Album Review: Lil Baby and Gunna Share a Unique Bond on Drip Harder

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The Lowdown: Since the release of tracks like “Throwing Shade”, “Sold Out Dates”, and Young Thug’s “Chanel”, it’s been an auditory dream to get a full-length project from Georgia artists Lil Baby and Gunna. The album’s title, Drip Harder, is an homage to Baby and Gunna’s respective Harder and Drip series of mixtapes and releases. Drip Harder is a project that shows the sonic bond between the duo. It’s what you get when the producers, artists, and featured guests all understand each other.

The Good: Like their previous collaborations, Baby and Gunna continue to inject various instruments into the production of their songs rather than heavy beats. From soft guitar riffs and beautiful piano sounds to the smooth echoes of a flute, this style is what makes their collaboration special. On tracks like “Off White VLONE”, “Business Is Business”, and “Deep End”, the sound of the keyboard is the foundation on which Gunna and Lil Baby create sweet melodies with their verses and hooks.

The sound of the flute in the Wheezy-produced track, “Underdog”, creates the mood that shapes the sweet trap cadence of the duo. The flute is also used to create wonders on “Style Stealer” as Gunna’s lyrical finesse in the second verse features him at his best: “I got shows and they litty, my hoes and they ready/ Like white walls on that Caddy, I got sauce like spaghetti/ I ball like I’m Manny and my palms sticky, sweaty.”

The Bad: One golden feature of both rappers is their ability to deliver trap melodies over simple-yet-pleasing instrumentals. That doesn’t always work out as planned, though. For example, the verse isn’t bad on Gunna’s solo track “World Is Yours”, nor is the beat, but together they just don’t fit — like a couple stuck in a bad marriage. The contrasting relationship between the beat and the YSL artist’s flow makes the song sound longer than it is and consequently drag.

The Verdict: On Drip Harder, Lil Baby and Gunna make it hard to determine who shines brightest because both deliver their best most of the time. They aren’t just a duo, but a wave, a style, and a vibe. Tracks like “Style Stealer”, “Drip Too Hard”, and “Never Recover” (featuring Drake) are prime examples of what made so many crave a full-length collab from this duo. There’s an uncommon chemistry and flow between Gunna, Lil Baby, and the producers that makes this far more than your typical collaboration.

Essential Tracks: “Style Stealer”, “Drip Too Hard”, and “Never Recover”

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