AOTY #10: Gunna - WUNNA [2020]

Welcome to my Album of the Year highlights! I’ll give you a little run down with a brief history to start, show you the tracklist (with the tracks in bold being my favorites) with all of the featured guests (if any), give you some descriptors that might make you more inclined to check it out, and I’ll provide links to stream/buy the project down at the bottom. Enjoy!

I guess I should use this first post of my Album of the Year 2020 posts as a sort of preface: the albums I picked for my Top Ten are ranked, painstakingly so, based MOSTLY on what I enjoyed listening to this most this year, but also how much I returned to the album in the weeks and months that followed. I’m not saying these are the best albums this year as I do not have the authority to make claims like that, all I know is what I liked, and what I think other people would like too if they gave it a shot.

So yeah my #10 pick this year is Gunna’s amazingly catchy WUNNA, an album from an artist who has found EXACTLY what kind of sound he wants to make, doubling down on the trappy and wavy essences of the modern “Slime” Atlanta experience. You can call it vapid, the lyrics being repetitive and ridiculous at times, but the melodies, flows, and production on this album are damn-near flawless to my ears. Gunna isn’t out here to impress you with his deep words; you’re getting the rough drafts of an essay on sex, fashion, and general boss-hood, with little or no revisions to the formula. But that formula is one that works for those of you who want crisp beats, sticky choruses, and flows that are surprisingly nimble. People say that describing music as “a vibe” is a way to circumvent saying it’s shitty, but fuck all that noise: this shit is a whole vibe, and it’s an incredibly fun record to throw on when you aren’t looking to challenge your brain. I should also mention that many of the albums in my Top Ten have Deluxe Editions, some of which are additive and some of which muddy the experience. I’m gonna take it on a case-by-case basis, and I’ll start by saying that the WUNNA Deluxe Edition is not essential, but it does add a couple of great tracks. Please give this an honest try, because it’s too fun to pass up for people looking for a good time.

Tracklist

1. ARGENTINA

2. GIMMICK

3. MOTW

4. FEIGNING

5. DOLLAZ ON MY HEAD (Feat. Young Thug)

6. ADDYS (Feat. Netchie)

7. SKYBOX

8. WUNNA

9. BLINDFOLD (Feat. Lil Baby)

10. ROCKSTAR BIKERS & CHAINS

11. MET GALA

12. NASTY GIRL / ON CAMERA

13. COOLER THAN A BITCH (Feat. Roddy Ricch)

14. I’M ON SOME

15. TOP FLOOR (Feat. Travis Scott)

16. DON’T PLAY AROUND

17. DO BETTER

18. FAR (Feat. Young Thug)

19. 200 FOR LUNCH

20. WUNNA FLO (Feat. Yak Gotti)

21. STREET SWEEPER (Feat. Future)

22. ONE WATCH (Feat. Young Thug)

23. SUN CAME OUT

24. DIRTY DIANA

25. NOTHING 4 FREE (Feat. Nav)

26. RELENTLESS (Feat. Lil Uzi Vert)

Besides Gunna himself, major props need to be paid to Turbo, Taurus, and especially Wheezy for making this such a special project. They all joined Gunna on this magical Island to record this album, and made it something truly special to listen to.

Recommended if you like:

Future, smooth Trap instrumentals, Young Thug, 808’s everywhere, Lil Baby, crispy Metro-Boomin-type-beats, Lil Durk, quick triplet flows, Shad Da God, lots of features, Travis Scott

Here are my original writings on WUNNA:

Weekly Fix #21 ('20)

↓ Listen to WUNNA ↓

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music