According to a good friend of mines, who shall remain nameless for obvious reasons, believes this man, Radric Davis a.k.a. 'Gucci Mane', is the most lyrical and innovative rap artist in the game today. WTF?
A little background history of this dumb-ass rapper. Gucci Mane was born in Birmingham, AL but moved with his single mother at the age of 10 to Atlanta, GA. In school, Gucci enjoyed writing poetry and being the class clown as well. Along with his brazing sense of humor and his wit, he began writing rhymes around the age of 14.
Due to his success in rhyme and literature, he was also a self-proclaimed entrepreneur and leader in his own community, coming up from the streets in the all-time great story of "rags to riches", making hit records with artists such as Young Jeezy, Jim Jones, and fellow business partner and protege, O.J. da Juiceman, who has been a collaborator with Gucci since 2006.
As an advent listener of hip-hop music and an analytical hip-hop historian, I feel as though it's evident in today's society that social status, commercialism and marketing schematics are dominating this very spirited culture in which I love more than most things in my life. I love hip-hop, and I love everything hip-hop encompasses; from pain and struggle, to rebellion, the good and the bad. As a lover of hip-hop, I also respect the views and opinions of fellow hip-hop heads.
But never, and I do mean never, in my fuckin' life have I heard someone say that Gucci Mane is the hottest and most lyrical rapper out today!
There's some things about hip-hop music that I just cannot accept. In the case of Mr. Radric Davis, I don't think that he is a great rapper at all. As a matter of fact, out of all the whack emcee's in the game today, he has to be one of the worst rappers out today, if not the absolute worse. His music sounds like some of the most ignorant fuckery ever played on any radio station. There are many ways to prove how terrible he is as an artist. Shall I provide a few examples:
1. He lacks political and socially conscious thought within his rhyme scheme and his overall lyrics. One thing I can give him credit for is his dissertation of the life he's lived and the struggles he's went through. I give that same exact credit to every other rapper, but at the same time, there's absolutely no excuse to not have definitive lyrics and proper rhyme scheme.
2. He lacks content variable. In most songs I've heard him "rap" on, it's the same exact thing: money, trappin', the degredation of women, and materialism. What rapper doesn't rap about it? Yeah, I understand that. But at the same time you have to draw the line and analyze how lyricism and rhyming can become effective, and it has to coexist with your content. Rap about something more universal and master the finess and syncopation with your lyrics.
3. His lines make absolutely no sense whatsoever! "I got a tangerine porche, same color as orange..." What a fuckin' minute, are you serious? Last time I checked, a tangerine is darker and often times smaller than an orange. And it holds a bit more juice, in my opinion. Where the hell did he come up with that line? C'mon man.
4. Most of his material is club-saavy. People often say that he makes hot music because his beats are hot and his hooks are fly, although his lyrics aren't the best. Let's break this down a bit. 1) Gucci Mane doesn't make his beats, he has an in-house producer to avoid being over-charged for beats. 2) How hard is it to make a hook? According to The Source magazine, most artists have a team of writers who are under the scope of a record label who write and record choruses of particular songs in hopes of making a hit. His music is "fun" to listen to in the club, but what about outside. To each his own.
I can keep going...
I don't know where my friend got off saying that Gucci Mane was a musical genius. He even said that Gucci deserved an Oscar Award for his music. Oh man, when he said it, I thought he was joking. I laughed the entire conversation. Yes, I'm rude, but who gives a fuck? Not me. Cool beans.
I leave the Blogger world with this in mind. Be critical of the music you listen to. Take time to listen to the lyrics and analyze the music from top to bottom, whether you like a certain artist or not. Allow me to recommend a group of artist for your listening pleasure, if you love rap & hip-hop:
Fabolous
Joe Budden*
Jay Electronica
Aasim
Lil' Wayne
Crooked I*
Apathy
Rakim
Jay-Z
Nas
Drake*
Asher Roth*
Joell Ortiz
B.O.B.
Pete Wurthy
(*) Currently listening to right now...
That's it!
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