by
Gucci Mane
- Record Label: Warner Bros.
- Release Date: Sep 28, 2010
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But for at least 10 tracks, Gucci is able to sustain a hell of a run, forming perhaps commercial rap's best dispatch this year. There have been, and probably will be, better rap albums this year. But none will be more fun.
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Dec 22, 2010Considering Gucci re-energized gangster rap with a new style and methodology for rap performance just as a restless media elite had begun writing the subgenre's obituaries, The Appeal definitely feels like a missed opportunity.
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This one is for those who would still love The State vs. Radric Davis even if the breakthrough hits "Lemonade" and "Wasted" weren't included.
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Gucci shifts focus on songs like "Making Love to the Money" and "Dollar Sign"; the songs don't express his love for the illegal lifestyle but rather recount the financial benefits of taking that path. In usual hip-hop fashion, "The Appeal" also offers something for the ladies ("Remember When," featuring Ray J) and the club-goers (the Swizz Beatz-produced "Gucci Time").
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Besides the distortion-laced "Gucci Time," the biggest change-ups here are drab gangsta ballads: "Haterade" features Pharrell at his most insufferably croon-y, and "O'Dog" makes you actually wish guest singer Wyclef would stick to politics.
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At his best, he sounds like he's sweating it out in a kitchen with flypaper dangling from the ceiling. But on The Appeal, he could be anywhere.
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Dec 14, 2010In some ways The Appeal could feel similar to Eminem's Encore, another album whose deal-breaking antics in the middle section rendered it unlistenable.