When the Swizz Beatz-produced “Gucci Time” showed up on Gucci Mane’s most recent mixtape Jewelry Selection, the big disappointment was that it had nothing to do with Schooly D. Thing is, “Gucci Time” is far more interesting than a reference to Schooly D’s “Gucci Time,” it’s a flickering, A.D.D beat wrapped around an incessant sample of Justice’s “Phantom Pt. 2.” And now, there’s a Chris Robinson-directed video and it’s more than just a mixtape track, it’s the first single from The Appeal: Georgia’s Most Wanted. That means this is the second time in less than a year that Swizz Beatz dipped into Justice’s † for a rap beat (previously: Jay-Z’s “On To The Next One” which sampled “D.A.N.C.E”). It’s also the third time Swizzy’s sampled something from a French house crew, having used parts of Daft Punk’s “Technologic” for Busta Rhymes’ “Touch It.”
As far as first singles go, “Gucci Time” is better than “Spotlight,” but it isn’t great either. Maybe this was some major label attempt to remake the skittering, brilliantly annoying “Lemonade”–a un-hedged Gucci song that also had pop appeal—but there’s not really anything for Gucci to lock-in on and really rap; it’s just annoying, there’s no brilliant part. Also, Swizz Beatz’s production here’s projecting a sense of menace that never been part of Gucci’s rap persona. That’s not to say Gucci isn’t threatening or doesn’t rap threatening things, but his worldview is one that’s full of laughing into the void sadness mixed with street-kid pragmatism, so even his violent lyrics just roll-out like inevitabilities. A simple loop, with no break or pause just doesn’t work for Gucci, he needs more to tiptoe his rhymes around. Notice how the first verse is classic Gucci because he’s just ignoring the sample and following the drums.
Really though, “Gucci Time” just pales in comparison to “On To The Next One.” Swizz Beatz’s take on “D.A.N.C.E” was brilliant: the kind of obsessive, sample-tweaking and slicing that results in a broken shards of a song bumping into one another and making some totally new. It was one of those samples that you may not even hear at first, and less because it’s a relatively “out there” sample source and more because Swizz did such a great job destroying it and rearranging all the pieces. For “Gucci Time,” Swizz is just flat-out looping a piece of a Justice song–a piece that’s already a looped sample (Goblin’s “Tenebre”).
Sonically, Goblin sit somewhere between the go-for-broke propulsive energy of Giorgio Moroder and the chintzy dread-filled atmosphere of John Carpenter, so their best work is bold and silly and strangely danceable and um, therefore tailor-made for dance music and hip-hop, right? But Justice pretty much slowed the original down and digital glitched it all out, and Swizzy unfortunately, continues in that safe direction. The only defense is that Swizz is about as creative with his Justice sample as Justice were with their Goblin sample, which is to say, not very and moving into into crappy DJ edit territory.
The only thing about this whole endeavor that matches Goblin’ skin-crawl, absurd level of awesome is the beginning of the “Gucci Time” video. This kinda makes sense as Goblin’s best work, like “Tenebre,” was made to accompany visuals. Above is a clip from Dario Argento’s Tenebre (1982) which uses the song sampled by Justice, who were then sampled by Swizz Beatz. The clip’s all tension and then, reckless release, but there’s a lurching choreography between Argento’s roving camera and Goblin’s stunted, disco-opera score–and director Chris Robinson grabs onto just a tiny bit of that “Gucci Time.”
The beginning of the “Gucci Time” video shows Gucci casually walking down the street and stopping to check his watch while two 90s rap video gigantic explosions whirl around him. As the explosions begins to dissipate and the “Gucci Time” title appears, Goblin’s identifiable, skronky, vocoded demon moans kick-in and for a moment there, it’s got the same visual/sound interplay of an Argento flick. That same sense of the mundane (a random street corner) and the outrageous (a giant fucking explosion) meeting, anchored by the slinking, scary sounds of Goblin.
*you can also read this post on Tumblr now, golly!
Are You A Serious Comic Book Reader?
When Schoolly D tears up a barbecue of ribs, wings, corn on the cob, macaroni salad, coleslaw, washes it down with Dr. Pepper, and the next day he takes a big ol’ shit, that shit raps better than Gucci Mane ever will.
Just saying.
elmattic
10 Sep 10 at 12:30 pm
That coat. That coat, looks like the coat of a man ready to destory the world. So, do the shades. When Gucci starts acting in movies, I can only hope he is evil Kingpin with an a sercret cove of polar and grizzly bears.
AAAAAAHHHHHHH
10 Sep 10 at 2:04 pm
AAAAAAHHHHHHH-
I know, right? Maybe my Gucci isn’t threatening thing is totally off-base. I think he should’ve played the role Ghostface had but didn’t in Iron Man….
Brandon
10 Sep 10 at 8:33 pm
You know actually when you described the beginning of the video I thought specifically of the dog scene in Tenebre, which also begins innocently enough on a street corner:
/watch?v=dWaQrB1VYa0
Perhaps Robinson was thinking of that. (By the way: Tenebre – Argento’s best film? Suspiria is so formless it would probably work better without any narrative at all, Deep Red’s pretty bloated and doesn’t quite overcome how stupid its plot is. But Tenebre’s just right. To be sure it doesn’t reach the sheer heights of expressionist delirium that some of his others do, but it works.) Anyway, surely Gucci has rapped over menacing stuff before; take ‘Coca Coca.’ I think what you say is much more true of Waka, who offers this really unique combination of ultra-hard gun talk and the warmth, fuzziness and whimsy of the Muppet Show. I mean really, he makes it sound like you could get robbed and shot by him and still have a really fun time and afterwards be like, “such a great guy!” Even though you’d be dead.
Tray
11 Sep 10 at 7:37 am
I hate this damn song. Swizz Beatz has got to be the worst producer that has ever been considered good by anyone. I find everything he’s done since that second LOX album (which wasn’t even that good anyway) to be completely intolerable. Basically everything that sucks about rap music encapsulated in one guy.
mark p.
12 Sep 10 at 5:36 am
“Basically everything that sucks about rap music encapsulated in one guy.”
Everytime I read or hear something like this, I would always imagine the target of the insult would have to be pretty interesting for them to represent, what is wrong with an entire genre.
AAAAAAHHHHHHH
13 Sep 10 at 12:21 am
That sounds right, but if an artist’s interesting how can he suck? I suppose you can be interestingly bad but not interestingly really awful. Like Beyonce encapsulates pretty much everything wrong with her genre and she sure isn’t all that interesting. That’s part of the problem, that she’s not. Or you could argue Katy Perry encapsulates what’s wrong with pop and she’s not that interesting, and again, that’s what’s the matter with her, that she’s not. Or Scott Storch encapsulating what was wrong with 2005 pop-rap! His whole problem was how damn uninteresting he was.
Tray
13 Sep 10 at 4:16 am
Tray-
I totally agree with you on ‘Tenebre’. Most Argento stuff just kinda sucks or rather, is cool to look at and little more. He’s maybe the last Italian horror dude with a reputation of note that I’d go to for entertainment or thrills. I’m a Fulci man, really. Especially ‘The Beyond’.
What I think Waka and Gucci represent to me is much more “real” (mind the quotes, we’re all perceiving reality blah blah Lacan blah blah Baudrilliard blah blah) presentation of your dope-man than anything we’ve seen before. Yes, both can be over the top, but basically, they remind me of dudes I actually know. Neither Waka or Gucci spend all that much time actually being hard or proving their hardness, they just sorta live that–or again, “live” that. Waka though, I think doesn’t give a fuck in a very real, actually scary way. Gucci is sorta just this head-down, seen a lotta shit guy, so he’s just sorta not all that impressed or worried about street shit.
mark p-
The song’s growing on me but it is still basically cheap and retarded. Swizzy’s got some beats though. I mean, as I said, “On To the Next One” is brilliant.
brandonsoderberg
13 Sep 10 at 5:22 am