Despite a widespread belief that a criminal record is a badge of honor in hip-hop, the logical endpoint of glorifying criminality in music, the truth is that it’s more likely to distract from an artist’s agenda than solidify it. That's apt to be the case for 28-year-old Chicago rapper Gerik "Gzus Piece" Raglin, who was pulled over in Ohio on New Year's Day and arrested for allegedly trafficking over $15,000 in heroin. One-half of the bubbling Chicago duo White Gzus (alongside Marek "Blanco Caine" Fortineaux), Raglin now faces a legal battle which threatens to blunt a promising career before it even achieves lift-off.
Stackin' N Mackin' Vol. 2 is the duo's second release. A follow-up to their locally celebrated 2014 debut, the tape was recorded partially in the wake of Raglin's legal trouble. Possibly as a result, it can feel rushed, as if they ran out of time focusing the camera and just snapped the photo. What's good and at times great about the White Gzus project is that—despite the slight blur on the image—the picture feels fresh and unique.
Their ambitions are disarmingly straightforward. Initially a side project for both of its members—Gzus Piece and Blanco Caine are both a part of the Treated Crew, alongside recent G.O.O.D. Music signee Holt and producer/former Kanye West DJ Million Dollar Mano—they seem as surprised as their audience to have stumbled upon a rewarding recipe with a handful of familiar ingredients. The building blocks are 808s and sumptuous, enveloping grooves, a throwback to the sounds of labels like Suave House and Rap-A-Lot. Perhaps the best example is lead single "Return of the G", a twinkling Snapback-produced track which makes the most of its five minutes with an expansive, immersive sound. But a simple formula helps keep all records in bounds. The group's rapping reflects a UGK-like dichotomy: Gzus Piece is the group's refined half, with a casually clever flow that sounds preternaturally unbothered; Blanco is rawer, more blunt. Their silent partner and musical glue is Mr. E, who produces several beats and is responsible for the tape's mixing and mastering.
Mr. E likes to repurpose hip-hop history to his own ends. At first glance, it can seem distracting. Tracks like "Still Sippin'" and "Volume 2" flip the same samples as hip-hop staples (Three 6 Mafia's "Sippin on Syrup" and Raekwon's "Verbal Intercourse" respectively) with which White Gzus could never measure up. Yet this baldly tasteless re-purposing of the classics gives White Gzus an edge over other revivalists. Where others might pay slavish devotion, Mr. E simply swipes the originals and gives them a more modern, functionally effective kick.
This method also short-circuits songwriting liabilities for groups like White Gzus, who are under-funded independent artists without A&Rs or access to high-profile collaborators. After all, the "Verbal Intercourse" sample is a classic for reason, and SWV's "Use Your Heart" flip on "Cross Town Classic" is an immediate canvas which draws on the contrast between Blanco's bruising rap style and its breezy '90s effervescence. This is simply clever production, sampling in the old school sense, deriving its creative force as much from economic necessity as anything else. Tracks without familiar samples can be more hit-or-miss; Mic Terror's chorus on "Return of the G" is one of the best on the album, and points to how hooks can be an occasional stumbling block elsewhere. "Count Up" is a terrific late '90s throwback with Timbaland-style ribbiting noises, but the sung chorus feels like it could use slight pitch correction to snap more tightly into place.
There are missteps and visible seams here and there, but more songs work than don't. The group is just beginning to map out a new and fertile sound, a constellation of styles that manages to thread between the drill and backpack strains of Chicago hip-hop. If the sudden threat to Gzus Piece's freedom has served to frame the group's music with pathos it previously lacked, then so be it. But in an ideal world, he wouldn't have to go through that, and could instead mine this vein for all it's worth, since White Gzus really is just getting started.
