Delusions Of Grandeur - Gucci Mane: Review
is a now legendary Atlanta rapper who came up in the 2000's and has made a sharp transition to trap music while staying relevant and releasing tons of music in constantly released mixtapes throughout the first half of the 2000's. While it is hard to point to any specific Gucci Mane mixtape that encapsulates his influence or style, his entire back catalog is one well worth diving into.
Review By Lavender:
Trying to review all the nearly 100 Gucci Mane projects is a job for somebody with patience well beyond me, but that doesn't mean I haven't at least heard nearly all of them and have my favorites. Honestly Gucci had been on a little bit of a creative peak recently releasing three albums in 2017, two of which I actually enjoyed quite a bit Droptopwop and the even better Mr. Davis. Unfortunately the single release he dropped in 2018 was one of the most generic and uninspired releases I had heard from him in years and Delusions Of Grandeur follows in its footsteps, just barely maintaining a higher quality grade.
The fortunate thing about reviewing Gucci Mane is that when you say a track is "typical" Gucci Mane almost everybody understands exactly what that means, and there are a LOT of songs here that don't do anything beyond that descriptor. The opening track Bussdown, Special a track that has Murda Beatz on production but manages to be one of the blandest in the entire tracklist. ICE features Gucci, Gunna and Lil Baby generically babbling over a trendy beat, Gucci, Wiz Khalifa and Rick Ross manage to be somehow way worse later on in the album on the song Lame. Potential is an awful cut that features a barely trying Lil Uzi adlibbing far more than rapping. Finally the closing track Making Of A Murderer busts out this hilarious Sesame Street grade flow that results in some absolutely awful and corny bars that I'm very surprised nobody is publically clowning Gucci for.
Even a lot of the songs on here that are decent don't really do much to stand out when compared to almost anybody else in the trap world. Proud Of You, Superstar, US, and Look At Me Now feature some generic trapisms that barely make the songs interesting while their on, much less afterwards. Upgrade is just that, an upgrade over the rest of these cuts that has a decent chorus and is a love song that actually has a pulse. Human Chandelier is a solid song with a flow I like quite a bit and a pretty chilling beat that helps the song stand out as one of the more confrontational on the record. Finally Bottom is a song that doesn't have much going for it musically but is so unrelentingly ratchet that it becomes an absolutely hilarious lustful banger that I can't help but laugh at while I vibe to it.
For the most part when this album is interesting it is because there is a feature that makes the songs more bearable. Backwards features Meek Mill and seems to be the albums biggest hit, the song has a punchy beat with some great keys and an overall throwback vibe to the 2000's. Hands Off is an kind of average track that features a decent Weeknd impression on its hook that saves the song. Blind is a track that is boring from Gucci's standpoint but features a pretty lengthy and solid feature from A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie that makes the song worthwhile. Shockingly my favorite song here is actually Love Thru The Computer. Justin Bieber's hook sounds like an Usher song from the 2000's but it is done with enough self-awareness that it comes off okay. The track is an absolutely hilarious tune about loving a girl through a computer that is silly but actually manages to pull off a tight flow and lyrics that I like quite a bit. I'm surprised with how creative this track is and that none of that creativity seeped into almost any of the other tracks here.
While Gucci Mane will forever be a name worth paying attention to whenever he drops music, he is undoubtedly not in one of his most creative periods and with the massive drop of content he has delivered on Delusions Of Grandeur the quantity over quality approach is clear. There is far too much generic filler and absolutely awful underwritten tunes to make what little here that's good feel worthwhile, and I'm hoping Gucci Mane takes his time with the next release and drops something more focused and consistent. 3.5/10
