The 30 Best Gucci Mane Tracks of 2008 — Intro
The 30 Best Gucci Mane Tracks of 2008 — 30-26
The 30 Best Gucci Mane Tracks of 2008 — 25-21
The 30 Best Gucci Mane Tracks of 2008 — 20-16
The 30 Best Gucci Mane Tracks of 2008 — 15-11
The 30 Best Gucci Mane Tracks of 2008 — 10-6
5. Gucci Mane & Yo Gotti – Mo Money
David:
“‘Who got mo money?’ ‘I got mo money,’ ‘naw!’” Gucci trading verses with OJ was some great chemistry but OJ is too much on some Gucci jr. shit, still establishing himself, very much in Gucci’s shadow. Yo Gotti is the only rapper that really balances, with pure Memphis trap swagger and thick rounded flow. They dropped a gang of tracks together this year & bounced off each other so well it’s depressing to think the two will never drop a real album together. Listening to them argue about who got more money over this chorus is one of the most intimidating supergroup collabs of the year, a towering beat, Gucci’s “stash house funky from them stankin’ ass hundreds” while Gotti counts “one, comma zero zero comma zero whew, zero’s still goin, my hood still snowin.” Definitely check other joints like the string-laced “Julius” but nothing caught the weight of two trap superstars sharing the stage like “Mo Money,” Gucci a loose cannon, Gotti the controlled force.
4. Gucci Mane – Laughin’
David:
Gucci’s comedic edge is a huge reason he’s split from the crowd, all morbid humor & maniacal swagger. Off the classic Gucci Sosa, “Laughin” capture the fractured Gucci humor like nothing else; carnivalesque carousel beat is appropriately loopy & ridiculous for Gucci, who spits like Batman’s Joker, a schizophrenic criminal giddy on the pile of cash outta Dark Knight but with the more manic personality of Mark Hamill’s performance in the animated series, a disturbed rapper spitting like hes “smellin laughing gas.” “Laughin mane! I’m laughin, ha-ha-ha ch-ching I just cashed in,” that disturbing fake chuckle in the chorus, & rapping w/ singular self-deprecation, “Funny money, funky junkies ugly as a mu’fucker — ‘summbitch you ugly too!’ I know but bet my money cute.”
3. Gucci Mane feat. Yo Gotti – Light Show
2. Gucci Mane – Colors
Jordan:
As a lyricist, Gucci’s been improving at a rapid rate since he first hit with “So Icey,” and in 2008 there weren’t better examples than on the DJ Speedy produced “Light Show” and “Colors.”
The “Light Show” beat is like nothing else Gucci rapped over last year: wah-wah guitar, major piano keys straight out of the scary Mario levels, synths that sound like scalding water hitting the bathtub floor. It’s a beat that’s obsessed with sounds, but the most important thing it does is provide for Gucci ample open space to spookily slur his best verse of the year:
I jumped in the rap game, I didn’t have a name yet
But I had a stupid chain and a fruity bracelet
Blue and yellow Jacob
I’m Gucci Mane the Glacier
Higher than a martian cuz I roll here round a spaceship
Yup, the dawg’s so goddamn purty
Stones same color Michael Jackson after surgery, heard me?
That my watch is gorgeous, all the diamonds flawless
My jewelry box retarded
That’s how you know I’m ballin’
My bracelet humongous, go up to my armpit
Diamond watchers watch us so we turned on the light switch
“Colors” is equally sinister, and it finds Gucci treading on Young Dro’s well-established car-talk territory over swooping, melodramatic strings: “Paint like Play-Doh/ The Alfredo Lambo/ The shrimp scampi Chevy/ and the guts look like egg yolk.” But where Young Dro always sounds thrilled to be showing off how he can let words tangle and sentences eat themselves, Gucci raps these (incredible) similes in a sedated, solemn way, like he’s a. incredibly stoned and b. not even remotely impressed by his own work. His demeanor, in a way, is like that of a serial killer: going through the motions maybe, but it’s still murder.
1. Gucci Mane – My Rims Dancin’
David:
“My Rims Dancin’” captures the uncut, hard-as-fuck “Ridin Spinners” vibe like nothing 3-6 has done since that time. It’s by miles my most replayed Gucci joint in ’08, especially the version that opened up Bigga Rankin’s From Zone 6 to Duval, not-so-coincidentally the best Gucci mixtape I heard all last year. (Best sequenced, best selection, most diverse, most comprehensive w/out ditching songs for verses. We actually did some affirmative action on this list so it wasn’t dominated by joints Rankin had picked [RIP "On Deck," "Body Language"]).
My Rims Dancin: Rankin drops those reggae air horns, gun shots & sirens, restarts the track & repeats the raw unapologetic opening line, emphasizing the stabbing cyclical “Like Whoa” strings & thumping triplet bassline, Gucci dropping that “I might be ugly but my car handsome, I might can’t dance but my rims can!!” sideways-grinning self-awareness, combined with that dont-give-a-fuck menacing ruggedness, combined with his 50 Cent-like ear for a perfect hook. But he’s not just ridin spinners, cuz its Gucci; all unique imagery, his rims dance like go-go dancers, one forward & one backward, it might be hood but its still foreign, “place ya hand down there & chop ya damn hands off!!!”
Yo for real if you dont think this is Gucci track of the year I dont give a fuck. Download this shit & figure it out for yourself, he only released a million joints this year:
Best Gucci Mixtapes ’08
1. Bigga Rankin – Zone 6 to Duval
2. DJ Scream – Gucci Sosa
3. DJ Ace – Mr. Perfect
4. DJ Drama – Gangsta Grillz: The Movie
5. Any of the Wilt Chamberlain joints, esp. the first three.
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