Luca Brasi 2 - Kevin Gates

If Kevin Gates's Luca Brasi 2 had been released before the 15th of December last year it would most definitely have been in my best of 2014 list. On first listen I thought this was nowhere near as good as his other 2014 release, the excellent, By Any Means. Now I'm pretty sure it's even better and possibly his best recording to date. I also thought there was nothing as bangingly hit worthy as Don't Know What To Call It from 2013's Stranger Than Fiction which should have been a number 1 smash.  I Don't Get Tired featuring August Alsina is almost as awesome but only reached 107 on the US chart and only 33 on the US R&B chart. Then again how many songs about working hard are hits? It's all about the partying in the charts innit?. Kevin Gates has had a hell of a winning streak though with his previous 7 or 8 mixtapes/albums (My files have disappeared so???). Luca Brasi 2 sees him team up with DJ Drama's Gangsta Grillz mixtape team for the first time. Gangsta Grillz have been behind such classics as Young Jeezy's Trap Or Die, Lil Wayne's Dedication 2 and Lil Boosie's Streetz Is Mine among many other groundbreaking semi-legit mixtapes.

It starts off with an Intro that gets straight to the heavy issues Gates is now known for depression and aggression. He mentions being like God, cocaine, cars (big theme with Kev) and something about a Barber Shop. Next is I Don't Get Tired, which was the first and only single so far from the LP, that irritated the hell out me when I first heard it but now I see this is an incredible tune. This features some of his most incredible rapping. Kevin's flow is so idiosyncratic that nobody sounds like this guy. The timbre of his voice is so exquisite. It has quite an affect on the ladies (I've seen women leave their phone numbers on the interweb for Gates) and the men as well. I mean I wish I had a voice that great. I Don't Get Tired features mental fast rapping followed by smooth melodic choruses featuring divine backing vocals and August Alsina's luxurious feature. The tune's about getting dead presidents (that's $$$ folks). He goes from living on an airbed and eating stale Rice Crispies to owning a farm? I hope that's what he says. I can see him and Lil Boosie sippin' lean on the front veranda discussing their prison days with a host of ladies in bikinis. In one section it sounds like he's melodiously singing "I was just tying to get an eye lift." I mean this guy first entered the penal system at age 13 and is currently on parole, he's so hood there's no way he's saying that but I want to believe it because that would be so funny. Anyway this track is some kind of strange salute to the American dream. John Gotti fits with the mafia theme of Luca Brasi who was a character in The Godfather who was Don Corleone's enforcer but I guess he's most famous for being included in the quote "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes." John Gotti is a catchy highlight of the album. This could be Kev's most megalomaniac song ever. He compares himself to John Gotti, God, he is Luca Brasi, his mother fucked an angel and he's immortal. Audis, Porsches and Maseratis all get mentioned. Its such a cool pop song you don't even notice at one point he sings he's so depressed he wishes someone would kill him.

The megalomania continues on Perfect Imperfection. It all begins with an incredibly infectious disco violin (synth violin?) sample that is soo good. Then Kev's off comparing himself to Forrest Gump, then says he's Michael Jackson reincarnate and channelling the spirit of Ali The Greatest. He still needs affection though and asks if it's 'ok to cry if you're dying inside?' But he has his craft perfected, he's never wrong, Drake says Gates don't bullshit and all other rappers are fake because they ain't from the ghetto in Louisiana who just take loads of drugs. Having said that Kev admits codeine helps him get by. But those other rappers never had to grind so hard to pay their lawyers yet still go to prison and have your bitch not pick up the phone whilst incarcerated.

Plug Daughter is one of the most sonically cool tracks here with it's classic minimal horror motifs. This is another mafia tale. What the fuck is a Plug daughter? Out The Mud has a backing track reminiscent of a really gentle 90s IDM track with fucking great poetic Speedy Gonzales rapping. Sometimes I think how the hell does he do that? Then he just slips back into melodic hooks like it's nothing. Sit Down has the best bass pressure this side of a No U Turn track along with really subtle haunting piano and synth stabs. Sometimes he fits more words into a tune than early Bob Dylan. The mafia theme continues. Fact and fiction collide. His Breadwinners Association Company is a bona-fide organisation but he places it in a mafia context. I'm astounded again by his rapping on this tune. He has the the best delivery in the game and has had for some time. Complaining's all mad bitches, sex, foreign cars and spending paper. It sounds like he's singing at one point 'them bitches bad but Paco ain't complaining.' I really hope Paco is another Gates alias but I think its just me mishearing again. This is why I don't read lyric sheets it takes away the mystique. Talk On Phones is a classic Wire situation. He rhymes open cases with poker faces you gotta love that. There's like a brilliant one note horror synth stab throughout as well as gloomy swirling synths that are awesome too.

Wassup With It & In My Feelings are as close as Kev gets to a slow jam. Wassup With It could be a smash hit. It's got the melodic pop goods, the only thing holding it back would be all the profanity like 2013's Midnight Run from Dj Mustard featuring Royce The Choice, Skeam & Casey Veggies ie. these two tunes are pop perfection but could never be commercial hits which is such a shame. Gates just wants a fuck with no strings. He's been tainted by past relationships he's just 'tryin to hit that pussy one time, that'd be cool' right? In My Feelings starts out like it could be a slow jam with it's 2014 version of a silky 70s vibe but it's sugar & poison. He's having a massive crack at Southern Christianity in the verse then in the chorus it's all like romantic and soft but then he's into another angry verse then back to the sugar to finish. You don't really have to guess what Pourin The Syrup's about. He's drinking the lean because he's got the weight of the world on his shoulders. Kudos to Kev again this time for rhyming famous with anus. Top that motherfuckers. Wild Ride is a plea for a threesome. Clits, eatin dick, fondling balls, pussy drippin, ass up and face down all sung with a heavenly backing track. Confusing lyric: 'Bonnie & Clyde her', what the fuck does that mean? Must look up the Urban Dictionary on that one. Makin Love is about loving the hustle not some tune about a sex romp. The narcissism continues with lyrics like 'They don't even call me Kevin no more, they call me awesome.' 'I am the way the truth and the light' and 'I am Flawless'. A final shout out to his Maserati engine and guess what he don't get tired. He must be mixing his lean with something of the amphetamine variety though because codeine makes you v tired. I should know I just took some.

Kev. He don't get tired.