Asian Doll – “So Icy Princess” review

Asian Doll is a 20 year old rapper from Dallas, Texas who first came onto the scene in 2015 with her Rise of the Barbie Doll Gang mixtape. She has released 5 more mixtapes since then & just over the summer, she landed a contract with the legendary Gucci Mane’s Interscope Records imprint 1017 Global with this 7th mixtape of hers being her 1st outing with Wizzop’s camp.

The title track that kicks the tape off gets boastful over a video gamely instrumental & the next song “First Off” gets confrontational over a gritty trap beat. The track “1017″ with Gucci & Yung Mal sees the 3 talking about wanting to “stun ‘em” over a downtempo instrumental while the song “Southside” is filled with gritty street bars over a suiting instrumental from the 808 Mafia co-founder with the same name.

The track “Traumatized” talks about murder & the beat is just ok, but her voiced is SLATHERED in auto-tune to the point where it becomes annoying. The song “Talk” is even worse, because it sounds like “Myself” by ΠΔV for God knows what reason. The track “Kit Kat” talks about how she’s above her competition, but it doesn’t sound fully fleshed out to me. The song “Rock Out” is a raunchy sex tune over an instrumental that you can hear on any new E-40 album while the track “Hardest Doll” talks about her new lifestyle since signing to Wop over a Southside instrumental with some icy synths & heavy-bass.

The song “Rich Guy” talks about needing the titular type of man over a thunderous trap beat with some sirens while the track “Facts” with Dreezy sees the 2 claiming they both speak the truth over a trap beat with some synthesizers that provide a bit of a futuristic vibe. The song “Running Man” with Smooky MarGielaa is about how money made them both new enemies over a sinister beat while the track “NASCAR” is another brag about the rich life over a bouncy instrumental.

The song “No Cap” is mostly nondescript, but the dude who’s featured on it named Go Yayo sounds EXACTLY like Young Thug. If Asian Doll wanted the REAL Thugger on this tape, I feel like she easily could’ve went up to Gucci & said “Hey let’s see if Young Thug can do a feature for this project”. The penultimate track “Check” energetically returns to the flexing tip over a trap beat with a decent keyboard lead then the closer “Headspin” while both Asian Doll & YBN Nahmir compliment each other pretty well, it sounds unfinished.

I was pretty intrigued from the moment I heard that Asian Doll signed to 1017 Global, but this was pretty mediocre. She definitely sounds a lot better than she did on her previous tapes, but some of the production & most of the features kinda weigh it down. I really think Asian Doll has the most potential out of everyone on the current 1017 Global roster, but this barely makes a dent through the wall unfortunately.

Score: 2.5/5

Gucci Mane – “El Gato: The Human Glacier” review

With Christmas approaching 3 days from now, iconic trap rapper Gucci Mane is giving fans his 12th full-length album & he has enlisted 808 Mafia co-founder Southside. The album starts off with “Rich Ass Junkie”, where Gucci is talking about serving rich drug addicts over an gloomy trap beat. The next track ”Peepin’ Out the Blinds” talks about firing his gun at people over a sinister yet abrasive instrumental while the song “Dickriders” takes a jab at just those & the bass on here is thumping! The song “Mall” talks about people who wanna “buy his style” over an ominous beat & then the track “Side EFX” talks about people who turn evil over some organs along with some rattling hi-hats.

The song “T.Y.T. (Thick, Young, Tender)” talks about this how hot this woman, but the beat is a bit synthetic. The track “Sea Sick” is a fun party tune the whistling on here was a nice change of pace while the song “Smiling in the Drought” gets confrontational over a menacing beat. The song “El Gato’s Revenge” flaunts on the lifestyle of a drug dealer over an eerie instrumental while the penultimate track “Step Throat” gets braggadocious over an explosive instrumental. The album then closes with “Southside & Gucci” and while it’s only 1 minute long, the short verse Gucci delivers over this thunderous trap beat with a nice guitar sample. This is honestly just as great as Gucci’s 58th mixtape Droptopwop, which he did with Metro Boomin’ in Late May of this year. It’s been long overdue that we got Southside producing an album for GuWop, but their strong chemistry on here makes it worth it

Score: 3.5/5

Gucci Mane – “Droptopwop” review

To celebrate a whole year of being a free man, Gucci Mane is delivering his 58th mixtape & he has enlisted Metro Boomin’ to produce it in it’s entirety. The tape’s opening track “5,000,000” sees Gucci bragging about how much he makes in a day & the bass on here is just THUNDEROUS! The next track “Tho” sees Gucci freestyling over some Atari-esque loop with some trap snares & it’s actually not too bad. The next song “Hurt a Nigga Feelings” brags about the shit he has over some sinister synths & hand claps, but he does it so charismatically. Especially during the hook. The song “Helpless” is a sex tune, but I don’t like how the bass sounds so loud that you can barely hear the synths. The track “Met Gala” has some really nice bells throughout, but it feels more like an Offset song given the fact that he dominates the track up until Gucci’s verse pops up during the last minute & a half. The song “Finesse the Plug” talks about how life’s a gamble & the main loop on here sounds really creepy, but the delivery was just meh. The song “Dance with the Devil” has some twinkling high-pitched keys throughout & I actually like how he’s talks about a man getting arrested & a woman trying to act gangsta on here. The song “Both Eyes Closed” has a decent beat & Gucci’s verse isn’t bad at all, but the 2 redundant guest verses from 2 Chainz & Young Dolph flat out ruin it for me. The penultimate track “Bucket List” talking about him getting & doing things he never thought he would over a murky trap beat, but the “she may get this dick like 1%” line at the beginning of the 1st verse was just corny to me. The tape closes out with “Loss 4 Wrdz”, where Gucci & Rick Ross talk about getting fucked up on drugs, but Ross actually goes in harder than Gucci did on here. While some still knock of Gucci Mane, he certainly is more tolerable than all of these mumble rappers nowadays. Plus, he has gotten better since his release from prison (both as an artist & as a person) & this tape is no exception at all. Metro Boomin’s production is just as dark & hard-hitting as ever & given that Gucci has sounded great over Metro’s beats before, for him to finally rap over them for the duration of a full project was bound to happen soon & I’m glad that he finally gave it to the fans to commemorate being a free man for 365 days
Score: 3.5/5