thnx 2 DJ Teknikz.

This track KNOCKS. The latest in the series of Ridiculous/Gorgeous/Failure/Wonderful sarcastic, ironic reclamation of ‘fancy’ words. Snoop in No Limit reinvention mode (dude continues to release quality populist gangsta music unconcerned with pop crossover). Exciting to hear them in the studio together.

Lambourghini bright yella
ya know its awesome
police try to pull me over
ya know i lost em
just bought a flyin saucer
ya never saw one
ashanti’s on the flyin saucer
now aint it awful??
so icy blowin stupid kush
aint it unlawful
im smokin on the finest Cali
but im in Georgia
trunk lifts on my rims
shine like a quarter
panoramic roof clearer than a cup a water
awesome, how gucci flossin, its truly awesome,
???? bringin carbines out, so proceed with caution
if i let a nigga press me, thats extortion
with voices keep on screamin ball so i keep buyin porsches

so icy is my company and millions made monthly
managed by my aunt-y, i make a lotta currency
currently increasing g’s, you keep interrupting me (shh!!)
i grinded, grinded, one day blew up suddenly
you must have a low self esteem you keep on hatin on me
girlfriend keep on datin me, she say she like the thug in me
marijuana drug in me, purple codeine drug in me,
ecstasy, liquor sippin, you dont gotta fuck wit me
dont you think a what can be, homeboy he a bug-a-boo
you just a lil nut to me, sold ya like a crush decree (??????????)
awesome paint job on my benz, smoke gray on them silver things
no, this is not a dream, lil mama come join my team

9-1-1 emergency!
drop top benz is burgundy
yo girl has just been stolen from you
call that shit a burglary
hard top lambo earlier
drop top beemer later doe
chevy vette with stupid feet
got yo wife in bucket seats
stupid crib and stupid bid
gucci mane is how i live
so icey is what i am but hes not who he say he is
think a minute
maybe i get money every single minute
even when im sleepin money climbin creepin makin interest
said she got a boyfriend
but he aint the kid tho
neck cold wrist cold
diamonds in my earlobe
dom p for breakfast
rose for lunch
cristal for dinner
appetizer, 30 blunts

Cuz we aren’t tweeting yet.

“So Icey Boys, baby everything groovy/ hat to the shoes, baby everything Gucci”

Just totally love the fact that he says “groovy”. It’s a truly odd word choice and in a way I think it expresses unbridled joy better than maybe any other word could’ve in that situation. It’s little things like that that make Gucci weird in a singular manner and not Weird in a Charles Hamilton/pink fetish manner (not to always pick on the guy, but) or Weird in a 2008 I’m Lil Wayne, the Alien Rapper manner. You can substitute compelling for weird, too.

A close second: “I can’t even lie, yo/ I be fuckin fly hoes”

Haven’t listened to Guccimania just yet— DJ Empire mixtapes are grating as fuck— but anyone who’s slipped up Gucci-wise so far should download the Gucci the Glacier tape cuz it’s got a bunch of his best shit from earlier this year— like the Juicy J and Project Pat songs— tacked onto the end.

THE BAD:
Generic generic generic beat rote lyrics, just a lil bit of that slurred style but none of the dimension, no funny punchlines, a few tossed off bars. This kind of shit better stay far the fuck away from his eventual album release. This would be a SHITTY MUSIC OF THE WEEK post if it wasnt so boring to write about.

THE GOOD:
TIME TO EAT!

The Porsche porcelain
the rims are gorgeous
the earth went skrrt
it got so many horses
an all-white chain same color yo forces
an ounce a what i smoke cost double your mortgage
so icey entertainment
ima explain it
see when we come in niggas tuck in they chain, and
– i lost my train of thought bitches callin me brainless
i cant buy a burger cuz im too fuckin famous
my whip on a donk, give my chevy a facelift
my 28 ashantis make it look like a spaceship
my rims look big like the lips on fantasia
my paint drips wet like activator
you playin with yaself you a masturbator
ya play with so icey i have to spray ya
dont waste all ya life bein a couch potato
after awhile crocodile see ya later, hater
its guc-ci

Classic verse, classic chorus. This shit knocks, & I gotta say Project Pat’s done a pretty good job of keeping up his quality control lately. Altho i dont really agree w/ Tom that Real Recognize Real is arguably his best record (never mind that the best Project Pat record would only be a 7.7 wtf), I do think hes been doing some consistent shit these days. “Stacks will rise or somebody gonna pay the piper / I just want the stash, dont make me put you in a diaper!”

Another thing Gucci does better than most folks is these trade-off traxx with female rappers like Nikki Minaj & Mac Breezy … this is old but the final version of “White Girl” with Esther Dean leaked recently & its funny and the Polow beat is nicely minimal & grimey instead of going for flatline-pop (take a hint Nitti). Esther Dean also sounds fuckin rough in the best way, like her voice gets this real grating quality towards the end of her last verse. There’s something real great about the humor & originality in this track (esp. considering the generic-as-fuck name for it). I dig that Gucci’s never too cool to play the guy getting fucked over in his own tracks, even if it is a double entendre for cocaina “I think I love her!” “My name is Suzyyyy and Gucci think I love him / that sucker think im loyal but I fucks with all the hustlers.”

Gucci’s last verse is classic:

Two jobs, she get cheese, her dates are my treat
how neat! she loves to eat! we eat! bon appetit!

THE PROBLEM: how can anyone be excited about the way 3-6 has been treading water since Unbreakables which is now a 6-yr-old album! & yet here we have another soul sample wedded to thunderous 808s, the down south version of a Bink track & as exciting now as Blueprint 3 will be.

INITIAL DEFENSE: This stands out — sample is real affecting. But … its not quite there. It needs something. The vitality is missing.

Solution: Gucci Mane on the remix!!

It’s weird, over the last few weeks I’ve done several reviews excoriating old rappers for, superficially, the same problem; with all three its the same old shit. It feels like I’m being a little unfair; how much better can u expect a Freeway LP to be in 2009?? How can someone be critical of E-40, seeing as the guy has basically mastered the art of rapping & is one of the most significant figures of his generation?? What would I rather be listening to, & which artists are actually bringing that dimension, that vitality & relevance that is missing in the releases from some of my favorite rappers? & the answer is always Gucci. The fact is he’s straight-up raised the bar, that even a tossed-off 25 second verse makes something worth hearing. How better to revitalize “30 Inches,” a perfectly produced record that suddenly no longer needs to justify its existence?

In the past few days since Gucci was released folks are catching up & the buzz has really hit the internets, but Im not really quite convinced everyone ‘gets it’ yet, at least on a musical level; His rise isn’t just about hustle or just releasing a million records (Project Pat signaled in a Fader interview that the reason Gucci was hot was because he was everywhere — which misses the point, but its inspired Pat to release tons of new material so Im not exactly complaining). His rise is also about how his music sounds, how fresh it is when compared with the status quo.

I was never really completely on board with Lil Wayne post-Carter II, the mixtape buzz never really resonated with me; I didn’t enjoy his style any more because it seemed like he had become less lyrically oriented, more concerned with that lazy croak and being perceived as ‘weird’. Im not convinced that Wayne really changed the game, musically, in a way that will influence future generations of rappers. Sure a gang of folks are going to imitate his style, & he’ll inspire 9th Ward to bite, the way Andre’s getting jocked by the talented but utterly confused ‘artiste’ B.o.Bobby. When folks bite them, it feels like posturing, an attempt to reference a self-conscious ‘authentic’ artistic stance, or even worse, they use Wayne’s flow like its autotune — an easy route to move up a few extra spots on billboard just because its what is hot at that moment, a crassly empty gesture that misses what makes Wayne work.

But the real achievement Gucci’s made here is that he’s raised the bar for rap artists to hold their audience, and done it in a subtle way, one that is much more difficult to define than Wayne’s enunciated croak; it’s natural, inherent, multi-faceted evolution; he’s made that quantum jump that makes other rappers sound … pointless. When I hear Gucci it sounds like this is where rap is going right now, this is what rap is supposed to sound like; that a real & relevant rapper in 2009 has to be a multi-threat performer, this perfect blend of NWA-descended rawness, a uncompromisable 50 Cent-style ear for a pop hook, his own lane that works outside of the predominant sound & pulls that sound to him (& producers working in that lane), true lyrical creativity — not being a ‘lyricists lyricist’ but actually shifting rap’s vocabulary into his gravitational pull — & developing a firm, unique persona. Young Dro was like this, on a smaller scale, a huge subconscious influence on rappers after him. Its not like OJ raps about calamari because he wants to be perceived as a rapping genius like Dro, the way B.O.B. is making sure folks know he was raised on “Rosa Parks.” OJ & Gucci both reference Dro because that what folks rapped about after Dro — he shifted the language of his era. Gucci’s changing the game in the same way, but on an even larger stage.

This isn’t even close to his best verse but I’ve rewound it maybe 40 times.

Girl please!
Chevy so high baby do you see the trees?
Crawlin down the block 30s slidin like skis
look so sweet gucci mane can roll weed
71 caprice taller than my hum vee
fine red bone, best friend back seat
and then were double datin’ I make them both date me
30 inches, chains makin haters hate me
east Atlanta day everybody looking
flashback triple gold d’s 17s
chickens on the scene I was just 15
big car, big rims all mounting
on somethin clean,
somethin yall ain’t seen.