Track by Track Album
Review
The Return of East
Atlanta Santa – Gucci Mane
Gucci’s 3rd
album of the year just dropped. This album came out November 2016, it is his
second release since being released from prison in May 2016. Yes, that’s right
two albums in seven months. Sounds like someone was grinding in prison. This
album is also the third Christmas themed album/mixtape that Gucci has made. The
album being written by a recently released felon and the use of the Jingle
Bells beat makes me anxious to unwrap and dissect this early Christmas gift
from the Trap God himself. With all that being said let's talk about this wonderfully thug album.
· St. Brick Intro- Guwop starts the album off very strong even though the whole
song is to the Jingle Bells beat. The song is a “drug dealer’s” Christmas, it
is a very weird song at first trying to figure out how Gucci Mane is going to
use this beat. Once he gets to rapping he blows your mind, selling bales of
cannabis and “murking” people is not would you expect because it is way too
cynical for Christmas but it works for Gucci. Even though you have chiming
bells and Christmas noises the songs is good enough to be played year round.
You have to applaud the guy for taking a tricky beat like this and straight
murdering it. To bring the song away from being too Christmas-y the beat laid
on top of Jingle Bells is very fast and keeps the song moving. The beat holds
the entire songs until the end where it slowly fades out and your left wanting
more.
· I Can’t- No more Christmas and fun it’s time to rap, Gucci puts this
song second because it’s the regular thug music you expect from Gucci. This
song is very reminiscent of Yo Gotti’s “Law”, trash talking other people for
being snakes. Gucci has always been known for not taking shit grief from anyone and this song
proves it. This song is also somewhat of a dis track, Gucci calls rappers out
for wearing fake chains and snitching.
· Walk on Water- Gucci can ride a beat; we know this but
this song makes me doubt he can do anything else. Why would you put this on an
album? It’s too repetitive and feels loud and overwhelming. Again you feel like
the verses Gucci puts together are okay but when you hear his weird hook with
these odd children voices it kills the entire thing. One redeeming factor of
this song is hearing Gucci praise himself, his self-centered attitude and
egotistical lyrics are amusing and kind of scares you when he talks about the
thug things he does.
· Both- Okay Gucci we see you!!! Now you’re
really speaking to your audience. Before I even heard this track I knew it
would be flame. Drake and Gucci on one song…is that legal? I don’t know and I
don’t care, everyone wants more of this. There’s no slow start to this song,
the second Gucci starts he hammers on the beat. He also shouts out Drake in the
very beginning causing a nice back and forth between the two throughout the
song. Not only is this song a good rap song but it panders to pop and the
masses by having Drake on the song. This isn’t the first time they have
collaborated on a song, earlier in the year the song “Back on Road” was dropped
and had a similarly huge impact on the rap scene. Similar to Kendrick and
Taylor Swift in “Bad Blood”, Gucci has a harsher and more abrasive voice for
the verses and Drakes voices grounds in back out with his hook. Whenever these
two get together good things happen, let’s hope they keep this streak up.
· Stutter- Back to Back bangers on the album, this one Gucci knocks out
of the park on his own. With a decently slow beat this gives him a lot of room
to work with for rhyming and lyrics. This type of music is exactly what Gucci
needs to stick to, thug lyrics and good rhyming are the key elements to this
song. He doesn’t need a flashy chorus to draw in fans, this song is for rap
fans not pop fans and it is unapologetic for that. The fact that the song is
called stutter and he throws a stutter into the beat and lyrics is ghetto
genius. Gucci didn’t do this alone though the beat made by Murda Beatz he was
perfectly set up for success on this song. Overall great lyricism and beat and
good job not focusing on a chorus.
· Drove You Crazy- This is the chorus we have been waiting for by Gucci, the
duo of him and Bryson Tiller drives this song to the greatness it deserves.
Gucci has decent verses but you really connect to this song when the chorus
comes on. It’s a playful and when you hear Tiller come in it’s nice because
it’s a sound you don’t usually hear on a Gucci track. It’s a unique song, I’m
not sure what instrument was used in the background, maybe a keyboard or
something electronic but the sound is nice and compliments the two rapper’s
voices nicely.
· Crash- Yeah this song seems like a crash, it sucks plain and
simple. The beat drones on and so does his voice, I was happy to hear the end
and move on to the next song.
· Yet- Reminiscent of an older style of rapping, ridding a beat and
having a statement behind your rap. This song depicts Gucci’s come up and
struggles he’s been through. Not a happy song but if you just served a couple
years in jail like Gucci has this is the kind of music you would make to.
Selling dope and cooking crack is a crazy lifestyle but when you hear this song
it makes it sound like a dream world. Gucci has always been great at telling
stories and bringing the listener in and this is a perfect example of that.
· Nonchalant- Too Generic, too monotone, too boring, too many songs on
this album. I’m not sure why Gucci didn’t cut some of these songs, they don’t seem
like his best work.
· Last Time- Wow, all it takes is Travis Scott and these two are on top
of every music chart in the USA. Similar to “Both”, Gucci brings in some talent
for a good hook and he murders the verses. Travis Scott of course brings in an
electronic type beat; this is his style of music so it sounds great for him.
Gucci doesn’t sound quite at home but he makes it work. Auto tune is utilized
very well in this song, it’s not for the usual purpose to help a singer but it
changes Scott’s voice making him sound robotic. There is also a surprising
amount of piano in the song giving it a quite almost serious tone; the rappers
calm tone backs this up making the song pretty tame and calm even though
they’re rapping about drugs and girls.
· Bales- What more do you want out of a Gucci album than a song about
selling bales of weed? Nothing. This song is very underrated, the combination
of a fast beat and uncharacteristic not monotone singing from Gucci turns this
song into something to remember. This song also has some good political
references in it which is very timely with the current election. Very ironic
that a prominent figure like Gucci is bragging about selling weed, that’s still
a crime big guy might want to be careful. Other than admitting to committing
crimes this song makes you understand why it belongs on this album.
· No Smoke- This is a message to anyone that’s thinking about crossing
Gucci. It’s easy to forget that these artists are gangsters but songs like this
make you remember who they are and where they came from. The dirty streets of
the East ATL. A unique fire alarm or bell sound can be heard in the back which
is perfect for a song about smoke. The song has an overall feeling of coldness
and hatred, perfect song to listen to if you’re going to be in a gunfight in
the next few minutes.
· Greatest Show on Earth- Very strange ending to the album, the beat comes on very
strong with a rubber band like sound. Next Gucci’s voice comes in and slow raps
on the beat followed by an odd chorus of Gucci calling himself the greatest.
This song is more confusing than anything, it would be hard to listen to this
song more than a handful of times. With such a strong list of songs earlier in
the album this song feels like a bad ending to a mostly happy trip through the
album. Gucci tried something new with this song but it did not work, you can’t
knock him for trying though.
