Gucci Mane - The "Trap House" Album Series

[StevePulaski]

Trap House (2005)
By: Gucci Mane

Rating: ★★★

Whether you are talking about hardcore gangsta rap, methodical g-funk, trap music, or drill, the name of the rap game and its many subgenres is and always will be authenticity and credibility. People expect rappers, mainstream or underground, to be rapping about their struggles as individuals and their experiences as people. This is precisely why exaggerated criminal records, ghost writers, and humble beginning stories are so vital to the genre; consumers love hearing people rap about their struggles and, for rap in particular, beat a crooked, racist system to make something of themselves.

Gucci Mane, one of rap's most decorated (and incarcerated) figures, proved his authenticity just weeks before his debut album Trap House was released in stores. To begin with, there was the longheld beef between Gucci and rapper Young Jeezy about Gucci's refusal to let Jeezy use their collaborative song "Icy" on Jeezy's album, resulting in alleged attempts on Gucci's life by Jeezy's posse, and, following that, Gucci's incarceration on murder charges and present day incarceration for possession of firearm by a convicted felon (with a release date set for early 2017). Gucci is authentic in his experiences and his actions, right down to the title of his debut album, reflecting hefty dope deals and involvement in the drug game in order to make himself a rich and respected man who demanded authority.

Gucci asserts himself on Trap House right from the titular track, which kicks off the album following the intro. It's a quickly paced song that any trap music fan should feel obligated to hear. Dating all the way back to 2005, this was the original breed of trap music that kickstarted all the glamorized sloganeering of "whipping," "cooking with pots," and getting rich off of dope deals. All of this glamorization comes through in "Trap House" and bleeds into the next track "That's All," two terrific, anthemic tracks that have Gucci proving he's not just another dope dealer with access to a microphone.

However, Gucci is a witty guy and Trap House is loaded with zingers and goofy one-liners that provide him with the kind of charisma that would later be branded his trademark. At one point on the album, Gucci claims he, himself, is the best thing since cooked up crack, and, on "Trap House," rides the beat with a perfectly executed metaphor - "Money longer than Shaq's feet, running dope like a sprinter at a track meet." Furthermore, while trap is usually bent on repetition in production and lyricism, Gucci seems to have a sixth sense when a certain line or phrase becomes too repetitive for its own good. That means it's time to switch up and change flows or ideas, which Gucci always does in the nick of time.

Other songs like "Icy," the most Billboard friendly track on this album, works largely in part because of Young Jeezy's autotune-soaked chorus, very reminiscent of the kind of features T-Pain became famous for from 2006 to 2009. Though the topics remain largely the same, Gucci handles subject matters quite well, especially on track like "Lawnmower Man" ("I'm the lawnmower man and you're ass is grass") and "Go Head," both your average club bangers that know what they have to do to satisfy and do so very well.

Trap House is a winning debut for a rapper who really kicked off a genre that would later be dominated by a younger breed of artists in Chicago and New York. Gucci is sure to take note of his progress in such a short time on "That's My Hood," a song dedicated to talking about where he was at at different points in his life, from dropping out of school to making well over $100,000 in dope dealing. Who would've thought it all started from a trap house?

Recommended tracks (in order): "Trap House," "Icy," "That's All," "That's My Hood," "Two Thangs," and "Go Head."

[StevePulaski]

Back to the Traphouse (2007)
By: Gucci Mane

Rating: ★★½

Gucci Mane came on the rap scene in 2005 like a vicious hurricane, boasting unmatched authenticity in his lyrics that dealt with drug-dealing, robbery, and murder, in addition to ushering in the new concept of "trap rap," basically drug-dealers-turned-rappers rapping about their personal experiences. With his debut album Trap House solidifying him as a major artist, despite being an independent artist with underground lyrics and concepts, Gucci had no choice but to keep delivering what fans were crying for, resulting in a barrage of mixtapes, albums, singles, and the occasional legal ramification or two.

Back to the Traphouse, Gucci's fourth studio album and direct sequel to his debut album, hits hard because Gucci is doing more than his debut album suggested he could. His debut showed us his true abilities to rap about his life in a way that was accessible, infectious, and wholly original, and one of his strengths was being just repetitive enough to be catchy but not contemptible. This particular work, however, shows him as an R&B crooner, a gangsta rapper, a trap rapper, and a sampler of his own work, and the result, while an inconsistent hodgepodge, claims a great deal more style and substance than many mainstream artists working today.

Songs like "I Know Why," placing Gucci alongside Pimp C, Rich Boy, and Blaze-1, are dream collaborations between extremely talented men, rapping zealously for four minutes, all of whom doing a unanimously strong job. Others like "G-Love," with LeToya Luckett, show off a more crooning, lovable side to Gucci's trapper chemistry, and "Drink it Straight," with Trey Songz as the men give love to cherished spirits like Grand Marnier, Paul Masson, Absolut Vodka, and Hennessy, further detail Gucci's talents as an R&B singer rather than just your run-of-the-mill, vulgar rapper.

Most fans of Gucci's original work will look at these tracks with indifference and go straight for "Bird Flu" (or, as "burrr fluuu" as Gucci pronounces it) or "What I'm Talking Bout" to hear his hardened and catchier edge. For me, the latter songs are the most impressive because they're Gucci exploiting his talents, though that doesn't single out his more experimental tracks as something to dismiss. Few trap rappers are willing to go out of their element and few are willing to carry the same kind of chemistry over to other genres and that's precisely what Gucci does here.

To me, the more perplexing elements of Back to the Traphouse are Gucci's songs like "Stash House," which is more-or-less a carbon-copy, albeit just a tad slower in pace, of his fantastic song "Trap House," which appeared on his debut album, and "I Move Chickens" feels like nothing more than a chopped and screwed version of "Bird Flu." These, combined with the presence of R&B guest stars, make the album more uneven than it probably should've been, but the end result is still a successful and compelling rap album from a thoroughly talented artist.

Recommended tracks (in order): "I Know Why," "Bird Flu," "That's What I'm Talkin' Bout," and "G-Love."

[StevePulaski]

Trap House III (2013)
By: Gucci Mane

Rating: ★★★

Eight years after Trap House stormed on the scene, unknowingly birthing a grim, brutally honest new subgenre of hip-hop and Back to the Traphouse followed it with a more melodic, almost R&B approach, Gucci Mane gives us Trap House III, his riskiest and most experimental installment yet. The album, which trails Back to the Traphouse by six years, opens with its titular track, a slower, more low-key trap ballad that would be considered a crooner if it didn't feature such bleak lyricism. Gucci, assisted by the likes of Rick Ross and the tremendous production work of dirty southerners Southside and 808 Mafia, bleeds on the track in a way that isn't so much revealing as it is clearly different and a test of something new. He fed us with production-dependent, catchy bangers on the previous two releases, and now, he's testing our appetites by giving us different flavors for the main course.

"Trap House 3" is followed by "Mama" and "Nuthin on Ya," the former featuring SickPen's slightly jazzy, painful wails on the chorus and the former making good use of the talents of stoner-rapper Wiz Khalifa. Both of these tracks further Gucci's alternative, experiment-driven intentions for Trap House III, offering painful glimpses and uncommon sounds into his music. Even those who despise Gucci's music for its occasional repetitiveness and droning sound need to see how he handles these deeper songs that bring an emotional core to the forefront.

For those who come to Trap House III bracing themselves for a blizzard of infectious hooks, catchy 808s, loud synths, and omnipresent bleakness that serves as the basis for unbridled fun and enjoyment, Trap House III works to deliver such attributes after the first fourth of its tracks. "Hell Yes" is a downright catchy tune, where Gucci utilizes the production work of Honorable C.N.O.T.E. to create a song that can be equal parts meaningful as it is good fun for the listener, "D.I.G. Dipped in Gold" is a more romantic song that has Gucci taking a break from his dangerous lifestyle of multiple deals and multiple women to slow down and find more romanticism in a monogamous relationship, and "I Heard" works largely because of Gucci's hard-hitting lyrics, delivered with the punch he's known for, and because him and guest-star Rich Homie Quan have enough natural chemistry together to warrant a mixtape. Though the two later team up on "Chasen Paper," also featuring Young Thug, their big winner here is "Can't Trust Her," which creates the perfect blend of pain and party to the point where you question whether to dance or contemplate along with the song.

Maybe it's when Gucci decides to partner up with Quan for a few songs, maybe it's when Chief Keef's slurriness comes into play on the muddled but good-enough "Darker," or maybe it's when Gucci informs us how he likes his lean on "Muddy" when Trap House III becomes less experimental and more about catering to the fans. Regardless of when this happens, there's little to loathe on this installment, largely because it, as a whole, builds off of the kind of Gucci we saw on Trap House and knew could go from here in a prideful and unabashedly original manner. Trap House III is a terrific album, if you're willing to take it as an amalgamation of experimental and conventional, formerly dichotomous ideas in the realm of trap music.

Recommended tracks (in order): "Can't Trust Her," "Trap House 3," "Hell Yes," "D.I.P. Dipped in Gold," "I Heard," and "Muddy."