Gucci Mane- El Gato: The Human Glacier Brief Mixtape Review
(By: Thomas Rodriguez)

Gucci Mane creates another decent mixtape to close out his successful 2017 year.

 

In a year filled with all kinds of modern artists’ attempts to use the popular sound of trap music (and sometimes falling flat on their face), it’s refreshing to see one of the genre’s founders, Gucci Mane, continuing to release good music. Having already released two projects this year, Droptopwop (one of my favorite rap projects of the year) and Mr. Davis (one of the most disappointing releases this year), Gucci has been the definition of hot in today’s music scene. It isn’t hard to see why. Despite having been released from prison in 2016, the music industry has flat out ignored Gucci’s past faults, and allowed him to produce countless tracks and mixtapes, a large amount of which are great trap music on all fronts. Whether it’s his silky smooth flow or his swagger, Gucci has found comfort in almost every rap beat he’s been in this year, whether it’s his song or another artist’s, and been proclaimed as one of this year’s biggest successes. El Gato: The Human Glacier, Gucci Mane’s latest mixtape, may be another brief moment in Gucci’s ever expanding discography (he’s already announced his next album, for God’s sake!), but it’s a solid victory lap for another year of successful trapping by Gucci.

One of Gucci Mane’s biggest appeals in both his music and personal life is easily his confidence, which arrives in spades in this project. He knows he’s rich, successful, and knows what his music is all about: grimy, suave brag rap. Several times throughout this project, Gucci’s personality allows us to feel cocky with him, and leads to some clever bars and catchy hooks (especially on songs like “Mall”, where his comparisons of his closet to a mall is equally hilarious and surprisingly infectious). Gucci’s personality and lyrics, however, have a dark side too, as does the production on this album. Whether it be the incredibly dark and nasty “Peepin Out the Blinds”, with it’s violent descriptions of hiding from drug dealer-hunting police, or the minimalist beats and cut-throat vibe of “Rich Ass Junkie”, the album shows a dark side to complement its funnier, lighter side. On both ends of the spectrum, Southside’s production is mostly solid, although after a while the instrumentals begin to blur together like an unfocused picture. It’s not bad, per se, but there isn’t one particularly memorable beat throughout the ten songs on the album. This, in and of itself, can be applied to some of the songs and their performances as well. Sure, Guwop is mostly hilarious and his slippery flows can sometimes make you dizzy, but lord knows that “Sea Sick” and “Dickriders” are some of the most underwhelming and average songs Gucci has ever written. Admittedly, there has never been a Gucci Mane project without its filler songs, but a track like “Strep Throat” got me sick because of how boring of a filler song it was. Even with these flaws, El Gato: The Human Glacier, as the title suggests, is one cold mixtape to play during this cold holiday season.

Score: 6.3/10

Tracks to Save: “Mall”, “Peepin Out the Blinds”, “Rich Ass Junkies”

Tracks to Skip: “Dickriders”, “Sea Sick”, “Strep Throat”

Did you like this mixtape? Any comments or criticism? Comment down below and let me know! I’d love to hear what you think!