GutterPutter

2018 sees one of the most head-splitting albums in terms of critical reception –  Gazzy Garcia’s debut mixtape that’s named after his stage name Lil Pump. Led by ‘Gucci Gang’ that compensates its materialish flexing of drug and sex addiction with a bona-fide earworm for a hook, popheads tend to vibe with the album more compared to the vitriolic reactions from the more ‘traditional’ fans of hip hop. What it lacks in flow or conscious themes, it makes up just for being a bowl of fun with punchy beats even if it feels either cliche or repetitive. That being said, the next five years of Garcia’s career sees little noise being made as outside of a collaboration with Kanye West, Lil Pump is remembered mostly as a meme. For better or for worse.

So, when Lil Pump 2 comes along now as a studio album, the fanfare and hype feels empty as if he’s just a blimp amongst the one-hit wonders. There’s one interview from Inked where Garcia said that the album should be released on the 17th of August 2022 on his birthday, but that is clearly false. On the other hand, leaks were made which points to an ambitious 22-track playlist in which most of the songs there would eventually be cut from the final product. You would think, now that the album has been released on the 16th of March, that he would give a damn about whether or not his album is fun to listen to. Artistry be damned, everything is fine as long as the fans are pleased. Right?

Unfortunately, Lil Pump 2 turns out to be far from the truth – and that is an understatement. Wittiness isn’t what you’re looking for with Garcia’s signature style but at least you can guarantee that there’s a sense of humour. Unfortunately, the album lacks it. As soon as ‘Tesla’ comes in, it’s just bratting about intercourse after intercourse after intercourse. If you were to take a drink for every time Garcia or any of the featured rappers utter the word “bitch”, you would die before you’re even three tracks in on a 16-track LP. For a track that is named after a recognisable car manufacturing company, there are very little play-ons around automobiles or even technology. It’s all shameless decadence.

The main theme is just constant flaunting about how many times you get laid, how much luxuries you’ve bought, and how much drugs you’ve taken. There’s no point in going through each track because they all lead to the same topic without any changes in nuance or perspective. You might get a reference to Lil Pump’s grandma in ‘All The Sudden’ like his most iconic single, but it’s not remotely absurd to the point of hilarity. You might see him compare himself to 2Pac on ‘Fendi on Fendi’ without any social consciousness whatsoever that made the latter so beloved. You might even get a libertarian rebellion against taxation in ‘Mosh Pit’ which might explain how he managed to live his expensive lifestyle for so long. Of course, the lyrics are all just headaches to the point where you would much rather wish that you were lobotomised.

Let’s extend the problem around Garcia’s writing if we’re going to go down that path. So much of the album talks about sex, drugs, and cars that any bout of what would’ve been contemplative tracks are pseudo-drama before the first verse even arrives. I’m especially thinking about ‘I Don’t Mind’ which contains the cheesy “I am not a hater, I got love for everyone” and how much he misses his ex (?) before going off to have sex with everyone no matter how toxic the relationship is. There’s also ‘Don’t Like Me’ where Garcia is thinking about wishing to do someone who doesn’t like him. Yikes. Also, he said that he bought a “crib for [his] crib” which, miraculously enough, didn’t start a Twitter-wide scandal about his involvement in the housing crisis.

Not helping at all is the production. Add in a couple sizzling hi-hats, some bass boosts, a tiny bit of synth or keyboard, & you already have all but one or two outliers of Lil Pump 2’s beats. They might be staple parts of trap music, but it feels as if there’s so little exploration on making the sounds just come off as being unconventional. It’s a cookie-cutter template over high-risk switcheroos or even playful sampling. It feels like it’s all there to placate whatever fans were waiting for Garcia, but there’s not much else about the production that allows him to stand out from the others. 

One of the biggest offences is that of ‘Pump Rock x Heavy Metal’. Firstly, is this a fucking joke? While more rappers have decided to look back towards rock for inspiration throughout 2023, the track’s biggest success is that it makes what is looking to be a promising trend to hop onto come off as hackneyed already. The lyrics are embarrassing as well with a budget emo rap line for a chorus about self-harm that will surely go well for those who need help. Oh wait, there’s also sex as well. Maybe a self-admittance that he’s a narcissist. Okay, at least he’s aware of himself. It would help if he were to play the song live on mute for two minutes straight; that will surely get the crowd hyped up about the end. To clarify, I mean it as the last track on the playlist.

So yes, this album is something else. It’s special, it’s one of a kind, we may get another album like it again in the future. And that is terrifying to think about. Because above all else, this truly feels like a manufactured piece of hyper-corporate-approved garbage that is fed to the masses. Whatever passion that could be felt in Garcia when he’s out making goofy songs is non-existent. It’s like he’s now a parody of himself which is an achievement for all the wrong reasons.

Lil Pump 2 and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race. It has slightly increased the net worth of those who were involved in making and approving the album, but it has destabilised the genre, has made drugs too fulfilling, has subjected “bad bitches” to indignities, has led to widespread psychological degradation (on the underground scene to quality degradation as well), and has inflicted severe damage on contemporary youth culture. 

It is a war crime without any nationalist intent, it pollutes what makes people attracted to hip hop, it reeks of lean-sippin’ debauchery. The album has all but proved that the best time to act for the sake of our society is now because even if climate warming feels over-exaggerated as a threat, we may need to deal with more people like Gazzy Garcia.