Gucci Mane: The State Vs. Radric Davis

Gucci Mane isn’t exactly an albums guy. In the past year, he’s issued at least four Internet mixtapes—it can be hard to keep track—stoking his cult the way Lil Wayne did during the three years between The Carter II and III, and building a head of steam for The State Vs. Radric Davis. Gucci’s skipping-in-place rapping style, not to mention the tinny keyboards and booming drum machines he rhymes over, are a little one-note, but he can be a sharp wordsmith, as on “Heavy”: “On a 90-day tour so my neighbors really miss me / I couldn’t kick it with ’em so I took my whole hood with me / And I just got out of jail, yeah, they tried to Michael Vick me / I gave my lawyer half a mil and told him, ‘Come and get me.’” Still, he’s clearly made The State to a template, and it suffers as a result, particularly when he blatantly courts radio on the unimaginative, lifeless likes of “Sex In Crazy Places” (which is as desperate to sound risqué, without actually pulling it off, as its title; Bobby V’s whiny chorus is a particular annoyance) and the Usher-assisted “Spotlight,” which boils down every big crooner-rapper team-up hit of the ’00s to a mealy paste. Remember: the mixtapes are free.