Mr. Davis proves that Gucci Mane rules the streets of East Atlanta

Recently, the well-known trap artist Gucci Mane dropped his highly anticipated album “Mr. Davis”. This comes close on the heels of his past two albums Droptopwop, and The Return of East Atlanta Santa which was his first album since his release from prison. He was sentenced to 3 years for firearm possession charges back in 2014. Gucci is known as one of Atlanta’s finest rappers, alongside Future and 21 Savage. With his new release, he really proves that he rules the streets of East Atlanta with the rap talent he provides throughout each individual song.

The album itself has many artist features, including Chris Brown, Nicki Minaj, Migos, The Weeknd, Slim Jxmmi, Big Sean, A$AP Rocky, and many more. The third song on the album, “I Get The Bag” featuring Migos, was already a hit single, which peaked #11 on the US Billboard Top 100 list, and has racked up over 108 million views on YouTube as of October 22nd.

Gucci spent a lot of his time really perfecting the album with all the various guest artists and their specific musical styles, including trap and underground. He really made sure the lyrics fit in correctly for each song to become a top contender for the best album of the year.

The first track, “Work In Progress (Intro)” is amazing. Even though it’s a short intro track, it is a genuine track. The beat itself is really hard, and Gucci showcases his style well; the song sounds similar to some of his older tracks, specifically the beat. The lyrics portrays Gucci’s rough past relating to his prior drug abuse problems and his incarceration. He takes the position of somebody going through rehabilitation, stating near the end that “I’m just a work in progress, I’m not even through”.

One of the album’s major collaborations is “Stunting Ain’t Nuthin”, featuring Slim Jxmmi and Young Dolph. The song has a slower beat to it compared to the rest, but that doesn’t mean it’s boring. Dolph and Jxmmi both bring in a strong verse, where they both talk about spending money extravagantly. It makes the song a definite standout.

“Curve” with The Weeknd, is probably one of my favourite tracks in this entire album. Although The Weeknd’s appearance was a bit minimal, the style itself was precisely impeccable, and overall it was a highly pleasurable track. The Weeknd is not really too noticeable on this track, whereas on his own songs, where he gets most of the spotlight, he performs at his best. In saying that, the song itself is doing especially well, peaking at #68 on the Global charts and having over a million streams on release day.

Another notable song is “Tone It Down”, which features Chris Brown. Like “I Get The Bag,” this track was released before the album premiered and garnered quite a bit of attention. The song definitely has a summer vibe to it with the upbeat and how Brown sings with his smooth voice to upbeat the song. The release date being June 20th was timed to help it become a summertime club hit.

The next song which includes a major guest rapper is “Jumped Out The Whip” with A$AP Rocky. Rocky is one of the rap game’s biggest performers, and he is affiliated with the very famous A$AP Mob, featuring others like A$AP Ferg and Playboi Carti. The one problem that occurs in this track is the repetitiveness of the chorus. The lyrics sound really identical and it becomes aggravating when he repeats the same lines three times to form the chorus. In return for that minor problem, Rocky aced his part; the flow made him stand out in an excellent way because he executed his words and connected smoothly, it doesn’t have an awkward feeling.

Some of the guest performances were weak, particularly “Curve”, which had a miserable feature of The Weeknd. He seems to be really depressed and dragged down. This same issue dogs the track, “Changed,” featuring Big Sean, where Big Sean shows that he is a changed man by saying that he “[doesn’t] even rock the same chains” and that he ran into his old ex-girl and he said that he has “changed”. I know that it is becoming more prevalent to incorporate social issues and depression, but an album like this one is meant to be exhilarating. I am not saying that this album shouldn’t have at least one or two “slower and sadder” tracks, but it does kill the excitement a bit.

Despite a few missteps, all in all, Gucci Mane and a good chunk of the feature artists on the album really killed it. Like some of his other work, it definitely hit hard in the rap community, and with tremendous songs like “I Get The Bag” and “Tone It Down,” the album will be talked about for the next few weeks and even months.