While his birth certificate may read Sergio Kitchens, the Young Stoner Life label member has cooked up a much bigger name for himself under his pseudonym, Gunna. That was a pretty lame one, allow me to start over.
The muttering mastermind behind the unanimous Verse of the Month thus far is a College Park native who was formally introduced to his mentor (and, for all intents and purposes, father) Young Thug through the late Keith Troup, a significant figure in the community who was shot dead in the same town of College Park in December 2015. You may recognize this name due to the dedication Jeffery sent his way following his passing.
To sum it up for you in the simplest way possible, Gunna has been around for a couple of years at this point. He has appeared sporadically on numerous Young Thug songs, as well as collaborated with Gucci Mane, Playboi Carti, Lil’ Uzi and a handful of others.
He hopped on to the scene two years ago following his debut tape, “Drip Season,” though his highly warranted breakout party has been going on throughout 2018 in a tour de force of sorts.
Thanks to his latest tape and installment in the series, “Drip Season 3,” the 25-year-old rapper is in for something special, as are his fans. On top of his solo project, you can find him up and down the label’s latest compilation project, “Slime Language,” hosted by Young Thug and consisting of four Gunna verses, none of which seem to disappoint (listen to “Scoliosis”).
Below, I’ve listed a handful of songs that will help further ensure your craving for more nasally rhythms over smooth trap production.
1. Don’t Play With It (featuring Young Thug)
Off Of: “Drip Or Drown”
Premier Bar: “Call some slimes, get you whacked / It’s gonna cost a cool rack / Pillow talkin’ in the Maybach”
As biased as it sounds, any Gunna track accompanied by a Young Thug feature is bound to turn out at least relatively special. The standout track off of his 2017 EP is groovy, off-kilter and everything else that makes anything coming out of YSL so appealing to the eardrum.
2. Sold Out Dates (featuring Lil Baby)
Off Of: “Single”
Premier Bar: “My jacket Off-White, don’t mean that it’s beige / I clean up real nice, I don’t got a maid”
Although I absolutely despise Off-White and nearly every article of clothing that they’ve curated over the course of however f—ing long it’s been, that right there is a hell of a bar, ladies and gentlemen.
This is the song that Travis Scott’s “Yosemite,” blatantly interpolated, and with a flow as smooth as this, it makes perfect sense as to why it was recycled. That 808-flooded guitar sample is grimy and polished all at once.
3. Pedestrian
Off Of: “Drip Season 3”
Premier Bar: “B—es in my phone, she say I miss you / How you get this line? last time I saw you was in high school”
You know it’s rough when you took a pill yesterday and you’re still high … which just so happens to be Gunna’s situation over here on this Metro Boomin curated track.
Well, that, as well as doing his best to conduct a ménage à trois (“Can we have a threesome with your best friend?”) and spending absolutely ridiculous amounts of money on fragrance (“This the smell cost me fifteen hundred on cologne”).
4. Spending Addiction
Off Of: “Drip Season 3”
Premier Bar: “Good head on her shoulders like she still in school / Pour fours in my soda, I won’t catch a flu”
This is merely another example of how contagious his flow is: That bouncy flow, paired up with the raspiness of his voice and rapping about spending lots of money all manage to collide and live somewhere in Gunna’s head.
From popping painkillers in the A.M. (“I took a perc, I been itchin’ since noon”) to trying to show off as well as he can (“Chrome Hearts on my face just to make me look cool”), he is flexing to the max with an extreme lack of effort, which is easily the most impressive bit of this cut.
5. YSL (featuring Playboi Carti)
Off Of: “Drip Season 2”
Premier Bar: “Fuckin’ on your thot, your b—- she wild as hell / I spend a check up on my watch, the frame is white as hell”
While Gunna’s verse on this cut is pretty lackluster, it’s his A-Town counterpart who manages to make the cut off of “Drip Season 2” worthwhile. As much as he manages to repeat himself throughout his verse and the hook, this is what I’ve grown to consider a good Carti verse over the years; as long as he’s not saying something really, unfairly stupid. And, luckily enough, this one is catchy as hell!
6. Invest
Off of: “Drip Or Drown”
Premier Bar: “Maggiano’s on a nigga’s s—, I’m rich nigga”
It’s all in the way he opens this song up that makes this song so special. Maggiano’s is some pretty exceptional Italian cuisine for a chain of restaurants, and I used to go there pretty often as a kid. So, in a very narrowed-down fashion, this song managed to resonate with me.
On top of that, his flow throughout this track is infectious. Besides ordering shrimp and grits (“Maggiano’s, order shrimp and grits”) Gunna has also managed to comfortably settle into his new condo (“My new condominium is dressed!”) and that is a prime sign of living content.
