Gucci Mane – “Wonderful”FUCKWMG
Make no mistake, Gucci Mane loves language. He’s a classical rap thesaurus addict but not in the Jahru (sp) the Damaja super scientifical find the biggest most obscure synonym sense. (Shouts to the Shrimp, who suggested similar language expansion skills in their massive ‘08 Gucci wrap up.) Phrases like “gorgeous” or “wonderful” aren’t remotely obscure words in the english language but they aren’t all that common in the hip hop lexicon. Maybe they would be used to describe a woman, but rarely on some first person braggadocio. Then again, I might be overthinking things completely and Gooch is probably just a big Bubba Sparxxx fan. Either way this song goes hard. (via Dirty Glove Bastard)
I haven’t heard Poison Pen’s name since the late 90s NYC underground boom. I certainly don’t remember him being “swagnificent.” But this record features M.O.P. rapping over mechanical Terminator crunches. What more could you possibly ask for? (more…)
I hate to admit it but watching Wale’s “Chillin’” fail has been a particularly rewarding experience. You know, the supposed to be the ambassador for my city coming to the table with some lifeless faux hipster Lady Gaga shit that has nothing to do with his home. If Interscope was wise enough to admit that unapologetically regional music still matters, they might want to buy out “W On The Fitted” and make it his street single. (Come on now, my man is just not radio hit material, not in 2009.) The track could use a less awkward chorus, but it is a very DC record with just enough in the pocket go-go signifiers to keep the locals happy but not actually alienate anyone else. TNT also have a nice joint with Bun B up on their myspace.
Gucci finally drops some real heat since getting out of jail. You’re either sold on dude by now or you are an idiot, so I’m not going to make that case again today. “Gorgeous” finds him walking the line between language and commerce obsession by way of voices in his head. We’ve heard the balling as a compulsion defense but never the full on insanity claims. (more…)
Does this series work for people? I know I’m a few days or even weeks late on some of these joints, and probably costing myself some oh so valuable page impressions by not making these separate updates, but this approach makes it a lot easier to organize my thoughts and make sure I am getting you records that are actually good or at least significant. I can go back to the one post per song frantic Nah Right pace if that’s preferred. But I probably won’t.
Spinning off last nights jerkin’ post [||] here some real grown rappers jump on one of the scene’s early inspirations. Hyphy may have officially lost its way when so many of its principles decided to cues from Atlanta on their signature singles. Suddenly it was high energy crunk, low fi snap, strip club bass anything but the synth madness Rick Rock freak outs that the bay fell in love with. “No Hoe” side steps such distinctions by basically being all of these things at once. According to the email it was attached to it clocks in at 100 BPM (I’ll take their word for it, I forgot how to count beats around the same time being a DJ became a less relevant pursuit than being a janitor) but it’s so spacious it seems like it is crawling. Also some of the rapping is close to excellent. (more…)
Gucci Mane – “Gucci Girl”
from Texaco Shawty (Mixtape, 2009)
Gucci is in fun mode off his new split tape with OJ. Airy beat that reminds me of the type of pop records that were coming out in the early 00ts before everything went all post-Timbaland dark or hyper snap simplistic. It almost seems like the type of record Shade Sheist or some other west coaster could have rapped over this back then and gotten some Rap City play off. Bonus points for Kilo Ali & Sleepy Brown name drops. Could someone closer to Atlanta and/or “that streetz” explain the “Texaco” premise to an up north square such as myself?
from The Reason (Major, 2009)
XVII (pronounced “seventeen”) was signed to Pimp C’s UGK records before he passed. It’s hard to say what the state of that label is right now considering they weren’t releasing a whole lot of music in the first place, but here XVII returns with this underground. The raps on his last album, Certified was certainly informed by Pimp, but the hero worship here is just too blatant. The CDBaby bio is almost exclusively about Pimp and I’m wondering if this isn’t some attempt at a tribute album like those In The Style of Dilla albums that no name producers are always emailing me about. I suppose it’s a respectable outing if that was what he was shooting for – he’s got Chad’s intonation down but is obviously lacking a lot of the tact and passion. This track features Pimp and Short rocking bounce chants over that classic Dennis Edwards/”Paid In Full” loop so, you know, it’d be incredible even if it wasn’t. The album is at least worth a listen on account of the vintage country rap production as well as cameos from Pastor Troy and the always underrated Bohagon. (more…)
