Review Summary: Gucci at his best.
Gucci Mane is quite the character. He’s built up a veritable mixtape empire, with very few concessions to the mainstream – up until this year, his only crossovers were two singles that failed to garner any lasting footholds in the industry. However, with a steady stream of underground hits he’s clawed his way up to appearances on the remixes of Mariah Carey and the Black Eyed Peas, not to mention guest spots on the pop mini-hits Break Up by Mario and LOL :-) by Trey Songz. So what’s Gucci Mane’s next move? Pull a Drake, and release a sappy love song to all his female fans?
Psych!
From the opening lyrics of this mixtape, you know what you’re in for.
“All Nas need is one mic / All I need is one stove / Homie got a nice flow / but Gucci got that white snow.”
Hell, forget the opening lyrics – how about the opening intro?
“I woke up this morning and looked in the mirror. I said Mirror mirror mirror, who’s the coldest nigga in Atlanta? The mirror said, do not ax me any more stupid questions! It’s Gucci! Burrr! Burrr! Burrr!”
Ignant posturing, stupidly genius lyrics, menacing beats, the inevitable BURRRR!s, and, of course, coke, coke, and more coke. If you’re the Gucci-crazed maniac that I am, these lines should be enough to convince you. For those of you not yet entranced by Gucci’s plethora of adlibs, blings, and puns, I’ll see if I can draw you in.
Gucci will never be a lyricist like Nas or GZA is. The thing is, that doesn’t really matter, though, because that’s not where Gucci’s at. He doesn’t want to compose an intricate story about human life or tell you about the underhanded dealings of the United States of America. He just wants to tell you about how rich he is, how much coke he sells, and how much ice he has, and he wants to crack you up when he’s doing it. And you know what? He sure does do the job pretty well. I dare you not to crack a smile at these lines cobbled together from a few listens to just a couple songs:
“So much stacks up in my closet I can't even see my clothes / And my belly gettin' so big I can hardly see my toes”
“My flow's so schizophrenic, need to put me in a straight-jacket / Straight-drop dope flow, put me in a crack baggie”
“Cocaina clean I got it snowin like Nebraska / It's zone 6 East Atlanta but we call this *** Alaska”
“I'm in the kitchen, homie, whippin' up a deuce / Niggas lookin sick, I call it chicken noodle soup / Chickens in the living room, we call it the chicken room / Birds everywhere, it's lookin like Atlanta Zoo”
The guest spots here, while fairly spaced out, are generally solid. Bun B unsurprisingly (for me, at least) steals the show on Watch Cost a Bentley. OJ da Juiceman provides the expected falsetto “ayyy”!s, and the rest of Gucci’s assorted affiliates get the job done, if unspectacularly.
The other major draw of any Gucci mixtape is the inevitable assortment of mouth-watering beats. Gucci has the benefit of a thriving partnership with fellow Atlantan Zaytoven, who provides the majority of his beats and often pens beats specifically to accompany Gucci’s rapping. Zaytoven’s style is well known to anybody who’s heard a single song of his; a wide array of electronic sounds coming at you from all sides, a constant barrage of beeps and bounces. Zaytoven widely eschews samples, opting instead for original sounds, and thus arrives at a different sound than an East Coast-influenced producer might make. Depending on one’s perspective, this can be a good or bad thing, but the mixtape has a very cohesive sound with respect to the production, and flows together very, very well.
The Burrprint 3 probably won’t win over any diehard Gucci haters, but a careful ear to what Gucci’s doing here has a good chance to win over the dedicated listener with an open mind. Highly recommended for fans of southern rap and of hip hop in general – although those who limit their purchases to the online stores of Def Jux, Rhymesayers, and Stones Throw records might not find it as appealing.
BURRRRR!
One final note: You can listen to this streaming at http://www.datpiff.com/DJ_Drama_Mixed_by_DJ_Fly_Boy_Gucci_Mane_Movie_3.m7 1039.html. If you're a member of datpiff (it's free), you can download it as well.
