, YG is largely content to low-ride in his lane, swaggering across Bloods-allegiant bangers and incisive tell-alls from the hood." Jack Riedy of Consequence of Sound said, "Though it doesn't quite reach the heights of his first two, his new album, Stay Dangerous, is another solid project from one of the best on the West Coast." Clayton Purdom of The A.V. Club gave the album a positive review stating, "It pretty much all works, in the way that all of YG's music works, anchored by superlative taste and a flow as versatile and reliable as T.I. in his prime." Meaghan Garvey of Rolling Stone wrote: "Mustard's beats here don't exactly reinvent the wheel, but they serve as hydraulics to YG's low-riding delivery; on "Too Cocky", the producer's minimalist West Coast bounce pairs perfectly with YG's unexpected and inspired Right Said Fred interpolation." Jackson Howard of Pitchfork saying "For YG, an artist we've come to expect the unexpected from, someone currently standing at a career-defining intersection, Stay Dangerous is an exercise in predictability." In a mixed review, XXLs Chris Gibbons stated: "Stay Dangerous doesn't quite feel like the grand statement of Still Brazy or My Krazy Life. It's a slight step back from a rapper who is capable of much greater. While the brief glimpses of his personal life aren't quite enough to elevate the project, it's worthwhile to hear him breezing over Mustard beats once again." In another mixed review, The Guardians Rachel Aroesti stated: "YG doesn't cover his subject matter with a huge amount of wit or creativity. Yet the rapper makes up for lyrical dullness with a sound that can be tantalising." Zachary Hoskins of Slant Magazine said, "The rigid codes of masculinity governing hardcore rap, though, keep YG's lyrics from showing as much range as Mustard's beats."
Commercial performance
In YG's home country of United States, Stay Dangerous debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 with 56,000 album-equivalent units, which included 11,000 pure album sales. It serves as YG's third consecutive top-ten album in the United States. The album earned 23,000 album-equivalent units in the second week. On April 10, 2019, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 500,000 units in the United States. In Australia, the album opened at number 15 on the ARIA Albums Chart, becoming YG’s first top 20 album on the country. In Canada, Stay Dangerous debuted at number nine on the Canadian Albums Chart. It serves as YG's second non-consecutive top-ten album in the country.
"Handgun" is known as "Band Drum" on the clean version of the album
"Bulletproof" features background vocals by Carter Kim
"Handgun" and "666" features additional vocals by Albert Thompson
"Free the Homies Interlude" features voice by Leandre Herman
Sample credits
"Too Cocky" contains an interpolation from "I'm Too Sexy", written by Christopher Fairbrass, Richard Fairbrass, and Robert Manzoli, and performed by Right Said Fred.
