Gunna, DS4EVER

By Leo Hewitt-Provost

01/07/2022

Gunna has teased Drip Season 4 ever since he released 'Too Easy' with Future in late 2021. The Atlanta rapper was looking to make an early impression in 2022 with the highly anticipated project and the last instalment in the drip season series. The album features heavyweights like Young Thug, Lil Baby, 21 Savage, Future, G Herbo and many more.

DS4EVER will have the opportunity to compete against one of the biggest popstars of his generation in the first week of release- The Weeknd-, whilst competing is in reality a very generous term, Young Stoner Life Records fans will be more than happy to have new music from Gunna, after his last album ‘WUNNA’ was released almost two years ago.

Gunna revealed the track list a few days before the album was released and had many people speculating. Drake was originally supposed to be on the album, but Gunna removed the feature from DS4EVER, creating confusion amongst YSL fans. There are strong chances Gunna could release the song by itself to create a bigger buzz around Pussy Power, this could have been done intentionally for marketing purposes.

The 19-tracks album is admirable, with hip-hop fans being more demanding and harsher than ever, listening to 19 songs can often be a hit or miss in the industry. Although Gunna made sure the runtime was under an hour, many people criticised its features at first glance, but those features turned out to be excellent.

The highlight of the album has to be Turbo, Wheezy, Metro Boomin and Gunna. The work that was put into DS4EVER behind the scenes was sumptuous, from Private Island, Poochie Gown, Alotta cake, Livin Wild and South to West to many other tracks, production was crazy, and each song brought a different touch to the album. South to West is my highlight of the album.

The structure of Drip Season 4, like all previous instalments, is not what Gunna is known for, but when you have some of the biggest talents in the world on a song with you, you are bound for success. Young Thug, G Herbo, 21 Savage all brought heat to the record, and you have to admire Gunna for giving room to shine for smaller artists like Nechie and Chloe Bailey. Shoutout to Kodak Black too, the way Gunna and himself complement one another is something I never thought could work. Lil Baby’s presence will not be remembered as his best, but alongside Gunna, they know how to create hits.

So far ahead>empire, which is the last track on the album, will be reminiscent of Nasty Girl>On Camera by its structure, with So Far Ahead being written excellently whilst On Camera sounds much smoother and intends to strike the listener.

Overall, DS4EVER is very melodic, it seems like YSL records will keep getting bigger, when so many artists from Atlanta complement each other the way they all do on this project, it is clear to see that Gunna has no intentions to stop rapping.