A Year of Gucci Mane: Ranking His 8 Latest Projects

On May 26th, 2016 Gucci Mane was released from the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Indiana. On May 26th, 2017, Gucci Mane tweeted out a handy infographic that detailed his 12-month redemptive journey. Between the one (1) memoir (set to release later this year), eight (8) rap projects, nineteen (19) music videos, and like a billion (1,000,000,000) features (alongside high-profile acts such as Usher, Maroon 5 and Bruno Mars), it’s probably safe to say he’s the hardest working man in the industry.

Even if he never got his just dues as a lyricist, Gucci’s unrelenting work ethic has always been his one infallible trait. However, since his return to the scene last June with “First Day Out Tha Feds,” the stark, unflinching recount of his time away, the narrative surrounding his talent has clearly shifted—the masses now seem to recognize his place as a true pioneer. Unfortunately, that’s not to say that folks now acknowledge the brilliantly elusive, almost nerdy way he approached freestyle rapping in the mid-to-late '00s.

If you’ve been a fan since the jump—before the rap game became littered with his children, before the 1017 factory era that birthed superstars like Metro Boomin, Migos, and Young Thug, before the infamous ice cream tat or the Bart Simpson chain—this recent run probably isn’t all that surprising (except for, maybe, how relatively tame it is). You're probably even bored. But for those just hitching themselves to the 1017 bandwagon, there's nothing but bright-eyed adoration for the trap icon. This lack of reconciliation between the distinct arcs of Gucci’s career makes a lot of new praise feel like overcompensation for missing out on the man’s creative prime. 

But I guess it’s to be expected. You can’t blame the older fans for wanting to nestle up with the stream of consciousness idiosyncrasies found on Chicken Talk, The Burrprint (The Movie 3D) or Writing on The Wall, and you can’t blame new fans for being swept up by this current iteration of his perpetually charismatic aura. As far as the actual quality of his recent output is concerned though, the most rational take is, of course, somewhere in the middle.

Each of his past eight projects have their fair share of highlights. A few tracks even see him channeling that pure, linguistic magic he used to finesse with ease, but not everything hits. We've ranked these projects, and we look forward to y’all disagreeing with our list in the comments below because, on top of his work ethic, another pillar of Guwop has always been his ability to be pervasive and polarizing. It would be a shame if we all started agreeing about his work now.

Click through the gallery to read on.

A brief, spontaneous offering from Gucci and Zaytoven, GucTiggy doesn’t present any essential additions to their already sprawling canon. Zay’s beats are as consistent as always, his melodic flare gluing together the the raw drums and thudding 808s, but Gucci forgoes any real hooks or songwriting for a slew of seemingly freestyled verses. We’re not mad at it, but it’s nothing too special. Still, we manage to get a few gems like: "I'm so Marilyn Manson, I'm so heinously handsome/I'm more dangerous than famous/I'll take your grandson for ransom."

Unfortunately, what could’ve been a fun little experiment, pairing Lil Uzi Vert’s animated, melodic cues with Gucci’s penchant for devilishly clever wordplay, feels disjointed and rushed. The verses seem cut & pasted, as if the two weren’t even in the same time zone, let alone the same studio. Aside from the DP Beats-produced “In 04,” nothing really sticks. But none of that really matters, does it? Gucci is as influential as he is because he has a great ear and is early on a lot of new talent. And, despite his time away, he’s proven he’s still got that ear, linking up with everyone from Atlanta’s Lotto Savage to Chicago’s Dreezy. Uzi is closer to becoming a household name than anyone in his class, and I’m sure Gucci knows this—even if he doesn't quite get it. (this is, after all, the man who saw the star in Young Thug, years before the rest of us).

His second album since being released, Woptober is darker and purports to be more unhinged than its predecessor. In reality, it’s not much of a step forward. If anything, it’s weaker simply due to the fact it’s Gucci running through the last of the songs he wrote in prison while simultaneously throwing new shit at the wall. There's still plenty to salvage though: “Intro: Fuck 12” sees him standing resolute in the face of post-traumatic stress as well as the mounting pressures that come with a revitalized career; “Aggressive” cuts like a rigid piece of ice, frozen a dozen times over by a never-ending winter; and Metro Boomin comes through with a rambunctious beat for the lead single, “Bling Blaww Burr,” providing a platform for Gucci and Young Dolph to gleefully ravage. Throughout the album, Gucci toys with his old ad libs and imagines new monikers. What this album lacks in focus, he makes up for with charisma.

The Return of East Atlanta Santa, Gucci’s third full length and the third in the East Atlanta Santa series—which began in 2014, while he was still incarcerated—just feels more comfortable than its predecessors. Gucci wears his new voice better, the beats are livelier and the tracklist leaves less room for lethargy. Featuring the likes of Travis Scott, Bryson Tiller and Drake, this was Gucci trying to fully capitalize on the good will he’s accumulated since his return to the scene. And, in a lot of ways, it worked: “Both” just recently became his first platinum single.

However, the difference in quality between this or Woptober is pretty negligible. Various hooks and features fall flat on both and choosing between the two comes down to a case of preference. Woptober is gritter and gloomier, an overcast of self-doubt and uncertainty following Everybody Looking’s triumphant return. The Return… is just a lot less guarded. From the timeless Christmas carol that opens the album, to the Biblical “Walk On Water,” or the whimsically promiscuous “Stutter,” this is Gucci proving himself as one of the greatest shows on Earth through sheer consistency. Neither of these interim releases feel essential as a whole, but both feature a handful of rewarding turns.

About two months after his release from prison, still observing house arrest, Gucci jump started this whole post-release run with the aptly titled, Everybody Looking. A collaboration with his day one architect, Zaytoven, and one of his most successful mentees to date, Mike WiLL Made It, this was a meticulously crafted album comprised of 15 songs he supposedly wrote during his stretch at Terre Haute. This is a purposeful, well balanced record, brimming with snarky self-awareness. One minute he’s having paranoid flashbacks of his time away, the next he’s a King, with an iron fist wrapped in velvet. He slips in and out of the role of rap legend like it’s a soft mink; the irreverence of “Waybach” or the self-mythologizing of “All My Children” as tethered to Gucci’s larger than life persona as “First Day Out Da Feds” is to his more human vulnerabilities. It’s a colorful and engaging insight into the mind of a revitalized cult hero, even if the execution feels a bit stiff. (Speaking of that work ethic—I'm pretty sure damn near every song off this has a music video. Wow.)

A crazy three-song EP featuring beats from longtime collaborator and Atlanta trap pioneer Shawty Redd, this might be the most underrated of his recent work. Following a nostalgic intro from Redd, Gucci transports himself back to “his Shawty Redd days,” channeling that old, chaotic energy that used to make him feel like a ticking time bomb. He time hops freely, eulogizing his past and embracing his present. “Slick as hell mane, I’m fresh out of jail mane/fuck a cell case, marble on my staircase,” he raps, molding the vowels like playdough. The beats are boisterous and the lyrics are equally wild and unfiltered (“Say you never met a killer then you never met me,” he declares on “Ever”, right before the beat drops out and he gleefully screams, “Hol’ up, they done let the Wop free!”). He’s Gucci the Unmerkable, he’s Sir Brix-a-Lot. At one point he likens himself to C-Murder, Pootang and Big Meech in one bar.

There’s a reason why the collab with Uzi didn’t really pop off: it takes genuine chemistry, or a pre-existing sense of familiarity, to make a great record in that short of a timespan. It’s the same reason why What a Time to Be Alive had no staying power. Fortunately for us, Gucci and Future have both in spades. This sequel to their 2011 collaboration sees both artists at completely different stages of their lives; Gucci is a triumphantly changed man and Future is a renegade turned bonafide superstar. But together, if only for a thrilling 20 minutes, they seem to successfully tune out all the other noise in order to create an uninhibited exhibition of their distinctive styles. There's a sense of lucidity on here that leads to moments like the one where Gucci reminds you, in no uncertain terms, that if you don’t know the old Gucc—the one that was on the corner bumping “Pocket Full Of Stones”—then you don’t really know him. With his trademark mix of poignant storytelling and humorous asides, he counterbalances Future’s freeform vocal experimentations. The two feed of each other's eccentricities resulting in both rappers deliver their most electric performances of 2016.

Executive produced by Metro Boomin, Droptopwop is a lean, hyperfocused album that refines much of Gucci’s recent style - naturally edging it past Everybody Looking’s more rigid songwriting. Metro continues to impress, following up last year’s critically acclaimed Savage Mode with yet another set of distinctly spooky instrumentals, and Gucci glides over these dark synths and tolling bells in his blood red drop top, flashing a permanent sneer.

On the standout “Met Gala,” when you think Offset has all but renegaded his former 1017 mentor, Gucci drops one of his most vivid lines in years: “Thought it was killers, camped out in my bushes/then come to find out it's photographers.” Not only is that some fantastic writing (he rhymes “photographers” with “octopus” somewhere in that verse as well), but it's a real look behind all the smoke and mirrors that comes with embodying the rags-to-riches tale, not once, but twice in one lifetime. Where the rapping on his first few projects felt a bit rusty, this is Wop at his most menacingly effortless. The back stretch from “Helpless” through “Both Eyes Closed” is probably Gucci's strongest run this side of the election, and, for once, all the other features are equally stellar. This is his first full length since coming back that begs for repeat listens, front to back.