Review Summary: Gucci Mane 2.0
After what seemed like an eternally long stint in Fulton County for Laflare fans – a time of drought in which his So Icey cohorts rereleased a bunch of old Gucci songs in the form of official mixtapes just to fight off the hounds hungry for Gucci’s music – Gucci was released from prison March 14th, 2009 and released Writing on da Wall two months later. It was eaten up by old Gucci fans because of their craving for new material, but it was also eaten up by new Gucci fans because of his change of style...
Despite being in jail for almost a year, Gucci’s flow improved tremendously as if he had been working in the studio every day. Although still possessing the same Southern slur as seen on Gucci Speaks, Gucci’s improvement in the flowing department is represented by his effort on Hurry, in which he pushes the pace over a high energy, rapid synth beat and on Gorgeous and Hood Up, on which he showcases some of his most complex flows yet. And while being more arrogant and comically inclined on this album – “And Gucci not a racist/Cause all my diamonds Caucasian,” – than blizzardous, he still brings his dope runner attitude, “Two AK47’s and a blow torch/Two junkies knocking hard on my front porch.” The lyrics meet expectations because, one Gucci had months and months to write songs, and two, because he’s Gucci.
The production on the album, while pretty good, is not always on par with the usual standards for the instrumentals Gucci has. The somewhat simple clap and twinkly synth beat on Check or other beats of the same quality (while good) can’t hold a candle to beats like Wasted, Hurry, or Game.
Despite DJ Holiday’s parasitic shoutouts and mixtape tomfoolery, this record is really solid. It's the epitome of Gucci 2.0.
