I like thug rap. I can’t help it. When I was like 14 I would go around saying most rap was stupid because it wasn’t serious enough. Now I think it is the most serious shit in music, and particularly thug rap more than the smart shit, even though I like a bunch of that too. Thug, for its particular mode of swagger and affect: being what it is and ready to die or explode and get the cash and freakspirit. There is more furtive emotion, spirit, force, and fight in the presence of thug rap even if, or perhaps in the light of, the meat of the lyrics being trivial, childish, base, ridiculous. It might sound cheesy for suburban-lifed guys or girls white or black to get serious inspiration from stuff that’s as foreign to their daily life in physical manifestation as you can get, that being: killing, drugs, prostitutes, shitloads of cash; there is something heaving and overwhelming in a beyond the hour kind of way, actually more intense because of its otherworldliness, and it often seeming more punk as fuck and ready to party with the god of god than any other kind of music. It’s like “fuck America” and “yeah America” at the same time, which seems like life.
Atlanta is a big rap town. There are probably more famous and upcoming rappers here than any other city. Two of the biggest Atlanta faces who have yet to take it really to like a household name level but are still in most every club around the states are Gucci Mane and Young Jeezy. I like them both for different reasons and in different settings or times somewhat. I feel like comparing them head to head, and thinking a little about what I like about small consistencies of style in thug rap.
Lyrics: One reason I like Jeezy is because his lyrics are about as base sounding as you can want. If I’ve learned anything from listening to a lot of thug rap it is ideas about streamlining sounds down to these things you don’t mind hearing over and over, and getting your point across quickly even if your point is totally amorphous. It’s not about clarity as much as presence. Jeezy is a frequent abuser of the rhyme-one-word-with-the-same-word-again style, like: “I commentate the game like John Madden / cuz I played in the game like John Madden.” He talks a shitload about selling drugs, which I guess he actually did, which most rappers seem to do. I always wonder why rap albums can’t be used as law evidence, like dude is saying he sells a fuckload of cocaine, maybe you should go to his house. I know that’s not how it works, but still. It seems like they are toppling novels by throwing that shit out there like they’re talking about actual snowflakes, giving no fuck and therefore giving more of a fuck than giving a fuck is. Gucci talks more about having money and hanging out and having fun and shit; he’s less serious even when he’s talking about the same things Jeezy does. I also feel like Gucci has a sense of humor more, and when he makes me laugh it seems more on purpose than me just laughing because Jeezy is kind of like a big little boy acting serious, if in a good way. Gucci is an insane goofprince. Point: Gucci.
Ad-libs: If you don’t know, ad-libs are the parts in rap where they hype themselves up between lines with little bursts of words like the infamous Lil Jon “Yeaaahhhh.” The guttural. The utterance. Some Artaud style shit. (I recently realized Artaud was the first thug rapper, in the 40s.) Some rappers make a style for themselves based almost more on the ad-libs than the lyrics. Jeezy has a roster of ad-libs that seems like whoever produces the album just can like copy and paste from a set group of shit like, “Ayyy,” “G-yuh,” “Dayummmmm,” “Let’s get it,” etc. Dude says “Ayyy” so much I often find myself waiting for him to say “Beeee, Ceeee.” Gucci’s ad libs are a little bit more random seeming more often, though his most common one is his own name, “Gu-cci,” reminding us we must be constantly pushing ourselves forward to get anywhere, or his notorious “Burrrr,” reminding us to be retarded and iced out as possible. My favorite ad lib of all time might be Gucci’s “Well damn!,” cuz it makes me giggle. Regardless, I’m gonna have to go with Jeezy on this one, as adlibs are so important to him that if he loses here, he’s losing the whole thing automatically. Point: Jeezy
Voice: Jeezy kind of looks tougher than Gucci to me, like if they got in a fight w/o guns Gucci would get ripped. So I like Jeezy’s voice more when I’m in a pissed off mood or like sitting in traffic about to explode because everything is made of dogs. Gucci is much more chill and ridiculous at the same time, kind of less meat and more gristle, and aesthetically I am more a fan of gristle than meat. Gucci sounds better at night driving when there are no other cars or on roads with a lot of stoplights. Point: Gucci.
Beats: Since Jeezy’s been around a little longer, he has a bit more of an arc to deal with in this situation, even though Gucci’s put out maybe more records in a shorter time. Jeezy started off with really minimalist, stripped down beats that rely on bass more and the repetition and threading of the voice than like glitzy club banger shit. I really appreciated that. Really quickly, though, as he started to get attention, Jeezy started throwing in more of the kind of shit I don’t like. I hate when rappers use singers, or too obviously want to follow in the path of Kanye or Lil Wayne and make these big anthemic popcrap rap shit things that will get teenage girls downloading their shit. Gucci has a bit more flair and weird vibes going on in the beat department, with more unusual and flashy sounding beats more often, but still with enough based around the bass and the center that it doesn’t sound like he’s watering out. Jeezy’s bass definitely hits harder on the subs though, jarring up in my guts, while Gucci’s shit is slightly more creative, easier to play in repetition. I value both of those elements equally. Point: tie.
Posse: I can’t think of any cool people Jeezy has guest on his albums. He more kind of stands alone, though when he does have guests they are more flashy. I like that one track he did with Timbaland. Gucci seems more interested in raising up a whole circuit of others around him, particularly Waka Flocka, who has almost in some ways started to elevate even faster than Gucci; I imagine a lot of other people from the Brick Squad set coming along the line. Having guests on rap tracks is often a bad idea because they are more boring, though this makes it doubly impressive when you have effective ones, which is why Three Six and Wu Tang end up being so legendary. But Gucci seems able to pull off both, and raising more than just yourself instead of kissing off on famous things when you do raise others up seems quite commendable. Point: Gucci.
Drug references: I feel like Jeezy sells a lot more drugs while Gucci uses a lot more drugs. Selling drugs seems cooler to me. Point: Jeezy
Sex references: Jeezy doesn’t talk sexy as much. The one sex related song that comes to mind is where the hook is something like “Imma tear that pussy up.” It always makes me feel weird when I listen to it. Gucci just likes to talk about having a lot of options in his sex life, and even though I don’t really give a fuck about thinking about rappers having sex, there are lots of ways to deal with the lyrics in ways that pertain to motivation and hell raising and being headstrong and freakish. Point: Gucci
Swagger: Both of these guys would shit the moon out of the sky with their second butter finger if they weren’t busy throwing down on golden earth. Point: tie.
Memories: A lot of people listen to music because it ties tight to moments in their life and helps them remember things a certain way. I have a lot of albums I can’t listen to because they make me feel too messed up, or connect to things I don’t want to connect to anymore. Some records I’ve heard so much I can hear them in my head without hearing them. I’ve gotten pretty tired of receiving this feeling from music; I prefer the void, or a kind of movement that doesn’t anticipate or intentionally milk my emotions. My favorite memory while listening to Jeezy is when I used to play poker a lot one night I was at this house game with a bunch of thug dudes I didn’t know in this really sketchy guy’s basement who we later realized was rigging the deck. Anyway, there was a little boombox by the table and he was playing albums and at some point he put on Thug Motivation 101. Throughout the entire record, every dude at the table, including me, the only white guy, were going right along with every word, so much so that it slowed the game down but no one really cared. Some of those dudes were slamming their hearts with their fists at certain lyrics, even ones that aren’t that direct. I remember this one guy singing the chorus to “Standing Ovation” drawn out longer than it was on the record, all emotional and heartfelt, at a fucking poker table, in front of eight dudes trying to take his money. All I can really remember ever doing to Gucci is either waiting in traffic to get home or getting fucked up on gin in a bar. Point: Jeezy.
Overall albums: Gucci’s mixtapes have more tracks I prefer to listen to over and over singularly, but he’s yet to really put together one album overall that just from beginning to end cuts your hair. Jeezy seems to be getting older faster, but you can put on his first album and it is an experience. If we’re talking singles, Gucci’s gonna take it, but albums have more staying power than single pieces if you ask me. Jeezy is definitely working harder on each album, even if they aren’t perfect throughout, to have a vision, an orb of air, instead of just being party freak. Point: Jeezy.
Crunk quotient: I feel happy when I listen to Gucci. I think I dance in my seat some even when I’m just sitting there. I feel more chill and easy, like I don’t have to think about problems or bullshit or getting on and can just be there in the seat with the bass aping, which is one of the main reasons I like thug rap. Jeezy is still fun a lot of the time too but he comes out so serious sometimes that I get emotional or angry in the bass than I do having fun, if still in an empty way. Both of these things have value, but ultimately I like feeling good. Point: Gucci.
Transcendence: I think for all the swagger and freakspit, there are also some beautiful lines that come out of these songs, even if you have to bend them the other way to make them fit. I still get chills when Jeezy goes, “Talkin’ so much white it’ll hurt your eyes” with the bass all dropped out behind him. He’s talking about drugs; I’m thinking about something else. At the same time, just about everything Gucci says can be fit into another kind of role, if you rub it the right way, getting retarded on the mic and spitting at whoever would say different. But if I had to pick one to put up for a movement to overthrow the game, it would be General Jeezy; Gucci could throw the afterparty. Point: Jeezy.
Winner: Man, I love both of these dudes for different reasons, and really they are so different, and time ahead will tell, but if I had to choose one to listen to from now on only, even if I’ve listened to the other a whole lot more so far, even though they are tied in points, I think I’d have to go with my boy Mr. Zone 6.
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