Review Summary: It's official, Gucci Mane's status in the ice game far surpasses his status in the rap game, which, to be honest, is starting to diminsh, at least in a technical sense.
When Gucci Mane was released from Fulton County Jail early last year, he immediately recorded “I’m Back B*tch (First Day Out)”, a song that critics say contains one of his best verses. Among other lyrical gems on the track, Gucci said “
You on my sh*t list, I’m on the Forbes list.” Now, Gucci Mane actually
is on the Forbes list. Along with aptly titled “crunk n*gga” Lil Jon and newly crowned King of Miami Rick Ross, the So Icey CEO cracked Forbes’ 2010 “Hip-Hop Cash Kings” tied at 20th with five mil grossed in the past year. (And just imagine where he would have placed if he hadn’t released all those popular mixtapes for free).
But as the money piles up, and the mixtapes keep coming, Gucci Mane sounds less and less inspired. He had arguably the best year for any rapper in ’09; as he not only retained his long time cult following, but gained a myriad of new fans. The state of Georgia released him, and then HE released a slew of great mixtapes (think,
Writing On The Wall,
The Movie Pt. 2,The Cold War trilogy) that eventually culminated into a top ten album (
The State vs. Radric Davis) in December, but not before his vast discography was surmounted by what is seen by many as his masterpiece,
The Movie 3-D: The Burrprint, late in the fall.
To equate his current activity in the game to math, Gucci’s skill is inversely proportionate to his popularity (no way, Bulldog! What a concept!) The more fans he gets, the more he technically stagnates. At the moment, he seems content with just riding the hype train rather than releasing quality material and expanding upon the skill he started to seriously develop around a year and a half ago. The first single off of
The Appeal (which is also on this mixtape) “It’s Gucci Time” – produced by Swizz Beatz – comes nowhere close to rivaling, say, “Lemonade”. The track is made with the intent to get the club jumpin’ – an ode-to-self anthem placed over grinding, mechanized, looped rise and fall synths and light drums. If that weren’t bad enough, he also includes the worst song off of
Mr. Zone 6, “Makin’ Love to the Money”, on the tape as well.
Moreover, Gucci’s starting to experiment more, rather than sticking to the bread-and-butter style that got him here in the first place. The general quality of his beats is, dare I say it, declining, and he’s deviating from the cold, dark, synth-led, heavily electronic-influenced style that helped propel
The Movie 3-D: The Burrprint to near-classic mixtape status. There are snippets in
Jewelry Selection that are heavily influenced by pop and/or contemporary R&B. “Electricity” is a poppy affair with sludgy bloops and whiny, high-pitched synths that soar about, and “Bosses” reeks of radio ambition, with thin, strobe light synths and a female guest. But, when Gucci sticks to his roots, he aces it. “Cleopatra” is “I Think I Love Her” revisited, and “Trap Talk” is signature Gucci: thudding percussion, siren synths, and dark, foreboding pianos.
Not only is the decay of his trap resolve’s continued, the quality of his lyrics are deteriorating. He gets utterly showed up by Talib Kweli on the slow-going, amazingly haunting “Poltergeist”, and his punchlines are becoming more and more obvious and less and less clever. It appears he’s the next Bun B: an ace guest rapper, but an average solo artist (see his appearance on Yelawolf’s “Wanna Party”, for example. In summation,
Jewelry Selection is a collection of run-of-the-mill cuts occasionally peppered with highlights and disappointments. Its significance is longer-lasting than the actual body of work; that is to say, it’s a continuation of Gucci’s relative losing streak (see, “this entire year”.) Let’s hope that La Flare can pull some ace tracks out of his ace to put on
The Appeal. Then again, I doubted
The State vs. Radric Davis. Blame his mercurial rising, blame whatever you'd like, Gucci just doesn't seem to be what he used to be, and as a long time fan, that prospect saddens me.
