As a title, Everybody Looking is more than an allusion to 2Pac’s 1996 post-prison album All Eyez on Me or a reference to the fame that thousands of “Free Gucci” T-shirts and memes can bring when that freedom is finally gained. Instead, it’s a name that recognizes the purpose behind Gucci Mane’s first album since being released from prison — now that everybody’s looking, Gucci has some stuff to show us.
Not that the trap king of Atlanta never had nothing to say — his myriad of mixtapes were filled to the brim with clever brags, menacing threats and barebones-yet-effective street narratives. You know the story, even if you’ve never listened to The Burrprint (The Movie 3D) or East Atlanta Santa, Gucci and friends sold a couple bricks, made a couple dollars and lived to rap about it.
But in both scope and execution, Everybody Looking is a much more focused, sharper record, likely due to Gucci’s recent and unlikely sobriety – something he mentions on opening scene-setter “No Sleep (Intro).”
“I can’t even sleep I got so much to say/ Recovering drug addict, I used to drink a pint a day,” the 36-year-old trap icon raps over rolling thunder and chest-rattling bass designed to grab and hold attention.
And with everybody now looking, the album’s remaining 13 tracks have messages for, well, just about everybody. Gucci uses tightly rapped, concise hooks to call out rap rivals on “Out Do Ya” (“How you let a n—- in the feds out do ya?”) and strapped-for-cash wannabes on “At Least a M” (“I don’t even associate with n—-s who associates don’t have at least a M”). And when the lyrics aren’t sharply crafted outward barbs, they often take the form of self-reflective musings — a rarity in the heyday of mixtape-Gucci.
On “Waybach,” a fairly traditional slice of Atlanta street rap, Gucci’s new attitude is delivered with the casual confidence he used to reserve for discussions of his drug selling prowess. “They thought that Gucci Mane was soft now they don’t think that/ Please get that devilish juice away from me, I don’t drink that,” he says, swearing of the lean that previously drenched his music.
Of course, while the dichotomy between “Old Gucci” and “New Gucci” is notable and, at this point, unique to Everybody Looking, it shouldn’t be overstated as the record’s most obvious feature. The album is still full of lines about his drug-fueled past and flexes about money and women — rap’s standards. But what really grounds the record is the vintage Atlanta production of Zaytoven and Mike WiLL Made-It, a double-edged sword that makes Everybody Looking immediately recognizable as a Gucci Mane album and prevents it from reaching the heights it clearly strives for.
The album’s instrumentals are heavily-synthesized and aggressive, thanks to Mike WiLL’s murky and menacing synths, tinged with flutes, organs and plinking keyboards for much needed, occasionally forced variety. And Zaytoven’s drums are messy and exciting as always, 808 bass lines running into each other with no sense of subtlety but enough energy to have the club going up or down, situation dependent. But while the beats consistently bang, very few stand out within the context of the album, and especially not in a rap game populated by the work of talented, young trap-mainstays like Metro Boomin and Southside.
A quick glance at the album’s features — Drake, Kanye West and Young Thug – could easily inspire the idea that Everybody Looking is a move into the rap royalty stratosphere, a transition that Gucci deserves perhaps more than anyone. But the dated production and bloated tracklist (the three song stretch of “Gucci Please,” “Robbed,” and “Richest N—- In The Room” could easily be cut) keep Gucci from surpassing modern Atlanta heroes like Future, Thugger and Waka Flocka: the children he fondly brags about on late album highlight “All My Children.” The track’s message is clear – Gucci Mane is ingrained in the DNA of modern rap music, and even if Everybody Looking isn’t a groundbreaking album, it’s a fitting celebration of Gucci’s life and an optimistic glance into the future of one of rap’s biggest inspirations.
