By Any Means
by Kevin Gates

As a rapper, Gates is a paranoid, schizophrenic mess. He's not a very nice person, and sometimes it's difficult to relate to somebody who says the things that he does. Oh, and his beats tend to all blend together into one forgettable, (main)streamlined cacophony of predictable synths and even more predictable trap drums. But I love him. Easily the most vocally emotive rapper around at the moment, and on a par with Ghostface in the regard, and somebody whose tales of the street (and that aforementioned overarching paranoia that pervades even his braggiest moments) sound so authentic and lived-in that they really do create a sense of, "this is a man's soul laid bare". He's deceptively lyrical in the sense that there are often more layers to his lines than initially meets the eye (another current rapper that this is true of is Killa Kyleon), and yet he never falls back into that reverential old-school vibe that so many quote unquote lyricists think is what they have to do in order to prove themselves. Gates is a conflicted sign of our times, a pop-centric rapper who is a dozen different people (and not one of them a liar). This isn't quite as majestic as last year's Luca Brasi Story, or as claustrophobic as last year's Stranger The Fiction, but it is another top-class mixtape by arguably the most in-form rapper around right now. Get to know.