Ranking Gunna’s Projects Worst to Best
10. DRIP SEASON 2-3.5/10
Mr. Sergio "Gunna" Kitchens has been in the news quite a bit lately with all the RICO YSl drama going on and therefore, I thought it would be a good time to drop these rankings for one of rap's hottest artists right now. Kicking things off with his "worst" project is the second installment of his signature Drip Season collection. Drip Season 2 aims much bigger than its predecessor but sadly doesn't fully really warrant its length and surplus of features. Gunna actually shines more on tracks to himself like the upbeat "Japan" or groovy car jam "Belly of the Beast," as he did on his last Drip Season. However, those prove to generally be the only track where he doesn't seem to be timid and almost bored.
9. DRIP SEASON-4/10
Luckily, he sounds much more motivated to prove himself on this mixtape. This is by far the most unheard thing he's put out with a label, which would make sense given it was his first release with YSL. That's a real shame too because half of this album is actually really good. This is the first time he starts to bring his singing voice into his records and it shows when he has the spotlight to himself. Nevertheless, I did only say half, as the other half falls into the trap that the next Drip Season does and becomes a slog to listen to.
8. DRIP OR DROWN-4.5/10
Finally, we get to the project that dropped his breakout song with the same name: Drip or Drown. A song that became a tik tok trend gained fame long before the app existed in 2017, and launched him into the next level of upcoming rappers. He thankfully keeps this one short and deletes any filler to let the songs breathe on their own. Besides "Drip or Drown," Gunna is at his rich rhyming best in "Award" when he's talking about the stuff he could buy with all the money he's received from finally making it. Still, they aren't all like that here and he starts to mellow out in a few of the tracks.
7. DRIP SEASON 3-5.2/10
Gunna is finally able to strike some consistency in his work here with his fourth release drip Season 3. Hi lengthiest at the time, he balances everything quite well so that nothing starts to feel like a snooze or too similar to the previous one. His appointed "drippy" flow really comes into play here to go along with many funny one-liners. Letting his personality come out probably after reaching a certain comfort level can be attributed to producers like Wheezy and Metro Boomin showing up -- the first of many to come.
6. DS4EVER-5.4/10
DS4EVER has some high expectations going into it. The last of many successful Drip Season drops to go along with coming off his best-selling album yet was a large huddle to get over. A result of that: a mixed bag. The creation of the new slang term "P" came to light here in big fashion and led to a social media lingo craze which is... something. Those P-centered songs can be dumb fun such as the collaborative songs "P Power" and "Pushin' P." Although, it wouldn't be an understatement to say he was overshadowed by the great production of his longtime producers and fellow Atlanta rappers on these tracks for some reason. It's still a solid project but it's just a little uneven throughout and was a victim of the hype.
5. ONE OF WUN-6/10
After addressing his feelings in his return from prison in a gift and a curse, (which we will get to next) Gunna is focused on making music that people have become accustomed to hearing from the Atlanta rapper. This had the makings of a classic album halfway through before things start to blend together and lack originality. However, the first 10 songs are a lot of fun with records like Hakuna Matata, Wassam, and on one tonight as stand outs of Gunna rapping like he something to prove. It falls off when Gunna tries to sing about his new lifetstyle that quickly become uninspired and repetitive. Overall, a very, very Gunna album.
4. A GIFT AND A CURSE-6.4/10
Fresh out of prison, Kitchens kept a low profile amid all the chaos surrounding whether or not he snitched on his YSL comrades like Young Thug. On A Gift & a Curse, he tries to explain his side of the story and stop the speculating. Due to the fact that so many people had assumed the worst and didn't want to work with him because of it, Gunna goes completely independent on this, including the absence of Wheezy. Honestly, this might've been for the better as you can hear the pain this has caused him on these tracks especially towards the end in a vulnerable state that we haven't really seen from him. This is also the home of his best charting/streamed solos ong of his career witht he catchy and hilariously titled "fukumean." What keeps this from the top 3 is the sometimes poor editing and the meshing of the songs after listening awhile.
3. DRIP HARDER-6.8/10
We have reached the upper echelon of his albums and what better to kick it off than a whole LP of Rap's best duo: Gunna and Lil Baby. These Atlanta buddies may not be on the same page these days but when they were, they created magic together every time they got in the booth. Of course, this is where Diamond record "Drip Too Hard" can be found which is really the peak of their collaborations and they try to match that during the rest of the album's duration. And generally, everything they do vibes well together even if they can't reach those heights. Enough said.
2. DRIP OR DROWN 2-7.2/10
Landing in second is indeed the second edition of the Drip or Drown series. This is the album that convinced me of Gunna's talent and led to me discovering the joy of all of his previous music. He has a lot of heavy lifting to do on this project, likely due to wanting to prove to the community that he doesn't only belong in a feature role that Gunna was shining in at the time (Yosemite, Hot, Start wit Me). While these may be considered a lighter project of his when it comes to the sound, its melodic flow is what it has going for it by design. He floats on a lot of these tracks and its definitely the album that put him on the map officially.
WUNNA-8/10
Ending with the essential Gunna album, we have the nickname of the Drip God: WUNNA. This summer hit feels right at #1 and I don't think many would refute this considering its popularity that got so out of hand he dropped a deluxe for it. This is 100% Gunna at his most entertaining with A-tier features to round it off right. Here, he has his most versatile solo track of his career with Skybox (peep the music video too) and it truly shows how much he's grown as a rapper, now in his prime. Many of these songs are head-boppers that vary in tempo to equal amounts of high success. It's an endlessly playable album that is even better when heard at a party in some hot weather. Classic stuff.
