The “DS4EVER” Album Review

Posted on January 14, 2022

From his opening record in the original Drip Season “Outta Sight Outta Mind”, all the way to the concluding track of the final installment in Drip Season 4 (DS4EVER) with “so far ahead > empire”, Atlanta rapper Gunna has carved his name into Rap history as one of the most iconic artists coming out of Atlanta in his generation. The Young Thug protégé and Young Stoner Life poster boy stands at the forefront of a new wave of rap that has taken shape over the last five years or so, combining trap production and melodic flows to form what I would call Drip rap, emblematic of fashion culture, high class lifestyles, and succeeding as well as adapting much of the qualities associated with swag rap in the 2000s and early 2010s. Gunna has championed this wave of music, and has propelled it to the top of the charts on multiple occasions whether in collaboration with other immense figures in the game like Future and Drake, or on his own with cuts like “MET GALA” and “Baby Birkin”. With DS4EVER set to be the final installment of the series which revealed himself to the rap world, there was much anticipation for Gunna to deliver an ATL classic that would strengthen the city’s grasp as the most dominant city in the industry.

DS4EVER opens with a glossy cut entitled “private island” where I believe Gunna is at his best. Airy wind, string, and percussion instrumentals serving as the backdrop for Gunna’s melodic flows always seem to provide a consistent formula for success, with the closing track “so far ahead > empire” featuring primary piano and guitar instrumentation. As an artist with heavy trap influences and hit trap records, Gunna is never going to shy away from making club bangers and gritty southern trap anthems like the noteworthy “pushin P” with Young Thug and Future, and “thought i was playing” with fellow Atlanta hitmaker 21 Savage. These synth-heavy, 808-packed records give the LP increased levels of intensity and swing, leading to many jingles and catchy rhythms being born. Along with tracks like “alotta cake” and hit single “too easy” with Future, Gunna has paved a great way for mainstream success with this album, looking for it climb the charts and attract a large group of listeners.

Production regulars are found on DS4EVER, with names like Wheezy, Turbo, and Metro Boomin never straying too far away from the services of Gunna and co. Gunna credits the development of his sound throughout his discography and especially in the Drip Season series to Wheezy, Turbo, and Metro, making them key figures in the soundscape that Gunna has been able to create for his fanbase. Features on DS4EVER include Future, Young Thug, 21 Savage, Kodak Black, Chloe Bailey, Lil Baby, G Herbo, Nechie, Chris Brown, Yung Bleu, and Roddy Ricch, and as seen through the January 14th release of a “deluxe version” of the LP, Drake is now featured on the album. In each of the tracks where features can be found, Gunna finds ways to bounce off of the energy brought by his guest, either flowing back-to-back on records or harmonizing with synchronizing bars and/or vocals.

Scale: 100-97: A+, 96-93: A, 92-90: A-, 89-87: B+, 86-84: B, 83-80: B-, 79-76: C+, 75-73: C, 72-70: C-, 69-67: D+, 66-64: D, 63-60 D-, 59 and below: F

DS4EVER‘s Final Grades:

private island: 90 A-

pushin P: 85 B

poochie gown: 79 C+

mop: 71 C-

thought i was playing (feat. 21 Savage): 90 A- *Hidden Gem*

P power (featuring Drake): 59 F *Worst Track*

how you did that (feat Kodak Black): 82 B-

alotta cake: 81 B-

livin wild: 85 B

you & me: 80 B-

south to west: 86 B

25k jacket (feat. Lil Baby): 86 B

too easy (feat. Future): 87 B+

idk that b**** (feat. G Herbo): 80 B

flooded: 85 B

life of sin (feat. Nechie): 78 C+

die alone (feat. Chris Brown and Yung Bleu): 83 B-

missing me: 75 C

so far ahead > empire: 93 A *Best Track*

too easy remix (feat. Future and Roddy Ricch): 82 B-

Cumulative DS4EVER Grade: 81 – Strong C+ to a Light B-

Where Gunna seems to fall short is in his lyricism, which has never been a strong suit, but hasn’t seemed this glaringly bad in his career thus far. Bars coming from lackluster tracks like “mop” and the unfortunate inclusion of “P power” with Drake reveal the lack of content and focus that can come out of a Gunna album which isn’t worried about lyrical dexterity or pithy wordplay. Also in reference to the abysmal Drake feature on the “deluxe” (if you want to call it that?) version of the album titled Drip Season 4EVER, which only included one track, a Drake/tik-tok stimulus package worth the streams of five new singles combined into one super feature unfortunately produced by Metro. This bizarre addition could be due to many of Gunna’s songs getting leaked in the last few weeks, including one of my favorite snippets “Banking on Me” which would have been a smash-hit on the album if it came in the original or a deluxe LP.

In addition to the blatant laziness in songwriting, Gunna’s flows and melodies begin to wane out in the second half of the album, along with production quality, with the outro track seeming to be the best produced effort out of the last eight or so records. Tracks like “life of sin” and “missing me” are unbelievably forgettable and drag down the overall quality of the project with their inclusion. A standard Lil Baby verse on “25k jacket” makes it a palatable experience and G Herbo delivers a solid verse on his track as well. Roddy Ricch delivers a bang average verse on the “too easy remix” serving as the finale of the album, but by then listeners may have mentally checked out after “so far ahead > empire” concluded. All in all, Gunna was able to put out a piece of work that has a ton of hit potential which has created much mainstream success and replay value just a week into its release. While there are a handful of tracks on DS4EVER that will definitely be in my rotation, as well as in others, I felt the project was underwhelming with the amount of inconsistency it displayed throughout, and with the lack of content and songwriting making a few songs laughable at their attempts to be taken seriously in any capacity. I believe Gunna’s last three solo efforts: Wunna, Drip or Drown 2, and Drip Season 3, all prove to be more consistent and focused in their lyrical qualities and music production level, making them more digestible pieces than DS4EVER.

“Resurgam ex Cineribus”