Gucci’s on the rise while I’m steady going broke.

Witnessing artists, particularly rappers, significantly evolve and improve their craft is one of the most exciting parts of being a full blown music nerd. Those that were actually checking for Tha Block Is Hot will never forget when Weezy stopped being a generic Nola-bounce product and morphed into the sports/feces metaphor king with that raspy flow [via Prefix, Suffix, Dedications, Droughts and two Carters]. Over the past 2 years Gucci Mane has steadily elevated his craft, from trap-rap mediocrity to the crème of ignorant rap, through a similar barrage of mixtapes. Listening to past jams like “My Rims Dancin” right now it’s striking how Gooch has developed his three subject matters (drugs, girls, accessories) to get to Mr. Zone 6.

And Gucci’s work shouldn’t be diminished for being LCD gangsta rap. Doing his thing in a Tim Duncan manner, La Flare hasn’t added anything drastic to his repertoire because he doesn’t need to. If nobody can stop the up-and-under or the turn-around 15-foot bank shot, just re-post your way to some rings and MVPs young man. On Mr. Zone 6, Gucci drops another full-length tape of street bangers, picking up where Brrprint 3D left off. Low-budget synth beats, cohesive with his scary-movie motif, lead into the catchiest hooks in the game. Brrrrs, yuueehs, and Guccis[!] are liberally littered, saturating any free moment on the tape. Clever wordplay, often orbiting around one concept or word (“Normal”, “Socialite”), and his signature captivatingly apathetic flow dominate the sound of the tape.

Even when Gucci mails it in with Jeezy-esque repetition of the same rhyming word it’s effective due to precise meter and delivery: “Can’t you see my picture, try to point me out the lineup/now it’s 70K a show, promoters screaming ‘back the line up’/pay my barber ‘bout 2-3 hundred just so he can keep my line up.”  When he pushes himself in terms of syllables, rhyme-structure and creativity, Gucci’s punchlines are tantamount to anyone’s. “Just like Levert, I like to flirt/ I’m not your Casanova/ I’m not Romeo, it’s Gucci, ho/ I’m tryna bend you over.”

With his only features being an average Bun-B verse and alpha-rappers Yo Gotti and label mate Waka Flaka, Gucci’s lyrical prowess is like the sun next to candles on Mr Zone 6. If “Classical” wasn’t his resume supplement for the haters, verifying that Gucci is actually a lyrical juggernaut, Mr. Zone 6 goes out of its way to display that fact. The hilarity via ignorance still goes hard as well. Cocaine is whiter than Taylor Swift, white lines at the house are called Miley Cyrus [Gucci not a racist all his diamonds be Caucasian].

The State vs. Radric Davis was incomplete because of the pressure to recoup; there were simply too many ‘songs for the ladies’ watering down the album. Mr. Zone 6 is 13 unfiltered bangers and Gucci’s best effort to date. “Normal” might just be a 2010 version of The Gooch’s “Weird” but experiencing Gucci’s development by realizing how superior one is to the other is unique. La Flare is in that rare zone of rapping where he just can’t miss. On every beat he goes Honeybaked Ham, he’s a beast. Enjoy it while it’s lasting. His feature price? It’s going up. -mw