Gunna come f his breakout yr by auto-piloting his manner via a well-manicured album.
When Gunna raps, “You gon’ want a surfboard when it come to me and Wheezy wave” on his new album, it is not an empty boast. The previous yr has seen the rap, R&B, and pop worlds latch onto his and his shut collaborators’ kinds, both by mimicking his now-iconic circulation, shopping for into his “drip” slang and aesthetic, or granting him a visitor verse. The glo-up is now evident in most corners Gunna’s life, however none extra so than his album artwork. Examine the Rocket Power-riffing cover the primary Drip Or Drown, which got here out simply 15 months in the past, to that the sequence’ second installment, and it is clear that the imaginative and prescient’s elevated simply as a lot because the funds. As Earl Sweatshirt put it on Twitter final week, “This Gunna album cowl is not any joke 10/10 dedication to water droplet emoji] respect bro.”
Leaping right into a pool sporting a bunch costly garments and carrying an umbrella does certainly symbolize a transparent dedication to the drip, and the whole lot else about Drip Or Drown 2 is equally indebted to Gunna’s pre-existing inventive persona. The music connects to an aqueous, underwater vibe fairly actually, with whale songs on “Wit It,” a watery Rhodes and bubbly backwards loop on “Excellent,” rumbling bass undertow on “Massive Shot,” and rippling synth delay on “Similar Yung N****.” On this manner, Drip Or Drown 2 is completely curated and geared in the direction of Gunna’s strengths. His manufacturing group Wheezy and Turbo (not less than one whom is concerned in each single monitor on the album) proceed to show in recent, bizarre beats that completely go well with Gunna’s syrupy vocals. Higher than any earlier Gunna venture, this album sounds like a Gunna album all through, with no sonic outliers to say.
It might have taken over a yr for the hypnotic sound that Gunna, Wheezy, and Turbo dreamt as much as manifest as a full-length with out many concessions to different sounds, however Gunna’s had his circulation tightened up into one thing distinctive since not less than the primary Drip Or Drown. That, extra so than Turbo’s guitars or Wheezy’s watery soundscapes, is what’s confirmed most influential prior to now yr. It is daring then, for somebody who modified the best way a lot rappers flowed in 2018, to kick f 2019 by bringing so few new flows to the desk.
A yr and a half in the past, it won’t have mattered if Gunna spent 16 tracks largely utilizing the identical supply and cadence, because it sounded so new at one level that its freshness may’ve erased considerations about stagnation. However after a yr spent listening to not simply Gunna, however Drake, Travis Scott, and others gratuitously utilizing the flows heard on Drip Or Drown 2, it is a tiring prospect. Gunna’s lyric aren’t devoid vivid imagery and witty turns phrase— “Carrots caught in my tooth after I discuss,” “He so cap I purchased him an actual hat,” and so on.— however his verve has at all times come from his supply and swag somewhat than complicated rhyme schemes, metaphors, or eccentric lyricism. Listening to him and his mentor Young Thug commerce four-bar bursts is at all times an thrilling prospect, and certainly, “Three Headed Snake” lives as much as the excessive bar set by “Floyd Mayweather” and “Unicorn Purp,” however particularly contemplating the tune’s place on Drip Or Drown 2, it solely emphasizes that Gunna’s latched onto one (and just one) Thug’s kinds and run with it.
Gunna’s at his greatest when he is getting mystically in-sync with another person, whether or not meaning discovering pockets and harmonies inside a Turbo or Wheezy beat, or taking part in the ster-spoken foil to Thugger or Lil Child. On the album’s greatest monitor, “Derek Fisher,” he will get an opportunity to do each. Turbo’s beat is a queasy masterpiece, sufficient to offer most rappers sea legs, however Gunna rides the unorthodox synth swells with an array perfectly-fitting melodies. Lil Child then reveals up, first mimicking Gunna’s circulation, then increasing upon it, one thing that occurs all too occasionally elsewhere on Drip Or Drown 2. It is ten arduous to inform if Gunna’s sparse, undercooked vocals are an intentional half the bundle, as is clearly the case together with his uneven circulation on “Velocity It Up,” or if he’s simply coasting. Whereas the album’s manufacturing’s sturdy sufficient to permit a lesser rapper fall into the background and switch in some palatable temper music, we anticipate extra from Gunna at this level.
The person behind the songs “Drippin’,” and “Drip Too Onerous,” in addition to tasks titled Drip Season, Drip Tougher, and Drip Or Drown has now discovered each attainable option to say that he’s, certainly, dripping (“Drip daily like a runny nostril” is the most recent). In doing so, he is squeezed the life out the phrase. Equally, Gunna’s now discovered each attainable use for the circulation he created, and nobody will ever dispute his declare to mentioned circulation. On this manner, Drip Or Drown 2 remembers the stretch in Migos‘ profession (roughly from Yung Wealthy Nation to Y.R.N. 2) that mainly consisted them claiming many times to be innovators the triplet circulation and the dab. Everybody is aware of Gunna created one thing distinctive and influential, and though we are able to forgive him for resting on his laurels for a lot the previous six months, he’ll must step up and evolve if he needs his rep to maintain up. Migos definitely did it, and I’ve little doubt that somebody as effortlessly artistic as Gunna can too.