Don’t worry, we were exaggerating, it’s just two today.
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[4.86]
Micha Cavaseno: I’m not going to waste time; Gunplay, like fellow Def Jam affiliates Rick Ross and 2Chainz is indicative of a terrible plight amongst aging former ghostwriters who become huge based on becoming a novelty meets rappity rap twist on pre-existing trends (for Gunplay, the lane he strives for screams FLOOOOOCKAAAAAAAAAA in the nightmares of the hollow). Now, that isn’t to say Gunplay hasn’t written good to great songs, au contraire. The issue is that he’s a parasite. He needs a host’s world to thrive, and while he did great with Flockanese, it’s 2015 and his routines have become tired, he’s phoning in all his verses, and it’s become a drag to see him badly remake YG’s SUPERIOR “BPT” with Mustard & YG’s help where both the innovators outshine him so effortlessly. But YG has been a star since he was 19. Gunplay is like, my dad’s age, and still can’t convince the rap game to take him seriously. Why should you?
[2]
Iain Mew: If DJ Mustard has to go back to go forward, so be it; I am all for the alien Amiga whine of the sample here. The hook is both an appropriate response to it and a nice way to exaggerate the stop-start bits of the beat, and together they’re enough to sustain through three uninspiring verses.
[6]
Alfred Soto: The abrupt stops and drill press bass conspire to make to this Mustard’s best banger in months, and Gunplay has the grim authority of a summer camp counselor. I can’t tell if he minds that “When I come home she smell like dick.”
[5]
Thomas Inskeep: Hard like early ’90s Mack 10, and a surprise to me that Mustard helmed it, because this is not his usual trap style. Gunplay rules this beat and makes “Wuzhanindoe” sound like semi-classic gangsta rap.
[6]
Brad Shoup: The nice thing about G-funk was that it went hard so you didn’t have to. Gunplay hits his stride in the second verse, but it’s the whine and chime that do the real work.
[6]
Edward Okulicz: Mustard’s spreading himself a bit thin with ideas, having used this track’s best one already, with YG no less. Unfortunately, speeding it up makes it lose most of its klaxon-esque charm. The track does at least have a second idea — the beat flatters the more emphatic parts of Gunplay’s verses by popping in and out forcefully. And the whooping is definitely a decent hook. YG’s verse is dead air, though.
[4]
Ramzi Awn: New school synths with “old school” swag. Don’t worry dog, I ain’t gonna fuck wit you.
[5]