After five years of mixtapes from behind bars, Gucci Mane should have returned from jail to rule a world that has fallen hard for his signature sound. Sadly, this hastily cut album lacks the ambition to challenge reigning trap kings like fellow Atlantan Future or mini-me Desiigner. The eerie emotional electricity and forensic detail of the single 1st Day Out Tha Feds dissipates across 14 songs that desperately lack variety and humour, and choruses that aren’t just Gucci grimly repeating the song’s title. “I only feature Kanye cos we both some fuckin’ narcissists,” boasts Mane, forgetting that West’s solipsism is balanced by a furious desire to interrogate himself and the world around. A charmless collection, exemplified by the sour-faced rags-to-bitches encomium Richest N**** in the Room.
