A Review of Gunna's "Drip or Drown 2"
Atlanta rapper Gunna looks to build off his reputation as one of the hottest features in Hip-Hop with the release of his new project titled “Drip or Drown 2.” Gunna, known for his effortless flow has seen his career take off since his joint project with Lil Baby titled, “Drip harder,” which dropped in October of 2018. Since then, he has appeared on notable songs like, “Ain’t Livin Right” by Future & Juice WRLD, “Space Cadet” by Metro Boomin and “can’t leave without it” by 21 Savage. Gunna has since put out two singles titled “One Call” and “Speed It Up” for the rollout to the release to this album. This gives us a perfect lead-in to look at the tracklist! Gunna feeds us, sixteen tracks for a total of 48 minutes of music. Lil Baby, Young Thug, and Playboi Carti appear as features throughout three of the sixteen songs on the project. This project looks to be Gunna trying to show more of his talents, which is something that is exciting. Without further ado, let’s get to the review!
Categories
The songs on this album divided into three lanes that are prevalent throughout the project
Calm Melodies
“Wit It”(1), “Yao Ming” (1), “Who You Foolin” (1)
These songs are focused primarily on the melody. The beats play more of a background role allowing Gunna’s melodies to shine.
Calm Turn Up
“Outstanding” (1), “One Call” (1), “Speed It Up” (1), “Big Shot” (1.5), “On A Mountain” (1.5), “Same Yung Nigga” ft. Playboi Carti (1.5)
The beats and flow by Gunna work more in unison to create a more upbeat feel.
Melodic Rap
“Cash War” (1), “Richard Millie Plain” (1), “Idk Why” (1), “Derrick Fisher” ft. Lil Baby (1), ”Baby Birkin” (1), “3 Headed Snake” ft. Young Thug (1.5), “Out The Hood” (1.5)
On these songs, Gunna still uses his melodic ability but not exclusively, as he can be heard rapping.
Must Listen Songs
The concept of Must Listen songs are the songs that would give the best overview of the album as a whole. Songs that stand out for reasons to be described in the pending descriptions of the songs.
“Wit It”
On the intro track to this project, we get a standard bass heavy Wheezy beat with a fast tempo on the high hats and the sound of a radar on a submarine, in the background giving the listener the feeling of being in the ocean. Gunna shows off his melodic abilities as he flows effortlessly on the beat giving a calm vibe with his flow on his verses and harmonizing in the flow of his verses.
“3 Headed Snake” ft. Young Thug
The eleventh track on this project and the best song on the album, has Young Thug coming correct on this Wheezy beat as Thug tells us “me, Gunna and Wheezy, that’s a three-headed snake. The beat is a high hat driven one with an emphasis on the bass and a faint flute in the background. However, the story of this song is the chemistry between Gunna and Young Thug. Besides the first two short verses from Gunna and Young Thug respectively, the song doesn’t really have a distinct part for either artist. They trade their melodies on the hook and on the last two verses creating an infectious song that keeps the listener guessing.
“Same Yung Nigga” ft. Playboi Carti
Wheezy and Gunna collab on the beat for the penultimate song on this sixteen song project. The beat has a video game theme sounding string instrument in the background as the bass, high hats and occasional horn shine in the forefront of the beat. At the beginning of both verses on this song the listener can hear, each producer's tag which adds a nice touch to the beat. Gunna once again flows effortlessly on this beat through his verse and hook. The transition from the Gunna hook to the Playboi Carti verse is seamless as we get a quality verse from Carti
Final Review
This project started off slow but started to pick up midway through. This being said, obviously, the better songs are found on the second half of the project as Gunna finishes the project strong. Gunna did a good job of demonstrating the versatility that has made him one of the most sought after features in Hip-Hop. However, Gunna didn’t show anything groundbreakingly new that we didn’t think he could do already. Gunna also did a great job of using features throughout the project. Some of the best songs were the ones with features on it, giving the listener a different taste to the project. Overall, this is a great project from Gunna, however, I’m interested in what he will do differently on his next project.
Scoring
Raw Score: The number of good songs on a project versus the overall amount. Songs must have a +1 or above to be counted.
Quality Score: The total amount of points accumulated over the total amount of songs.
Playback value: The resonance an album is perceived to have if played again in full. Scale out of 5.
Raw Score: 16/16
Quality Score: 18.5/16
Playback Value: 3.5/5
Go out and listen to Gunna’s “Drip or Drown 2” wherever you listen to your music. Also, don’t forget to check out OLDMLK’s Instagram page (@OLDMLK) and Twitter (@OLDMLKDOTCOM) for updates on OLDMLK.COM: The Most Essential Hip Hop Blog, The OLDMLK.Com Playlist, The OLDMLK Radar and more!
