Review Summary: Dope boy to dough boy, trap star to rap star.
In Greek literature, heroes fall victim to hubris. In hip-hop, rappers fall victim to success. And it’s pretty much official now; Gucci Mane is no exception to that axiom. 2009 and 2010 are two different tales of Gucci: that of an unstoppable, remarkably talented star, and that of a run of the mill rapper content with resting on the loins of his success of yesteryear, respectively. It’s been a pretty bad year for Gucci, at least from a fan’s standpoint. Aside from spending a little over half of the year (to date) in Fulton County and quiet infighting with Waka, he released two mediocre mixtapes (
Burrprint 2: HD,
Jewelry Selection), a single good one (
Mr. Zone 6), and a flopped single (“Gucci Time” which only peaked at #18 on the rap charts.) Now,
The Appeal: Georgia’s Most Wanted is the icing on the cake. It’s the finalization of a sellout as well as what looks to be the starting point of a full-out decline yet to be seen, not to mention a thoroughly bad release.
If anything is indicative of Gucci’s aesthetic decline, it’s the hook on the opening track, complete with a Scarface reference (“
Say hello to my little friend!”), something almost every single rapper has done at some point or another in their career. Sadly, the chorus from “Little Friend” sets the qualitative standard for hooks on
The Appeal. “Weirdo” features an obtuse, repetitive chorus with a bland delivery. “Haterade” has a poppy, smooth, and not to mention cheesy, Pharrell hook that sounds like it would be more appropriate on B.o.B.’s recent release than Gucci’s, as does the preachy, inspirational effort on Wyclef Jean’s part “ODog”. Furthermore, the worst part of this is that a large part of the album is contingent on hooks.
Yet it still isn’t as reliant on choruses as it is on beats, and, much to my chagrin (as well as surprise) the beats on the album are collectively pedestrian. Gucci’s once-great ear for beats seems to be filled with wax; he doesn’t even know what he sounds good over anymore. Think: less Shawty Redd, Zaytoven, and Drumma Boy; more Swizz Beatz, The Neptunes, Jim Jonson. Even the contributions made by the former trio are subpar, save Drumma Boy’s “Trap Talk”. The third track, “Missing”, is just Zaytoven going through the motions and consequently, sounds recycled. Hell, unless you looked at the production credits, you wouldn’t even guess the generic contemporary R&B cut on “Remember When” was co-produced by Shawty Redd. “Weirdo” is monotonous and “Brand New” is low-budget mixtape Gucci circa 2006. Outside of that triangle, things are even worse. The Neptunes’ contribution – “Haterade” – isn’t even reminiscent of their work with Clipse. “It’s Alive” and “Party Animal” are thoroughly mediocre efforts on the parts of Swizz Beatz and Fat Boi, respectively.
Last but not least, Gucci seems to have run out of ideas lyrically. Here, his previously clever lyrical tact seems to have either disintegrated or gone into hiding. 2009 saw a determinist effort on the part of La Flare to renovate his clunky flow and reconstruct his delivery. 2010, especially
The Appeal, sees a neutralization of that (largely successful) effort due to a dimming lyrical wit. Lines on the secondary installment of the trilogy such as “go together like hamburgers and French fries” (“Remember When”) pale in comparison to those on the first installment like “I’ll leave you mourning like Alonzo,” (2009’s “Heavy”.) In fact, Gucci does a lot of things wrong here. He mentions national tragedies without being biting (“My swag killed ‘em like Columbine”), makes stale pop culture references (“Tattooed up like Travis Barker”,) and nonsensical statements (“Could’a been a doctor/Should’a been a lawyer/Been to court so much could’a been my own employa”,) among others. That’s not to see there isn’t the occasional gem (“My name ain’t Irving, but you can call me Magic”), but the bulk of it is poor.
The Appeal also sees deterioration in Gucci’s brick boy resolve. That is, he seems more concerted with spending green than he is with moving white. His peremptory approach to his top notch jewelry game is off-putting and his stylistic evolution is more reminiscent of Rick Ross’s (think, coke-dealing corner boy to shady tycoon) than Yo Gotti’s (think, thoroughly devout crack-whipping kitchen kingpin.) Sure, his first single, “So Icey”, was about his chain, but that was just a single that lead an album filled to the brim with snowy street anthems (e.g. “Trap House”, “Pyrex Pot”. “Corner Cuttin’”.)
The Appeal is the exact inverse of his early work, an album full of ode-to-riches singles with just a few trap bangers. The problem with this is that the lyrical skill is more or less the same as his early work, and thus, the lyrics largely miss the mark by a long shot.
Gucci’s performance here is thoroughly disappointing with mistakes around every turn. In spite of the title, there’s little-to-no appeal here. “Gucci Time” and “Trap Talk” are the only legitimately good songs, followed by “Dollar Sign”, “Little Friend”, and “It’s Alive” which fall short of that, then followed by a blend that ranges from quite mediocre to atrocious. The sales numbers for 9/28/2010 should be in very soon and I hope that this album f*cking flops. Maybe then Gucci will learn to adhere to his roots, stick to what he’s good at, and not be such an asinine writer.
