Gucci Mane (feat. Papa Smurf, YG Hootie & Ice Burgandy) - Valentines Day (Brick Squad, 2011)

my baby love my aura, but no romance for her/cause I don’t think I love her, but I really wanna fuck her

2 Chainz - Got One (Mixtape, 2011/2012)

My favorite 2 Chainz track from last year (thanks, Mike Will) has been given a music video, which looks like it was directed by Jordan Towers but was not. I buy da pussy, you payin’ for it/PUT YO HEAD THROUGH DA HEADBAWD

Gucci Mane - Face Card (Brick Squad, 2012)

Zaytoven’s back to crafting slow, lurching beats, and Gucci’s back to domineering them. On this track, which may feature my favorite production from Zay since “I Think I Want Her”, Gucci almost adopts an EA Sportscenter delivery, the natural flow of his verses bouncing off Zay’s creeping keys. He does not sound sober here.

Trap Back drops this Sunday. 

Soulja Boy - White Lights (SODMG, 2012)

easily the best Soulja Boy song in this young year (which has already seen two Soulja Boy tapes, no less). Clams Casino produced it, and Soulja rides the beat well. I hope this means that Clams and Soulja are about to start working together semi-reguarly again, but I’m not gonna hold my breath. For now, this is sufficient enough.

Future (feat. T.I.) - Magic (Freebandz/Epic, 2012)

Future and Tip chill out on the top of Magic City for the latest single from Future’s Pluto. Even though I don’t like this version as much as the original T.I.-less version found on True Story, it’s always to great to get new visuals from the Askranawt Kid.

Terius Nash (feat. Pharrell) - Real (Self-released, 2011)

Terius Nash and Pharrell Williams are two of my favorite people no matter what alias they go under (though Sk8brd is an atrocious moniker, P). While reinspecting Dream’s 1977 (the mixtape he released under his government name, that flew mostly under the radar thanks to Frank Weekoceand). Though the tape isn’t Dream’s best effort overall (it is his most angst-driven), there’s some serious bangers on there. “Ghetto” maybe the most obvious choice (which is why it seems that Def Jam has chosen it as the promotional single for Dream’s upcoming album), and though that is a crazy track, “Real” is undoubtedly my favorite. Between Dream buying a house on his phone while taking a dump, to Pharrell’s incredible double-time flow, all the way down to the incomprehensible “rock out” guitar solo that serves as the outro. It all delivers, and I hope to hear more from these two on Dream’s Love IV. 

Also, Pharrell is rapping reguarly, and excellently again. Time to retry that rapping career, P! I need an album that delivers on the promise of the In My Mind Prequel. 

Gucci Mane (feat. Future) - Sometimes (Brick Squad, 2012)

It appears that Gucci is spending more time writing these days, and less time shaving (what’s with the crustache, man?). I’ve actually avoided this track for a couple days, and I’m regretting that now. Since Freebrickz dropped last year, I’ve been well under the assumption that Gucci and Future have absolutely no chemistry. Despite the cues that Future takes from Gucci’s playbook, both are two distinctly different rappers that compliment eachother in no way. Unfortunately, they have the same fanbase, and that means they’re gonna be collaborating until the day one of them does one too many lines. 

It’s been frustrating following Gucci, and though some may argue that Gucci has been showing flashes of brilliance once again, this isn’t the first time that Gucci has really been spitting well again. Both “North Pole” and the Yo Gotti-assisted ”Animosity“ from Mike Will’s mixtape were strong reasons for me to believe Gucci maybe back to form. Truthfully, he’s been rapping well on and off since last year’s Writing On The Wall II/Freebrickz (which didn’t work as a collaboration, but did allow Gucci to flex his pen for a minute before being hauled back to jail). While the leaks for Trap Back are good (I don’t think any of them really constitute as the best thing Gucci’s done in the past 12 months), I’m still not convinced if this is the return of the Gucci of yore.

“Sometimes” is great though. Gucci’s rapping pretty openly about his life for a change, his top down so he can “look up at the galaxy” to clear his mind. His verse is so good that it’s almost a shame when Future comes on. Though Future is moderately self-aware here, he still misses the opportunity to silence critics by focusing on the skulls and spikes that he really spent too much time rapping about on Astronaut Status. It’s not that what Future is doing is bad, by any means, but when stacked up against a driven Gucci, he does fall flat (it doesn’t help that Drumma’s production brings Future’s normal energy down to a stuttering halt). This is exactly why Freebrickz failed as a whole.

Trap Back will come out on February 5th. It will probably be simultaneously great and uneven. Which means I’ll listen to it more than anything else this year.