With His World Turned Upside Down, Gunna Turns It Up on ‘A Gift & A Curse’
Last year, Atlanta rapper Sergio “Gunna” Kitchens was riding high on the release of his celebratory eighth project, DS4EVER. But in the year and a half since that LP’s January 2022 release, Gunna and YSL label head Young Thug have had their lives and careers upended by RICO charges that have left them and several other YSL artists incarcerated in Georgia. While he was locked up, Gunna also experienced the death of YSL rapper Lil Keed. Following his release in December 2022, a video of Gunna accepting a plea deal for one count of violating the RICO act was leaked, leading many of his former rap colleagues to accuse him of snitching, despite the fact that he never testified against YSL. Amid all of this, A Gift and a Curse is the painful reflection of this tragic period, but it’s also a striking testament to his resilience. Gunna reminds us he’s still Him, despite everything he’s facing.
The overall tone of A Gift & A Curse is a radical shift compared with the relentlessly upbeat DS4EVER: The party is over and he’s sitting in an empty house all alone. There are no features this time around, and the solo approach gives him room to bear the soul like never before, beginning with the sinister “Back at It.” Gunna has no problem sharing the hurt of his YSL peers, especially Young Thug, while also expressing his own struggle: “Ain’t tryna sleep in no damn bunk/I’m ‘posed to be here making anthems,” he raps.
The bulk of A Gift & A Curse finds Gunna clearing his name of “snitching” allegations and proving his YSL loyalty. You can feel his heart breaking on “Paybach” when he raps, “Nigga ain’t gon’ touch me and that’s period (Period)/Only person I fear on this world is God (World is God)/Please do not look for me, I’m going far/I made a few mistakes, but I’m still a star/I hate the government, tryna tear us apart/But I’m-a keep it goin’, that’s what’s in my heart.” On the single “Bread and Butter,” he raps, “Never fucked a nigga, always stayed solid/Kept it real with niggas, never lied and always stay honest.” Musically, it isn’t the strongest track, but it’s an almost legalistically precise defense of his actions.
Musically, Gunna is able to remind us of the real reason why we appreciate him in the first place: the way his velvety-smooth, mellowed-out approach to rapping about the finer things in life works in tandem with a glitzy, exciting sound that’s all his own. He knows how to make the drip feel like it’s in you rather than on you. The five-track victory lap between “Ca$h $hit” and “P Angels” is by far the best sequencing of songs on a hip-hop record this year, especially the transition from the Dunk Rock-produced “fukumean” to the exhilarating “Rodeo Dr,” in which Gunna makes a wild night on Rodeo Drive feel like a deep-space ride on the Millenium Falcon.
Each of the producers on the LP — Turbo, Flo, Dunk Rock, Royal 88 among them – brings something to the table. Turbo adds cinematic scope to “Bottom,” layering twinkling pianos on top of the rapid snares. Cubeatz comes up with the perfect introspective accompaniment to the somber yet hopeful closer, “Alright,” as Gunna observes, “This money and this fame brought me pain, but I know we’ll be alright.” A Gift and a Curse manages to expand on the high-end sound Gunna is known for, a vibe that has set him apart from Young Thug’s grittier, spacier music.
When Gunna raps about “bad bitches passin’ me robes,” he makes you feel as if you’re wearing the same thing he’s got on even if you’re in Crocs, sweatpants, and a dirty T-shirt. We don’t listen to Gunna to live out gangsta narratives. We listen to him because he gives us the main-character energy we need. And the fact that he’s still able to do this after nearly all his rap peers have turned on him is simply incredible.