Final yr, Atlanta rapper Sergio “Gunna” Kitchens was using excessive on the discharge of his celebratory eighth mission, DS4EVER. However within the yr and a half since that LP’s January 2022 launch, Gunna and YSL label head Younger Thug have had their lives and careers upended by RICO expenses which have left them and several other different YSL artists incarcerated in Georgia. Whereas he was locked up, Gunna additionally skilled the dying of YSL rapper Lil Keed. Following his launch in December 2022, a video of Gunna accepting a plea deal for one depend of violating the RICO act was leaked, main a lot of his former rap colleagues to accuse him of snitching, even supposing he by no means testified in opposition to YSL. Amid all of this, A Reward and a Curse is the painful reflection of this tragic interval, but it surely’s additionally a hanging testomony to his resilience. Gunna reminds us he’s nonetheless Him, regardless of every part he’s dealing with.
The general tone of A Reward & A Curse is a radical shift in contrast with the relentlessly upbeat DS4EVER: The get together is over and he’s sitting in an empty home on their lonesome. There aren’t any options this time round, and the solo strategy offers him room to bear the soul like by no means earlier than, starting with the sinister “Again at It.” Gunna has no drawback sharing the damage of his YSL friends, particularly Younger Thug, whereas additionally expressing his personal wrestle: “Ain’t tryna sleep in no rattling bunk/I’m ‘posed to be right here making anthems,” he raps.
The majority of A Reward & A Curse finds Gunna clearing his title of “snitching” allegations and proving his YSL loyalty. You may really feel his coronary heart breaking on “Paybach” when he raps, “Nigga ain’t gon’ contact me and that’s interval (Interval)/Solely particular person I worry on this world is God (World is God)/Please don’t search for me, I’m going far/I made just a few errors, however I’m nonetheless a star/I hate the federal government, tryna tear us aside/However I’m-a hold it goin’, that’s what’s in my coronary heart.” On the only “Bread and Butter,” he raps, “By no means fucked a nigga, all the time stayed stable/Stored it actual with niggas, by no means lied and all the time keep trustworthy.” Musically, it isn’t the strongest monitor, but it surely’s an nearly legalistically exact protection of his actions.
Musically, Gunna is ready to remind us of the actual motive why we recognize him within the first place: the way in which his velvety-smooth, mellowed-out strategy to rapping in regards to the finer issues in life works in tandem with a glitzy, thrilling sound that’s all his personal. He is aware of how one can make the drip really feel prefer it’s in you quite than on you. The five-track victory lap between “Ca$h $hit” and “P Angels” is by far the most effective sequencing of songs on a hip-hop file this yr, particularly the transition from the Dunk Rock-produced “fukumean” to the exhilarating “Rodeo Dr,” during which Gunna makes a wild night time on Rodeo Drive really feel like a deep-space journey on the Millenium Falcon.
Every of the producers on the LP — Turbo, Flo, Dunk Rock, Royal 88 amongst them – brings one thing to the desk. Turbo provides cinematic scope to “Backside,” layering twinkling pianos on high of the speedy snares. Cubeatz comes up with the proper introspective accompaniment to the somber but hopeful nearer, “Alright,” as Gunna observes, “This cash and this fame introduced me ache, however I do know we’ll be alright.” A Reward and a Curse manages to develop on the high-end sound Gunna is thought for, a vibe that has set him other than Younger Thug’s grittier, spacier music.
When Gunna raps about “unhealthy bitches passin’ me robes,” he makes you are feeling as in case you’re sporting the identical factor he’s acquired on even in case you’re in Crocs, sweatpants, and a unclean T-shirt. We don’t take heed to Gunna to stay out gangsta narratives. We take heed to him as a result of he offers us the main-character vitality we want. And the truth that he’s nonetheless in a position to do that after almost all his rap friends have turned on him is solely unbelievable.
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