Gucci Mane released Trust God Fuck 12 on October 17, 2013, under the name The Big Homie Gucci with upcoming Atlanta native Rich Homie Quan. At the time we chose our paper topics, it was his most recent release. He’s since put out Young Thugga Maine LaFlare, with Young Thug (who I’ll mention later).
It’s not his most popular release: it wasn’t even included in his discography on Wikipedia until I just added it. However, it’s one of his strongest recent releases. Vibe said, “Gucci sounds a little bit more coherent on this project, than on 2012’s I’m Up and some of his World War 3 tapes. Actually, better than he has in awhile.” The mixtape prominently features production by Zaytoven and Lex Luger, who made four tracks each for the album. It also boasts three and two tracks respectively with up-and-comers Young Thug and Young Scooter.
Gucci
What else has The Big Homie Gucci been up to lately? Tom Breihan at Stereogum summarized it better than I could:
“Things haven’t been going so great for the troubled rap genius Gucci Mane lately. He recently alienated a ton of industry friends in a deranged Twitter rant, admitted to a codeine addiction, lost his label deal, and got sentenced to six months of prison on a probation violation. And he’s still cranking out music.”
That’s right. He released it from jail. “Robert A Deyton Detention Facility Radric Davis PO Box 730 Lovejoy GA 30250”, to be more specific (he recently solicited fan letters on Twitter).Wikipedia states that, “according to the federal prosecutor, Mane was in possession of two different loaded guns between 12 and 14 September 2013, and can be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.”
But for the big homie LaFlare, even prison is no hurdle. According to his distributor and self-proclaimed “money guy,” Ronald ‘Caveman’ Rosario, the team has so much material in the bank that they, “could drop three albums a year for the next three years and still have enough material for another three years.” Very impressive. But how does he call the shots from the pen?
Gucci’s audio engineer, a gentleman named Sean Paine (who also works with the rest of the 1017 crew) stated in an interview that, “he’ll call from jail and give us some direction on these projects and then we kind of go from there. Gucci really makes all the decisions.”
Caveman elaborated, “He’s very, very, vocal about what he wants, and how he wants it sound,” explains Caveman. “He does not remember a lot of the songs that he recorded, so we have to sift through it and I literally play the songs over the phone so he can remember them.”
And it seems like it’s working. In 2013, Gucci released 10 mixtapes (including the fantastic Trap God II) and two studio albums, Trap House III, and The State Vs. Radric Davis II: I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.
Caveman stated, “With Gucci, last year we did a total of 12 projects, including nine Gucci Mane projects and three 1017 projects.” He claims Gucci netted “about $1.3 million from that” in 2013. In 2012, he kicked off his acting career, starring as himself in the hit Harmony Korine movie Spring Breakers.
The Album
The thing that really makes Trust God Fuck 12 stand out isn’t Gucci’s work, but that of his collaborators; the most interesting of which are Rich Homie Quan and Young Thugger. Quan, the sing-rapper whose banger Type Of Way was the smash of the summer, appeared on 11 of mixtape’s 17 tracks. Young Thug rapped on two.
As is the currently fashionable Atlanta style, Gucci’s music uses the voice more as a timbral instrument than as a conveyer of meaning. Young Thug and Rich Homie Quan apply the same approach, which gives the mixtape a very compelling variety of vocal deliveries: Gucci slurs like he’s off his face on codeine, Thugger speaks alternately in high-pitched gutteral squaks and a more traditional drawl, and Quan’s rap-singing adds a melodic content.
Young Thug
I can’t help talking about Young Thug right now, he’s the hottest thing to come out of Atlanta in years. Complex says that, “according to Gucci Mane, he was so struck by Atlanta’s Young Thug that he tracked down and recruited the younger rapper to his 1017 Brick Squad label personally”. In the same article, Complex called him one of 25 new rappers to watch out for in July, 2013. His track Danny Glover spawned a Nicki Minaj remix that included hands-down her best verse since 2010’s Monster.
In fact, Thugger is so huge that he’s claimed to be signed to Freebandz, 1017, and Cash Money. Caveman clarified that Thug is definitely signed to 1017, and that any off-label releases would still make Gucci money. Pitchfork said that what, “Young Thug brings to the table, then, isn’t just a weird, experimental approach to rapping, but presence, persona, mystique, and, potentially, star power.”
They’re right. His public persona is fearless: he’s eschewed the heteronormative dominance in hip-hop culture. His Insta is full of line-blurring (lol) pictures. He wears dresses and paints his nails. He refers to men in social media almost exclusively as “my love.” While none of this would be especially out of place in SAIC’s weird bubble-community, in the currently southern-dominated pop hip-hop scene he turns heads. Each post prompts a new gay rumor, and he’s secure (or gay) enough not to refute them.
In a world where gay rap is only just beginning to emerge even in trendy hipster circles with artists like Khalif ‘Le1f’ Diouf, Cakes Da Killa, and Big Momma, Thugger’s huge pop chart performance is astonishing.
Anyway, on to the music.
The Good Tracks (ie the first half of the mixtape…)
The mixtape opens with Celebrity, setting the tone with a straight-up Gucci mane track produced by Metro Boomin. Even the hook, “I got different nationalities / And they all got similarities / Baby I love your personality”, is super idiotic and the lyrics don’t really get better from here.
The next track is Ordinary Gangsta, which benefits from a Young Scooter verse, though his drawl sounds a bit too much like Gucci’s to add much. The final, rather shortish, verse introduces Rich Homie Quan. The track is held together by a tight-but-uninspired Lex Luger beat that slaps pretty hard.
Dun Deal’s A Nigga, the tape’s third track, is the first real standout. It’s the first track where Quan gets a hook, which is where he really shines, “I ain’t met a nigga yet, fuckin with my pimpin /And I ain’t met a nigga yet who can fuck my bitch.” Quan takes the first verse too, leaving Gucci with only one unimpressive middle verse to stake out, which is exactly the right amount of time for his monotonous voice to come off as an interesting spice rather than as boring and tiresome.
Out Like That gives Rich Homie Quan another hook to shine on. It ends with a decent verse by Island Def Jam up-and-comer Big Bank Black, a self-proclaimed uncommitted rapper. In his artist bio on Island’s web site, he describes his release as a “‘demo tape’ making it clear that while he enjoys flirting with rap, he is happily married to being the boss. ‘I keep it 100,’’ says Black. ‘I’m not an artist, I run the company. When Alley Boy got locked up, I just did a song to have fun and keep the momentum going, but I ended up hitting one from the stands on ‘em.’”
DJ Plugg’s #IJWHSF is another throwaway, with a verse from perennial Gucci collaborator Pewee Longway.
Sleep Walkin’ is definitely the stronger of the two Young Scooter tracks, but only because of Quan’s verse. Gucci’s hook is simply not catchy, though it has an interestingly self-effacing vibe. Again, Scooter sounds too much like Big Guwop himself to add any real sonic variation, and it’s not like he has any wordplay chops to make up for it.
Finally, the first (yet worst) of the three consecutive Young Thug songs. She A Soldier boasts a super clean Lex Luger beat, and the perfect blend of vocal timbres. Gucci even does a good job on the hook, repeating the word “soldier” enough times to make it vaguely catchy. The real highlight of the song is Thugga’s verse, though. His casual, yet unusually high vocal delivery sits really nicely above the bassy instrumentation, and his verse is almost syncopated, sliding around the pocket in a very compelling way.
Chasin’ Paper is my personal favorite track on the tape, likely because it’s the one with the least presence from Gucci himself–with Kanyeesque deftness, he sets up his collaborators perfectly. Plus, it’s all hooks; even Gucci’s verse is varied and interesting. You already know I’m gonna say this, but Young Thug is the star of this track. He weaves melodies together throughout the first verse and the hook, alternating between his odd squaky high voice and a quicker raspy delivery.
Gym, also called Puchanella is a true banger. It opens with Gucci’s best verse on the album, but (surprise!) Young Thug and Zaytoven make the track go. Zay’s beat provides an unstoppable force to drive the song, supporting Thugga’s Migosey triplet flow. Unlike Migos’, though, Young Thug conveys a tremendous emotional urgency through his malleable voice. I’d venture to say that Mr. Thug has the most impressive vocal control since Nicki Minaj’s early standouts.
The rest of the mixtape is pretty much just filler tracks (unless you’re into Migos for some reason) until Club Luv, the album’s closer. Somewhat out of character, Gucci employs autotune over a typically solid Zaytoven beat.