Gucci Mane - The Appeal: Georgia's Most Wanted (2010)

 Review: Gucci Mane - The Appeal: Georgia's Most Wanted (2010, 1017 Brick Squad/Warner Bros./Asylum)

Five days before releasing The Appeal, Gucci Mane teamed up with DJ Holiday for a fifth straight hype mixtape whose title - Buy My Album - voices a request surprisingly reasonable for the bizarre rapper. The man's been working hard since his July release from prison, especially considering The Appeal's stunning contents, which often match his mixtape gems and frequently surpass them - the now-iconic title track doesn't even make the cut in favor of bombastic Jewelery Selection sleeper "Trap Talk." As the recent mixtapes foreshadowed, Gucci's never sounded so good lyrically, casually firing off bombs like "Ferrari with the yellow forgiatos, Gucci tripping / I hit the button in my Scaglietti and get missing" alongside tremendous productions from pricey hit makers the likes of Swizz Beatz and The Neptunes. On the opener alone Gucci hilariously imitates Scarface with enough stuffy freshness to invalidate Jay-Z's American Gangster attempt, towers over Bun B's always-golden guest spot, and effortlessly raps

"I got 60 racks laying on the floor in magic city / Like Samuel L. Jackson, I think it's time for killing / I touched his wife titty and the nigga start tripping / That ain't proper etiquette to see the bitch stripping / AR-15 whipped his ass into pieces / Don't get it twisted, think it's all about the pieces / And all about the bracelets / I'm still fighting cases / 10 thousand for the glasses, diamonds in their faces"

with a potent combination of spine-chilling conviction and his trademark nasal mumble. Perhaps The Appeal's most interesting facet is this total rejection of Gucci's unlikely pop-crossover appeal, despite its equally unlikely guest spots (namely, Wyclef Jean); the album instead leans heavily on Gucci's unique gangster charisma, with come-up crime raps more convincing than any  contemporary's and vivid backing tracks crafted for dirty-money Escalades by traditional collaborators Zaytoven and Drumma Boy. But Georgia's Most Wanted is far from one-sided; at times brilliant, dark, hilarious or frighting (and not unusually all at once), Gucci Mane's long-awaited third (thirtieth?) effort is every bit the masterpiece he promised us.






Bump this: Little Friend, Gucci Time, Haterade

Gucci Mane - Jewelry Selection (2010)

Review: Gucci Mane - Jewelry Selection with DJ Holiday (2010, Mixtape)

Man, it's been a cold summer. Following July's fantastic Mr. Zone 6, Jewelry Selection allegedly serves as a prequel to Gucci Mane's upcoming studio album, the alleged sequel to 2009's The State vs. Radric Davis. Hopefully Gucc passes some of the new tape's elements on to The Appeal in September - a short and selective guest roster, booming trap beats and competent mixing. In fact, Jewelry Selection's blemishes are mainly the host's; aside from coating the LP in annoyingly loud drops, Holiday headscratchingly includes Mr. Zone 6's lone, braindead misstep "Makin' Love to the Money" alongside silly, infectious Appeal single "Gucci Time" and rewinds enough to increase the album's length by a good 5 minutes. Despite these unsurprising Aphiliates shenanigans, there's plenty of originality here - "Gross" finds Gucci disgusted with his arctic surroundings behind ad-libbed vomiting sounds while the brilliant horrortrap of "Poltergeist" and "Vampires" (which manages to put a dozen clever spins on the motif) is sure to slay sub-par (or sub-lacking) car stereos. If his recent activity is any indication, Gucci's already made his appeal - all he's gonna do in September is wink at the jury. Burr!

Bump this: Trap Talk, Gross, Vampires